Information on romance scams and scammers.
#197731 by Dotti Wed Apr 16, 2014 11:21 pm
There are a few different ways that particular scenario can go (all of which are scams.) I'm listing them in no particular order.

1) he discovers that he can't transfer to your particular bank so you have to open an account at a different bank (he will give you a link to the bank.) Of course, you will have to make a deposit to open the account to receive the money. The catch? The scammers have set up a fake bank website, and any money you send is going straight into the scammers' hands.

2) Just as he convinces you that he is sending money to you ( a strategy intended to make you believe he is not a scammer, based on the logic that a scammer would be asking for money, not offering it,, and also intended to make you think he is wealthy, and can afford to pay back a significant sum of money ) a crisis will happen. There will be an accident at work and he has to pay the families of those who were killed; his child was just diagnosed with a life-threatening illness; he was robbed at knifepoint; the authorities are investigating him/his company/the color of the sky/some other nonsense. Whatever the story, you can be sure that his money is tied up, or his accounts are frozen, and he can't access his own money. So instead of him helping you, now you need to help him--but he hopes that his initial offers to send money to you will convince you that he's a straight-up guy who is going to pay him back.

3) He "transfers" the money into your account--only as soon as it is in your account, an emergency comes up, and you need to withdraw some or all of the money and send it to him or a third party (for example, a realtor who is selling him a house, a doctor who is treating his child, etc....) or he will ask you to buy and ship some pricey merchandise with some or all of the money. The catch? The deposit is not legitimate, even though it initially looks like it to the bank. The scammer (a) deposited a fraudulent check into your account; (b) transferred the money in from an innocent person's (or business', in this case more likely with the amount.) bank account or credit card that was obtained and sold by hacking rings; or (c) convinced an innocent person to transfer the money himself/herself in the course of a separate scam (also less likely in this case due to the large sum of money involved.)
So initially, when your account shows the money, you might be tempted to go ahead and follow his instructions. But in the end, days to weeks later, you will end up paying dearly for it. The bank will realize the check was fraudulent; or the real account owner will report the abuse of their account, or the innocent person will figure out he has been scammed and start taking steps to reverse the transaction. The bank will try to take the money back out of your account. If you have withdrawn some of it, they will come after you to force you to repay whatever you have withdrawn. Plus there will be fees/fines for the bad deposit, and if taking all that money out causes checks to bounce, there will be additional fines for each impacted check. You can easily end up hundreds to many thousand dollars in debt.
If you haven't withdrawn any money by the time they discover the fraud, you are still likely looking at a frozen bank account while the bank sorts out the mess, and possibly a closed bank account in the end, as well as you ending up on a "high risk" list for banks, making it difficult, if not impossible, to open accounts in the future. To add to the fun, since your bank account was used to receive and process stolen money, the bank may call the police and report you for money laundering, which is an extremely serious crime.
In the meantime, the scammer has picked up the money or the items, and he is enjoying his new possessions, while you are dealing with a seriously messed up personal life.

As far as the other scammers go, you can start a topic for each in the romance scam forum, and include as much information as you can for each one, including initial approachesand early emails if they sent any. (because they love to reuse those.)

Need to post photos? http://scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3219
Are you a victim of a romance scam? Read here for advice and FAQ's.
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#208329 by AlanJones Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:15 am
Real US military email addresses will come from a domain that ends .mil, with nothing else after it. [email protected] is just a free email address.

You are dealing with a scammer, so just delete the emails and block them.

Please do not tell scammers that they are listed here - it will take them seconds to change their fake details and their new details will not be listed for any future victims to find.
#224008 by ckaelin Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:09 am
I received a friend request from a David Boyer, said he was a Sgt in the army and needed my help, wanted me to send an email requesting leave for him. Telling me I would be listedbas his next of kin and receive his leave bonus of 28,000. Luckily my parents didn't raise an idiot, I sent the email and got one back saying I had to send $545 us dollars to some weird name in Thailand, within 48 hours. I told him via FB messages that I don't have funds like that and that I couldn't do it. Told him good luck, I figured it was a scam, now I know for sure... If it wasn't for me paying attention and researching, I might have been douped... I googled his name, got nothing even close to who he said he was, and he even sent pictures with him in uniform with Boyer in the shirt. The email address ended in USA.com. be careful out there!
#248246 by Kararaina Mon Apr 27, 2015 4:48 am
Hello,,, my name is Removed (BW) and i have been Scammed too out of $5105 Aussie money frm a Scammer called Col: Fred Graham Hopkins ,,, he is also to be in Afghanistan fighting in the war-zone too,,, he had a Friend working with him called Col: Thomas Wilson waiting in Indonesia to deliver Fred Hopkins luggage,,, Fred told me he had money,,,stones and gold bars and he did not want Customs to open his luggage,,, he and Thomas both told me they wanted another $9750 cos Customs was charging more for the luggage,,, i nearly sent that money but my daughter told me to stop writing to him and i did,,, she looked you guys up and i started reading one of the lady stories and i cried for her cos they really took everything she owned and that neraly happened to me if i kept on writing to Fred,,, i really liked him,,, his words were so sweet ,,,it was only for you and made you feel special,, warm,, beautiful,, everything a woman likes to hear when you are a single working mother,,, im just glad that i never gave them any more money,, your truely Removed (BW)
#248259 by Bryon Williams Mon Apr 27, 2015 3:20 pm
Welcome to Scamwarners,

I am sorry you were a victim of this scam. I am also glad your daughter helped you out and found this site.

Can you or your daughter post the email addresses and phone numbers the scammers used. Also a couple of their initial emails to you. This will help others that may be searching for the same information.

You can also post the scammers stolen photo's.

Please contacta moferatorstor if you have a question or information about this post.



Please do not tell the scammer he is posted here.


Please remember the fallen. https://www.odmp.org/
#251451 by rastamuis Mon May 18, 2015 4:00 am
Hello,,, my name is [Removed (BW), about FRED GRAHAM HOPKINS, on a peace keeping mission in Afghanistan, he told me that he will be retire in a few months, then he's vacation approval didn't get signed by the defense secretary, and he asked me to send a mail for asking an emergency leave, i received a mail back that i normally need to sign, but if you read everything then you allready know that you will have to pay money!
A paper signed by Col Brook Anderson....it was also just a hotmail.com

the emailadresses i've got are [email protected], then he changed in [email protected]
but before I had that second email, it was [email protected]
He really looked like the perfect man to me
regards
#268251 by Tim Atem Fri Sep 18, 2015 7:00 am
britisharmy.gov does not exist and the gmx.us email is a FREE email address that would not be used by the military. Is someone emailing you claiming to be from British Army?

====================================
PLEASE DO NOT TELL A SCAMMER HE IS REPORTED HERE!

Learn what a scam is and how to protect yourself
https://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5
#268257 by AlanJones Fri Sep 18, 2015 8:30 am
UK military will have a .mil.uk or .mod.uk email address (with nothing after the .uk)

It is only valid if you can actually send a mail just to that address and get a reply from it.

Any email address that claims to be an official military address and ends .com, .org, .co.uk or similar is fake

Please do not tell scammers that they are listed here - it will take them seconds to change their fake details and their new details will not be listed for any future victims to find.
#268258 by AlanJones Fri Sep 18, 2015 8:30 am
UK military will have a .mil.uk or .mod.uk email address (with nothing after the .uk)

It is only valid if you can actually send a mail just to that address and get a reply from it.

Any email address that claims to be an official military address and ends .com, .org, .co.uk or similar is fake

Please do not tell scammers that they are listed here - it will take them seconds to change their fake details and their new details will not be listed for any future victims to find.
#268651 by AngryBird88 Sun Sep 20, 2015 9:34 pm
Tim Atem wrote:britisharmy.gov does not exist and the gmx.us email is a FREE email address that would not be used by the military. Is someone emailing you claiming to be from British Army?


Thank your for your reply. Yes, i am chatting with somebody claiming to be with the British Army now currently in Afghanistan under a UN. My bells started ringing the day he asked me to write to apply to be his NOK so that he can apply for his early retirement. I suspect it is a scam but i have managed to evade the so called letter. I am continuing to chat with him as i want to know how far he will go. He is now trying to add his "daughter" to our chats so that i can get to know his "daughter". I have run a IP scan at http://www.romancescam.com/ipsearch.php and the scan revealed " Welcome to Jamaica, have a nice day"

I would like to post his picture and his daughter's picture here but i am afraid that he could have used some innocent people's picture. I did a image search of his picture and it has also revealed another man's identity.

Sigh.... he sure can talk and i wish there are real man out there like him. What a waste of those talents
#268670 by Tim Atem Mon Sep 21, 2015 7:11 am
As you're already starting to figure out, he is a scammer. He has your information so please stop all communication with him. Ignore any further emails from him.

Can you post the photos he sent you? Mark them as stolen photos that way if other victims do a search, they will know this isn't the real person in the photo. Information on how to post photos can be found on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3219

I'm sorry you're going through this. But continuing to talk to him will only let him to continue to lie and manipulate you.

====================================
PLEASE DO NOT TELL A SCAMMER HE IS REPORTED HERE!

Learn what a scam is and how to protect yourself
https://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5

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