Are you falling for a love scammer?

[Ralph]

Introduction

While there is no exact formula they use, it is often possible to tell a scammer by simply looking for a few common characteristics in the dating profile. Of course, they are as individual as their victims so having some of the following characteristics does not necessarily mean they are a scammer, nor does the lack of these characteristics mean they are not one, but it will give you a good indication of many of the common warning signs you can pick up.


This is currently a work in progress and we will be putting together / adding to a series of topics to help you identify if you are dealing with a romance scammer.


We have broken it down into smaller sections, feel free to scroll right through or click on links to be taken to a specific section.

How to identify a romance scammer's picture
How do scammers describe themselves?
What is a scammer looking for in a perfect partner?


Further information included in this thread

What other things should you look out for?
What are the common characteristics of an African’s writing style?
What are the common characteristics of a Russians writing style? under construction
Common misfortunes that will occur before needing money
How can I find out more information about the person I am dealing with?


Other useful information at Scamwarners

Are you chatting with a romance scammer
An introduction to love or dating scams
How to post a picture here at Scamwarners
Example of scripted replies for an African love scammer
More signs of a romance scammer
Important information before posting at Scamwarners
PHOTOGRAPHS - are scammers using yours?
Military Scams

[The Enchantress]

How to identify a romance scammer’s picture;


A typical scammer’s picture;

Does it look like it has been professionally taken?
If it is one of several pictures, is it part of a series of pictures?
Does the person look like a model?
Are there a variety of different hair styles?
Would it be realistic that a person who actually looked like that is using a dating site?
Are the photos low resolution?


Where do scammers steal their pictures from;

Scammers in most cases use photos they have stolen from the net, while they have their favourite places to steal them from they could be stolen from anywhere, some of the more common places to steal a photo are;

1) Modeling sites, http://www.focushawaii.com is a definite favourite
2) Myspace / Facebook profiles (or any other social gathering sites where members post their pictures)
3) Porn sites
4) Re-use photographs supplied by previous victims


Photo indexing search sites

While not 100% accurate there are websites available that allow you to search for pictures, they’re fairly simple to use and in about 10% of cases they will show other instances of the same pictures being used.

2 such sites are;

http://www.tineye.com
http://www.scamdigger.com

Both are free to use and no membership is required, they are continually indexing more and more pictures however not finding your scammer's picture with these tools in no way indicates they are not stolen pictures.

If you are unsure, please ask one of our support team members by posting in the forum.

If you would like to post the pictures of your scammer, Jillian has an easy to use guide Click Here to see it

[Ralph]

How do scammers describe themselves?

Scammers want to be as generic as possible so they can appeal to a larger audience, they want to seem like the perfect mate and be exactly what the typical person looking for love is trying to find.

Their profiles will mention specific things about themselves, some of these things are very common for them, in this section I will describe the kinds of things that a scammer will use to describe themselves.

Like with the photos they steal, their profiles are no definite way of knowing it is a scammer but it can certainly raise some red flags if you see certain signs.


A typical scammer’s profile information

Scammers will normally use the following to describe themselves;
Honest
Caring
Loving
Religious (although not always stating what religion)
Non smoker
Occasional or non drinker
Age: for the males - 35 to 55 seldom older
Age for females – 20 to 30
70 % of males will have young children
10% of females will have children.


Common occupations for male scammers
Engineer
Architect
Art / antiques dealer
Working as an oil contractor
Working in construction


Common occupations for female scammers
Charity worker
Aid worker
Model
Stranded refugee whose parents were murdered
Daughter of a cocoa merchant


Common phrases used in their profiles;
Race colour or religion does not matter
Am honest caring and trusting
Am seeking a loving and honest

The scammer profiled In this thread gives a good example of what to look out for.

Below is an actual message a scammer has left on a dating site to lure his victims;

Hi there, How're you doing today hope all is well with you and everything around you, How's the weather over there and your health.? Well i really hope everything is alright and am so glad and happy to hear from you . I think we have alot in common, So here're somethings about me and i hope this will let you know a little about me. My name Janet and am 28yrs old, Single , 5'7', blue eyes, Light brown hair, Caucasian(white), i have a Clever Quick Witted sense of humor, i don't smoke, Drinks occassionally, christian, Aries. I like Dining, Outdoor Activities, Reading, Watching Sports, Computers-Internet, Playing Sports.I am a nice woman seeking for a caring and honest man to spend the rest of my life with. I am looking for a man that is tender hearted, kind, considerate of others needs, one that would appreciate having a wife that would love him in a way that he's not been loved before. My last relationship ended about 4yrs ago and it was a bad experience. I don't want that to happen to me anymore. I lost my parents when i was fifteen yrs old, So had no parental love ,grandma is all i got in life. Well I'll tell you a bit of my background. I was born and raised in ALABAMA a fourth generation .It was much different when I was growing up, a beautiful cozy small town on the ocean, and not many hurricanes approached our shores. It was wonderful.You really sound like the guy i would like to know more better. So i would love to continue this conversation with you.I am a lady of a mixed parents. single and of a good parentage,i am all left alone being the only daughter of my dad and mom i lost my parents in a Plane Crash. Friends would probaly describe me as being an Angel,funny, open minded, morals, talkative, loyal, outgoing, caring, giving, strong minded, honest, easy to talk to with a very happy and gentle demeanor.

[The Enchantress]

What is a scammer looking for in a perfect partner?

Scammers do not care about who they are going to steal money from, they will make their perfect partner as broad as possible, they are not fussy at all, if you were 80 years older than them, 3 foot tall, weighed 200kgs, a chain smoker and a drunk, they will love you just the same, they care only for the money they may be able to steal from you.

When a scammer lists their ideal partner you will usually notice some or all of the following

Looking for:

Age – 18 to 99
Weight –
Height –
Race – not important
Smoker – not important
Drinker – not important
Religion – not important

[Ralph]

What other things should you look out for?

There are so many lies that scammers tell that it would be impossible to list them all here, in this section I will list some of the things to be on the look out for that are not listed elsewhere.

Scammers sending you things

Scammers will often get access to compromised credit cards, using these cards for payment, they may send you gifts or flowers or they may ask you to take delivery and forward expensive things to them.

This has landed many people in trouble with the law as you become the receiver of these stolen goods and the point of contact for investigations.

You will often notice on the delivery documents that it is not your scammers name on the payment information.

When receiving items from people you know only from the internet, please check the details thoroughly and ring the company it came from to ask if you have the slightest doubt.


Payment requests by Western Union or MoneyGram

Scammers preference for receiving the money they steal is by Western Union, you can be sure if somebody is asking you to pay money in that way, it is almost certain they are going to be a scammer.

The reasons they prefer Western Union are;
They can remain anonymous and untraceable
They can pick up the money from anywhere in the world (regardless of the stated location)
It is fast and once they have their money it cant be reversed
They can check online to see if their payment is sitting there without the need to go into the Western Union outlet
Note: The major difference between Western Union and Moneygram is that MoneyGram can not be checked online.

[The Enchantress]

What are the common characteristics of an African’s writing style?

Africans have a writing style that is usually easy to spot, they will make common mistakes over and over again, anybody who sees their writing often enough will spot it as an African's writing usually in the first few lines.

Common mistakes include;

Use of "am" instead of "I am"
Lack of capitalisation
Poor grasp of past and present tenses
Often using a word in the wrong context
Lack of spaces after punctuation,like I have done here,you will see it often
have you seen what they often do when asking a question.?
they will tell you they are educated yet make 10 year old gramatical errors such as "more better"
They use a lot of abbreviations such as "ur" instead of "your"
When chatting they will often use "Buzz"
They will have sudden bursts of almost perfect spelling and grammer as they include stolen writing

Here are a few pieces of scammers emails so you can see the common signs for yourself

My ex boyfriend went to marry my best friend one day i was going to check on my ex boyfriend and i met both of them in my boyfriend's room and i fated and i was rushed to the hospital that was so painful But i have to forget about it and start a new life.and this is one of my most embarassing Moment.

Hello Hun,
Before I met you,I was badly hurt from relationships that fell apart,I didn't wanna live no more I just wanted an end,I thought nothing could cure me,My heart would never mend.But getting happy at ur consistency and simplicity....in short i love the way u talk and i guess we could get to see as soon as i get back,i just want to be sure you are really serious about me,i am very scared about suffering another heart break

[Ralph]

What are the common characteristics of a Russian’s writing style?

Under construction, if you have any questions relating to this please ask

[The Enchantress]

Common misfortunes that will occur before needing money.

Scammers have a range of basic story lines that they stick to and each scammer will have his favourite misfortunes to encourage you send him money, in almost all cases they will tell you that they will pay it back and it is just a loan.

It will be a desperate situation, often involving you being the only one who can possibly help them and of course they will insist their embassy will not help.

I will break this next part into 2 sections: a section for scammers who are pretending to be male and those pretending to be female, but I will point out that both male and female scammers will use a range of lies from each list.

(On a side note, those pretending to be female are actually males in 99% of cases, if the females are able to get somebody to talk to you on the phone it will be a family member who is rarely the same person that is actually writing to you.)

The common "female" misfortunes;

1) Cannot pay the hotel bill so detained by hotel staff until the hotel bill is paid
2) In a refugee camp and needs your help to get access to daddy’s millions
3) Robbed with no way to access money
4) In hospital and needing urgent surgery (often able to use the doctors laptop)
5) It is almost her birthday and she will like a nice present (like a lap top, mobile phone and/or a men’s watch)
6) Has no money and needs money to buy food

The common "male" misfortunes;

1) Mugged and robbed
2) Car accident
3) Detained at the airport for smuggling jewels or paperwork issues
4) Cannot cash a large pay cheque and needs you to do it for them
5) Owed money from a large contract but needs some money to finish the work to get paid.
6) Sick, injured or dying family member (usually a child)
7) The "childs" birthday and he would love a top of the range play station or other expensive gift

[Ralph]

How can I find out more information about the person I am dealing with?

If you ever have the slightest doubt about the person you have met online, there are a range of things you can do to check out if they are scammers, before sending any personal information let alone money, you should be certain that you have done all you can to protect yourself, by reading through this thread and comparing it to the person you may be falling in love with you will be able to get a good indication as to how genuine the person is, below is a range of things you can do to check them out.

Google is your friend
Quite often a simple search is all it takes to provide ample proof that somebody is a scammer, try a few searches for yourself, you can search on;
Their email address
Their phone number
Parts of their early emails
Their name
The details of any person you are refered to or who contacts you in regards to them

Many scammers will not come up in searches so please do not consider all is well, even if you have done some searches and found nothing.

Ask on the forum here
The members at Scamwarners have vast experience in dealing with romance scammers, more often than not, with your help we will prove beyond a doubt if the person is a scammer

Email headers
An email header in simple terms is information sent along with each email that you receive, this information can be useful in determining if the person actually is where they say they are.

While it is not 100% accurate, in most cases it will be, if you need instructions on how to find a header in an email or if you would like to know what to do with it, please ask

[Dotti]

A few additional points:

Tineye has only catalogued a small percentage of the photos on the internet, and it is only able to find exact matches, so often when you don't get a match, it is often because the photo has been edited or is somewhere on the internet that is not currently in the tineye database. Some scammers plan ahead and ensure or verify that their photo will not trigger any search results, and will then encourage you to search for it, claiming that the fact that you can't find it proves they are honest.

Scamdigger contains photos that have been submitted to romance scam sites with evidence that they are used in scams. Only a small percentage of victims ever submit their scammers, so again, lack of a match on scamdigger does not mean this person is not a scammer.

If you do find a photo using tineye or scamdigger and confront a scammer about it, the vast majority of the time the scammer will simply claim to be real person in the photos, and will claim that someone else has stolen his or her photos to scam. They will then change photos for the next scam. This is why we do not recommend telling scammers that you have found their photos.

I am seeing athletic scout (usually football or soccer scout) appear at an increasing rate as a career for scammers.

Often the scammers will use romantic email addresses or ones reiterating key things they want you to believe about them--their address will contain words or phrases like honest, faith, lonely, 4real, 4ever, etc. For example, here is one real scammer address: james_how2luv009@yahoo.com