Please Help!....Is this person a scammer?

[vacationgirl59]

This man contacted me on Myspace and we chat on Yahoo. He just asked me to let him borrow some money and send western union to UK. He states he want to see me but does not have enough for plane ticket back to the States. He says if I let him borrow the money he will pay me back when he comes to visit (yeah right!) Says he is from Barryville, New York but in the UK now working on an architectural project. Says he is an architect.

He goes by the name of Brad (Bradley) Ross......his email is: [email protected]

He has pictures posted on Myspace and recently sent me one through my email. He uses this phone number as point of contact: +44-701-113-6769

I am confused because he fits some of the profile of a scammer, yet some things do not fit. Some things he says i can check while others seem bogus. O yes...he is supposed to be from America, yet he has an accent. He states he lived in Australia and thats why he speaks with an accent. It doesn't sound quite like an Australian accent to me.

Is this guy a scammer? I want to know if anyone else has had contact with him or know of him? Please help me to sort this out!!!!!!!!!

[The Enchantress]

Welcome to Scamwarners vacationgirl59.

That is a definite scammer. Please cease all contact and ignore him.

Do not send any money at all.

He is using a +4470 - UK redirect service to any cellphone worldwide and favoured by scammers.

Please read these guides;

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewto ... =13&t=3607

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewto ... ?f=13&t=25

We will help and support you all we can - please post any questions or concerns.

[vacationgirl59]

Have you seen this man then? Is this wat he actually looks like? Or is this a fake picture he is using? Is he working out of one of the Nigerian internet cafes? I could not find any links to his email address or his name. There are some things about him that do not fit profile of a scammer. Like he speaks and writes well. Do I report him? Do I have him arrested? What do I do now?

Do I contact him and try to trap him? Or just cease all contact and let him be. This is all new to me. If he is victimizing others I want him to pay and be caught.

[The Enchantress]

He is using a "fake" name - indeed everything he tells you is a lie.

He is operating anonymously from an internet cafe, most likely Nigeria.

He is is using stolen photographs from the internet.

Nothing about him is real. His only interest is the money he hopes you will send him.

This guide may also help;

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5

Please cease all contact.

If you wish to help you can educate and alert and warn others by posting his mails/photos and other information.

Please PM me your mail address I will contact you.

Also this posting guide may help;

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewto ... f=4&t=3622

[vacationgirl59]

Yes I read all of that before I posted here. I am trying to find where i posted his picture. I can't find it. I know it uploaded okay because i previewed it. I did upload it to upload eater first. Do you know where it is on this forum? I wanted to see if anyone else reeplied to seeing his picture.

[vacationgirl59]

This man is a scammer and goes by the name of Brad Ross (Bradley Ross).
Email is [email protected]
Yahoo ID: bradro_ss
Phone number is: 4-701-113-6769
Myspace URL: http://www.myspace.com/450006214

If you would like any information please contact me. He is extremely charming and well spoken. His pictures have proven to be fake. I will post one sent to me through email here. I will post the pics from his myspace shortly.


Merged two separate threads - Michelle
Watermarked and replaced image - Ralph

[Ralph]

Hi Vacation girl and welcome.

As has been pointed out this is a definate scammer, if you have any trouble posting pictures or emails you can forward them to me and I can get them posted for you.

The more einformation you are able to provide the better chance we gave of preventing anybody else from falling for his lies.

Scammers will rarely use their own pictures although it does happen occasionally, the picture is likely to be a little known celebrity or perhaps the picture was stolen from a website such as facebook.

One thing that will always be a definate sign of a scammer is the request for money by Western Union, you shouldn't send anybody money that you have met on the net for any reason regardless of how dire the situation may seem, if he ewas truley in trouble he could simply visit his embassy but of course, he wouldn't be able to scam them which is why he ewill suggest you are the only person who can help him.

Now that you know he is a scammer, please have no further contact at all, ignore all of his attempts to contact you and eventually he will go away.

Please also be on the lookout for the new scammers who may contact you, possibly with a new identity or maybe a new scam all together, if you have the slightest doubt, dont reply, ask us here and in most cases we will be able to let you know if it is a scam.

If you have any questions, please dont hesitate to ask

[Dotti]

vacationgirl,

First of all, I'm sorry to hear that you were being scammed by this guy. As Enchantress and Ralph already said, there is absolutely no doubt that this is indeed a scammer. He will most likely be a black man in Africa, in his teens to twenties.

The 44-70 number is a dead giveaway. These free redirect numbers are used by scammers who are pretending to be in UK. Someone who is really living in UK doesn't need a redirect number. I also took a look at his myspace page. Although his English is better than that of many scammers, he does in fact make many mistakes that show English is not his first language--and the mistakes he makes are typical of an African.

For your sake, you need to cut off all contact with him now. Block his phone numbers and email. Better yet, change your phone number and email address. Do not give him an opening to tell you more lies (and he will, if he thinks he has any chance at getting money from you.) Even if he comes back and tells you that he doesn't want money from you, don't let yourself get pulled back in. Many scammers do this same thing--they withdraw their money requests, and they will wait for weeks to months before asking for money again, all the while playing the perfect romantic. Or he will drop the money requests entirely, instead asking you to receive money that is "owed" to him, or asking you to cash checks or reship merchandise to him. All of these are other fraudulent ways for him to get money. You might also be contacted by a seemingly unrelated person whose ultimate purpose is--you guessed it--to make you feel bad for doubting him and convince you to allow him back into your life.

If you have any emails from him and he wasn't using a proxy, you should be able to get a real location (again, most likely Africa, possibly Malaysia) from the IP address in the headers. Either post the full headers from an email here (remove your details) and we can help you with a location, or we can help you to do the check yourself.

If you have sent money, you can report him for an internet crime, but don't expect that you will see any sort of positive action coming from your report. If he has any of your significant personal information--SSN, passport, etc. you will want to take steps to protect yourself from identity theft.

His letters will likely be scripted--that is why Enchantress asked you to post them--another victim can more readily learn the truth when he uses the same script again later. If you are not comfortable posting emails or chat logs, but want a little more information on some of the clues that tell you he is a scammer, you can also PM them to one of the support staff and we may be able to help you.

[vacationgirl59]

Thank you for all the advice. So, you want me to post all of his emails to me here...right? And also post the full headers of all his emails here as well? I can do that. I would really like to know if he is indeed from Africa. I did a search of his header and it came out to be Sunnyvale, CA. Weird...anyway, I will post the emails and see if I get a response.

I did not send money, nor did I give out any of my personal information. He did try to call me early this morning and around lunchtime. Since then I have not heard from him. It's taking a lot of willpower on my part not to call him and tell him that he is busted!

Anyway, any other info you can share would be appreciated...thanks!

[vacationgirl59]

Here are the contents of the emails that were sent to me

THANK YOU FOR THE PICS BABY........I WISH I HAD SEEN THEM EARLIER AM SURE IT MUST HAVE MADE ME FEEL ALOT BETTER, WELL ANYWAY I JUST LOOKED AT THEM AND IT MADE ME FEEL BATTER, SO AM SEND ALL MY LOVE YOUR WAY AND TELLING YOU THANK YOU BABY, YOU ARE THE BEST.

Good morning baby,
Am really sorry about yesterday cus i guess i will simply say my day did not go well after the meeting i had......am getting a little break from work, but the conditions surrounding it is what got me pissed, and again i think my boss is trying to pick on me and i dont like that, when i say pick on me i meant trying to get me to be with her........you remember the one i told you she was not initially satisfied with my first presentation?
Well in my short break i want to spend it with you like i said i would if it came through, well she is offerring me to go with her to Greece, am just a contract staff and i dont think it is proper for me to go to Greece, well am trying to make you understand what i think her intensions are, as a woman you should know better.......so last night i was so pissed with the whole issue and had to think alot, trying to make the right decision so it doesn't affect my job.....am sorry i couldn't tell you about this yesterday, did not want to drag you into this.
Well now that i have made up my mind on what decision to take, i felt it would be the right time to tell you......and my decision is to spend my short break with you and you stand by me like you have always done, and come to think of it, this woman knowns i hurt my leg and can't go on such a trip but she was insisting, i sense something going on, well am not that kind of man.
So baby i will tell you on every arrangements but there's still more about this will talk to you on the phone later today.....Am really sorry baby i kept you out of this.......i knew you were calling me but i did not want to spoil the beautiful moment we always have, please try to understand me i did not mean you any harm or disrespect to you.
Love you and will talk to you later.................hugs

Baby thanks for yesterday, i slept like a baby......i was wonder why you rushed to the phone when i had called you back just to say i loved you, well i noticed you rushed to get your phone................Love is a great thing and you have shown me that, i couldn't just go to sleep without saying i loved you one more time. i hope you had a good night sleep like i did, i hope talking to me gave happiness cus talking to you gave me that.
Well i spoke with the boss lady...lol, well it was just like i expected in her words she said "i have a thing for Americans" and i told her i wasn't all American i had some Australian in me and in her words again she said "even better", i think she's going to be a bitch.

Well that's not even the issue the thing is that i was suppose to get my medical bills back from the company, cus i had to take care of it that was urgent, well i wanted to get it so i use it for my tickets to and fro, but she is telling me right now that it would be added to my pay check when my work is done, that it is in my contract i will be well taken care of, thats fine but i need that to get my tickets, i think she is doing this purposely, i just gave it open to her that i was going to see my fiance and just like i told you that she must have read my information, she said but i wrote that i was single and i said yes.
Well she is saying that company policy....and that was my spear for such kind of things now she's holding me back....and i cant access my accounts from here, personal reasons.

So the thing is this right now,........ummmmmmmm i feel so emberrased wanting to ask you and i have never been in this position before and again am thinking if i dont ask you and just keep it to myself maybe you will be mad at me and when you finally get to find out you will be mad at me and say why didn't i ask you.......so this right now is really hard for me on what to follow.
Well just so you know i do my flights are usually first class, i would have been willing to manage something else but my leg hurts and its going to be a long trip so i need the comfort ok, so just letting you know its on the high side.........Honey what ever you get me we will go together and i will give it back ok......Am doing this so the bitch won't get her way.........i know she just wants sex and i did not tell you this she's really old.......LOL
Its even very hard for me right now to go back and read all what i wrote......lol
Well am going to head out to Heathrow airport right now, i just want to find out how to recieve something from back home ok, i dont know how they send thing back and forth here, and i think the air port is alway the best place for me and safe too.
So please don't think wrongly about this ......gosh i got to use the toilet first am really pressed will be back shortly....lol

Ok am back.....you know you make me crazy in a good way, am typing this mail like am chatting with you..............i hope crazy is a good thing when in love.....when i get back from the air-port i hope you must have read all this, will still do a brief stop at the office just to relay some ideas with my assistant ok.
Love you and be a good girl ok.........hugs

Good morning baby, am still not able to write it down gosh am a real chicken..............please just hold on a bit, its really hard to say honey am really scared.
well hope you had a nice night...............love you and talk to you later......i love you my angel

Baby the honest truth is that i need you to take care of my ticket for me, this has taken me several days to ask, i have never asked for such before, when you had said you did not understand my mail i sent to you and that everyone has credit cards, a lot of thoughts came to my head that i did not want to go into.........my credit card has alot of memories with my ex and i told you i will prefer telling you being with you, so when i break telling the story you will comfort me......
Just yesterday my boss came to see e in my home, that was when you went out and she offered sex and that i will have everything i ever wanted if she can just be with me......well i have been sick to my stomach ever since, you must have noticed before your dinner outing i was fine right??
well thats whats going on really............please whatever i get from you will be given back to you ok, i dont need a woman to take care of me in that manner but right now i do and its just you..............dont be mad cus i will fade away in shame.

Quoted emails for Clarity - Ralph

[Dotti]

Yup, even without an IP I can tell you that you have an African there. Headers would be good anyway, though!

Below I'm going to translate some of the script, but won't point out too much of the giveaway language, as I don't want to educate any visiting scammers. If you would a more detailed analysis pointing out more signs of an African scammer, you can PM me, provided you agree not to share the information with this or any other scammer.

THANK YOU FOR THE PICS BABY........I WISH I HAD SEEN THEM EARLIER AM SURE IT MUST HAVE MADE ME FEEL ALOT BETTER, WELL ANYWAY I JUST LOOKED AT THEM AND IT MADE ME FEEL BATTER, SO AM SEND ALL MY LOVE YOUR WAY AND TELLING YOU THANK YOU BABY, YOU ARE THE BEST.

I'm scamming multiple people at the same time, and I don't want to go to the trouble of replacing names (or risk getting caught if I miss the name in one spot) so I'll just call all of my potential victims Baby, Hunni, or some other generic term

make the right decision so it doesn't affect my job.....am sorry i couldn't tell you about this yesterday, did not want to drag you into this.

With one story I'm going to (a) get your sympathy (b) further convince you that I am a caring, sensitive, honorable man, and (c) set up for a job disaster later (evil boss framed me for a crime, I was arrested, blah, blah, blah) when you are questioning why I haven't flown out to see you with the ticket you paid for.

i think she's going to be a bitch.

And the setup for future disaster continues

i have never been in this position before

Well, if "never" means "in the past 5 minutes" maybe. But of course if I tell you that I have been in the habit of asking women for money, you're going to walk away, so what else can I say?

my credit card has alot of memories with my ex

I'm going to give you this implausible story to explain why a man of business and experienced international traveler would somehow manage to travel halfway across the world without so much as a credit card. I probably told you that I was divorced because I caught my ex sleeping with my best friend or some similar story that puts me in the "victim" role. I'm hoping that this will trigger an emotional response, and as a result you will be so busy being outraged at (and maybe a bit jealous of) "my boss" that you fail to think about how incredibly stupid I would have to be to take off without a credit card or any banking access. I don't want you to think about the fact that I could have gotten another credit card after the divorce, or that I very possibly have a company credit card for expenses, or that I could/should contact an attorney if I'm really being harassed, or the dozens of other more plausible stories, because those stories would result in me not getting your money right now.

[Ralph]

^^^ Dotti beat me to it, there are many common warning signs that it is not a person who's first language is English.

Sorry to be a pain, but do you have any earlier emails from him, the earlier emails are more likely to be scripted and therefor more likely to come up in searches.

If you feel more comfortable to email them to me that is fine too, my email address is in my signature line

[vacationgirl59]

No Ralph that is all the emails i got from him. What happened to all of the email header info i posted? I copied and pasted every header for every email here so you guys could pinpoint a location. Where did they all go? Im kind of concerned as to why they are not here and why I have not had a response concerning them. Please let me know.

[The Enchantress]

Profile details;

http://www.myspace.com/450006214

Bradley ross
42 / Male BARRYVILLE, New York, US
Status: Divorced
Here for: Networking, Dating, Serious Relationships, Friends
Orientation: Straight
Body type: 171cm / Athletic
Ethnicity: White / Caucasian
Religion: Christian - other
Zodiac Sign: Cancer
Children: Proud parent
Smoke / Drink: No / Yes
Education: Grad / professional school
Occupation: architect

I am an adventures old man...LOL, who does not compare himself with his age. I enjoy the great outdoors, mostly when it's not cold.I find myself at work most of the time, so it is hard to really do some stuffs for myself, guess am really not paying much attention on myself but I will make time though for the right woman guess thats why am on here, she probably might have all my time cus' i'm tired of being alone.....lol. I am an architect and have a tiny little firm of mine. I relax, that doesn't mean I over do it, but will over do it with the right woman...lol. My body-type looks good naked, I've been told but I would say tall an slender. I know I do not look my age and am not loosing hair at this point. if you like to be free about your feelings as i have tried to drop in a few lines on here then email me.

Am leaving here empty for the right person to fix herself in...i know she's out there somewhere. I will definately love to meet my daughter.

[Ralph]

No Ralph that is all the emails i got from him

That's fine, I will do some investigation to see what I can find

What happened to all of the email header info i posted?

Sorry, I dont recall seeing them, if you could just forward one to me by email I will take a look and post if it will be helpful, chances are they will be much the same.

Where did they all go?

I did quote the emails and there is a chance that I have done something when I did that but as I said I dont recall seeing them.

I have set about doing some research that if successful will reveal his IP address as well as his early emails, I will post if I have any luck.