Who is real who is fake? Help me please

Hi, I just wanted to say that I also get bombarded with them on a urban site. B.P( the site) has been around for about 10 years but I just returned to it in the last few months. While the primary focus is not dating that option is also there. If you think its difficult to field off scammers on other sites imagine what it is like when they take the time to create a profile and post a picture that looks like every other man on the site. I did not realize at first that there was such a thing as a scammer on community, dating, and networking sites. I had heard of most of the other types of scams so I thought myself rather savvy, until I found my self in the middle of one. He had such a sob story, mother ill dad dies in fatal plane accident but claimed to be in Fla. After a few days of eagerly waiting to catch him online ( remember I didn't know) he I/Ms me and I ask the few questions that I really wanted to know.

It never got to the asking for money or anything; yet he did not know what major city was by the one he lived in. Again, this was a real question of mine not a bait. I just wanted to know. When he gave me his number it was something like 1234708.....I was like you want me to call 1234? are you serious? So he called me. Big mistake but glad I did. I could not understand him, the connection was bad and the accent was not Floridian. Trust me I know because I used to live there. He altered between I/m and calling that night. Right around Easter? Then suddenly said he would be back on line in 4 hours time. Odd for Florida's time zone. Odd phrasing. Odd to know like you are working a shift. So all of it had my bells singing. I looked up Nigerian scams found what I already knew....then looked up Nigerian dating scams on a whim and there it was and the pic he uses. Get this he has now gone from buttery brown and bald to blonde hair blue eyes on Yahoo. He was going by Jeffery Smith. Had music on his page, friends, extra photos, and a sincere enough message.

These types I/M constantly. Some will actually show that they are from Ghana, or Nigeria. On this type of site that would not be unusual. That is the easy part. I simply hit ignore. Never again will I just give out my email. They have all asked to I/M on yahoo. I just ignore the question.

Now I think everyone that approaches me is a scammer on line, but have not been able to get them to call. I think I first told one if he sounded Nigerian I was hanging up. So...he I/Ms only, always a reason why he won't make that call. I have made him talk street* slang everything and anything to flush him out because...well you know the rest...I am hoping he isn't one.



Help

DAtgurl...

Did the phone number start with 011 234? I'm guessing that's what he gave you--234 is the country code for Nigeria, so what you would have gotten is a Nigerian phone number.

The sticky at the top of this section is a good start as far as things to look for go. For the African male scammers, here are a few other key warning signs.

Scammers with male characters will occasionally be single, but more often they will claim to be single fathers--the child's mother inevitably died tragically or cheated on him with his best friend/boss/etc.

It is rare that scammers will use their own photos, so scammers will have difficulty or excuses as to why they can't get on webcam.

He will often quickly try to get you off the dating/social site's messaging system and onto email or chat. This is so that he doesn't lose you if a victim reports his profile and it is closed. His profile may suddenly disappear. He will usually claim that he took it down because he found the woman of his dreams (you).

With the African male scammers, you can often see the stage being set for the money requests--the child is getting ill, he is having problems cashing his paycheck, he is traveling to a strange country. When he does this, he is getting ready to request money--the need will be for one of many reasons, but the most common are medical bills, a loan until he can get the check cashed (or he will send you a check to cash--too bad it's fake); or money to get home as everything was stolen from him when he was attacked by armed robbers.

Romancescam.com now has a search engine at scamdigger.com Scamdigger allows you to input your man's photo and it will search to see if scammers have been reported using the photo in the past (many photos are used by multiple scammers). I know they are moving to new servers so it is not always functioning right now, but it should be back up in a few weeks--that is a very good resource also.

If he is emailing you, check the headers for the IP address to see if he is where he claims to be. Some scammer do use proxies or IP stripping emails like gmail, so it won't always catch them, but if he claims to be physically in the US or UK and the IP shows an African country, you can bet it is a scammer.

As you see more of them, you will become more and more experienced in spotting them, too!

It's sad that it is such a major issue, but the fact is the scammers are out there in large numbers, and they won't be eliminated any time soon.

Thanks for the info. His story has been a cousin got killed outside a night club, approximately 3 weeks after us I/Ming. Funeral was last weekend. As of yesterday he was struggling because he helped pay for funeral, but still wants to open his clothing store and barbershop. Last week he owned the store. So I am thinking the seed is being planted. I will look out for what you advised. I guess the best way to find out is to move from the site to Yahoo? ~so I can locate this I/P address?

Definitely sounds like a setup for a money request. Where does he claim to be now? If he claims to be in the US, then the Nigerian phone number contradicts his story. Scammers lie and say they are not in Africa frequently--they generally don't lie and say they are in Africa when they are somewhere else. If he is already admitting that he is in Nigeria, his IP will match and there is really not a lot gained from getting it.

Scammers often have pre-written scripts that they use again and again, and they often reuse some or all of their profiles on multiple sites. If we google parts of those scripts or profiles, often we can already find them posted somewhere else or we can find some of those other profiles. If you want to determine for sure whether this particular one is a scammer, the best thing to do for now is to post his emails, photos, and profile info (take out anything that gives away your true identity). Also check scamdigger for the photos if they are running--if not, check them on tineye--it is very limited as it doesn't include most of the modeling sites scammers steal from, but we still get hits sometimes. We can do some further research on this one, and also identify whether the writing contains the errors typical of an African.

If he has your real life information, I wouldn't recommend actively baiting him.

I 'm sorry for the confusion. Yes the one with the phone number was also the one that changed races, etc. Its the new one that concerns me. He states that he is in Albany. He has my phone number but has never called nor emailed. Are only contact is through I/M on the B.P. (black planet) web site. Yes I agree the ground work is being laid. I get the feeling I talk to him under various names. I will attempt to save an I/M so as to view the phrasing. Thanks again.

Ok, now I understand. Unfortunately, you are right to be a bit suspicious on this 2nd one, as it does sound like he is setting up for a money request. You can still post (or pm if you don't want to publish it) his profile info if he has a profile, and we can start with some basic research there.

Keep in miind that some scammers love talking on the phone and some can sound quite convincing.

Another common trend is to use phone numbers that start with 4470, these are UK redirect mumbers, they appear to be from the UK but the call will redirect to anywhere in the world, what makes it worse is that anybody at all from any part of the world can get one to appear to be from the UK

Take care out there, never ever send money for any reason and dont send your personal details unless you can absolutely prove who the person actually is