I think I may be a romance scammer \-:)

Hello peeps!

A bit of possibly unwarranted levity to start my tenure here.

Namely, I was just looking at the list of telltale signs for love scamming and realized I actually fit it quite well. Now I'm not saying it's a bad list which is why I actually feel midly distressed right now...

From the list under "Scammers playing male characters":

Age: Usually between 35 and 65.

Check (am 46).

Profession: Scammers playing males choose professions that make them appear to be successful and reliable.

Check (systems specialist).

They also choose professions that can explain why they are not in their "home country."

This does not apply at all, I rather explain that I can't travel a lot and am not planning to relocate.

Other characteristics: [...] non-smoker

Check.

non-drinker or occasional drinker only

Check.

religious or "God-fearing"

Err no. Don't talk religion a lot but am an atheist. In fact one or two scammers ran themselves into a wall when they asked for "a Christian man"

single (widower or divorced) father. If widowed, the wife was killed in an accident or died of cancer

Not a father but a widower, with wife dead of, you guessed it, cancer.

Scammer's description of his character: Some scammers write their own descriptive text, while others may copy much of it from legitimate dating site profiles. As a result, the quality of the English may vary widely.

No copying for me (except from my own writing) but the quality of English may vary as I'm not a native speaker but am mildly dyslexic.

honest trustworthy caring

Check, more or less.

searching for soulmate

Don't believe in souls so no check to this.

loving

D'oh, who'd say "spiteful"? So check.

tired of games

Usually won't bring this up in this specific form. Am actually more looking for romance than marriage ATM.

What the scammer is searching for: In reality, the scammer is searching for anyone who will pay!

Doesn't fit obviously since I'm not really a scammer. I think.

Preferences regarding drinking/smoking: none

Check on smoking, social drinking is actually preferable since I do it myself. An absolutist would throw a fit methinks...

Want Children: doesn't matter

Check, sorta. Am ambivalent about having any.

I think I may have to report myself... Just to be sure.

And for something completely different, just got an e-mail from someone claiming to be in Helsinki, Finland but "her" IP tracks to Lagos, Nigeria. TinEye indicates "her" picture is ripped from a porn site (can't say it's not a nice picture, fairly tastefull too as such pix go ). E-mail used is [email protected]. Can't recommed this "lady" to anyone I'm afraid.

Welcome to ScamWarners.

We're glad to have you add information on scammers you've been in contact with. We need more than just an email address in order to keep the information posted, however. Please start a new topic on the scammer and post emails, including the email address, header or any other info you have. Make sure not to include any of your own information in the posting.

I actually fit it quite well.

Well - do you ask for money?

Obviously, some of those of red flags will fit some innocent people as well as scammers. Additionally, some scammers won't fit the typical profile. But, many of those are used commonly enough to warrant taking great care should anyone run across someone who fits the category. I note that you don't fit some of the more crucial ones and I doubt you would set up your own profile with all of that wording, even if you do consider yourself trustworthy and loving.

Welcome to ScamWarners.

Thnx.

We're glad to have you add information on scammers you've been in contact with. We need more than just an email address in order to keep the information posted, however. Please start a new topic on the scammer and post emails, including the email address, header or any other info you have. Make sure not to include any of your own information in the posting.

I'll see what I can do (I've gotten messages from about half a dozen scammers - or apparent ones anyway - over the last month or so) but probably should read the forum a bit more first to see if what I have are duplicates of previously reported ones, no?

Well - do you ask for money?

Only just before sex... Err... No, that didn't come out quite right...