Sgt Edwards strikes again

Sorry this is my first post so forgive me if I'm not doing this correctly!

Re: Girls date for free -TS2 scam? following on from post by mand171
It appears that I am the latest victim for Sgt Edwards; he is calling himself David Edwards & claims to be deployed in Afghanistan. I very foolishly funded a second hand Blackberry which is yet to arrive! He has however asked me to fund his leave to the tune of £1270 ouch! I have been busy though; I do have the same photo posted by mand171 but some others too along with 3 weeks worth of IM messages & emails. Putting on my super sleuth hat I downloaded software that tracks the source of email (he originally email prior to IM) and believe it or not he emails from Nigeria! Anyway I digress; I wanted to add to mand171's post but it is closed, do you know if I can still do this as it would be good to keep all of the information together. I am still IM chatting with him with the view to getting as much info that can help expose him but I think he is getting wary & is becoming very defensive when I ask questions. Truth is I feel a bit stupid but I do feel sorry for genuine soliders that are effectively having their identities cloned. Would it be wise to post all of the photo's and some of the IM's (there are lots); the style that he writes with is clearly the same!
I'd appreciate any coments, thanks J,

Hi beenstitchedup

The internal link to the topic that you are referring to is here

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=11601

Please feel free to continue here.

Hi beenstitchedup

Sorry to hear that he scammed you. I was chatting to him for a few weeks up until about a week ago.

I have told my story here viewtopic.php?f=13&t=15495

I didn't realise your page was here until I typed in a search for edwards and came across it.

He is going by the name Michael Edwards. I didn't send any money. As soon as the money was mentioned for leave I knew straight away something was up. But unlike you I was not able to carry on talking to him.
I could not contain myself and the day I found out I confronted him straight away. I even forwarded him the link to this site and showed him the photos that he sent me! I told him it was amazing what you can find out with the power of google!

I have since been doing some more digging and discovered that the real guy in the photos is a guy called Ralph Edwards from Tallahassee Florida who is a former commando and posted his pics and profile on My Space. Who would have known something so innocent could be used to fraudulently scam so much money from so many! If you google "Ralph Edwards Tallahasse Florida" his is the first page that appears in the search

Best Regards C

Well it seemS that SSGT David Edwards is targeting me! I have been in correspondance for bout 2 weeks now. Thank God I got suspious and decided to google him and see what i might find, well thanks goodness for this scam warning site I have been on all alert with him. I have and still have him believing all is well, knowing he is full of crap! He wants to have a life with me in my home town. States he will be "home" in 56 days and still cant give me any info of his military unit or even when and where he is coming"home" to. He has now asked for clothing,money, a cell phone and now a laptop(which Ive sent nothing). He has given me an email for his "care attendant". Which I have the email and yet to access it for fear of a virus to my computer or worse him finding where I live. He hit the MATCH.Com date site, which is when I came across him, the pic on the site was totally different than the one he emailed me(created a fake email) and had changed his site name several times to throw me off and others. When I asked him bout it said a friend set his profile up. Have caught him in many lies, states has a son living in Germany and his wife died in a fire(which he cant even explain what happened). His age has changed twice. Im getting as much info from him as possible. Plan to nail him for this! And the pics are of the same soldier posted on here. It blew my mind! Well if any question just ask. I hope to keep this going and maybe catch him, just fear there are many others, possible terriorist who are using us ladies to feed them money or even worse access to our personal lives. So dont give any info to him. Believe he is dangerous.

STEALTH71

Welcome Stealth!

I'm glad you caught on before losing any money.

However, we cannot recommend continuing correspondence with him, as he has your personal information and he is a criminal. He is not likely to come anywhere near you, but we have seen angry scammers cause some problems for the victims who played with them, and it is just not worth it.

Continuing correspondence with him is not going to get him caught. He will continue to change his story, and you will likely catch him in more lies, but he is just going to continue to hide behind fake identities and new lies. Even if he "confesses" the information he gives you will just be a new set of lies.


Unfortunately, he is far out of the jurisdiction of your own law enforcement, and is most likely in an African country where corrupt law enforcement often looks the other way.

The best thing you can do is drop him. As tempting as it is, don't point out his mistakes or contradictions. If you do, this will only cause him to fix them for the next scam, and we'd rather he continue to make those mistakes as the next victim is more likely to become suspicious if she finds them.

HELLO I TOO HAVE MEET THIS MICHAEL EDWARDS STATING HE WAS IN THE ARMY IN IRAQ SAID HE HAD A SON NAME DAVE WHO IS 12. I KNEW HE WAS A FAKE BECAUSE THERE WERE QUESTION HE COULD NOT ANSWER. I HAD ALREADY HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH A SOLIDER BY THE NAME OF COL.HOWARD LUIS SO I KIND OF KNEW WHAT TO LOOK FOR. ALTHOUGH I DID SEND LUIS A PHONE. MICHAEL WAS UPSET WHEN I TOLD HIM I WASNT GOING TO SEND HIM A PHONE OR MONEY. ITS SAD THAT THESE MEN THERE WHERE EVER THEY ARE ARE DOING THIS. ALL WE WANT IS SOMEONE TO CHAT WITH EDWARDS FOUND ME ON ZOOSK A ONLINE DATING. HOWARD LUIS FOUND ME ON FACEBOOK I HOPE THIS HELPS I BELIEVE I AM DONE WITH ONLINE ANYTHING THIS INTERNET IS CRAZY.

I'm sorry you lost money on a phone, but glad you are now aware and have avoided later attempts.

If you could post the emails/messages these scammers sent you (and include their email addresses), particularly early ones, you can help others to avoid being scammed. Just be sure to remove your own name/email address first. If you're not sure how, you can forward to my email in my signature line.

I also met Sgt. James Martin on Match dot com, using pictures of Ralph Edwards, It was so funny because I asked him his eye color and he said blue, the pictures of Ralph Edwards are brown, LOL, then he sends me pictures with Edwards name on his uniform DAAAAAAAAAA. I did some diging and found out that the pictures that he sent me is also on scambaiters.com When I confronted him about it he said Ralph Edwards is stealing his idenity. I thinks these guys think that the women here in the USA are stupid and not gone to check them out. LOL I have met 8 men on match dot com and every one of them were scammer, asking for money, I found out that a clue to look for is when you check what they are looking for in a mate, the age range is wide like they are 50 looking for a women from 45 to 65 come on what is wrong with them??? another thing to look for is there match has no filled out. This was the best one I had so far it made my day, I met him on match he sent me pictures of a Army Solider the gentlemen name was right on the uniform as Schiller first name Michael, see to be gone good between us didnt ask for money yet, but then a month in he was in love, I am like OMG here we go again, he asked me if I had video he wanted to see me, I told him he need a accept the video in order to see me and he said OK, this is where it gets good, when he accept the video I could see him and hear him, I muted my volume so that he couldnt hear me laughing my a#$ off. I typed to him can you see me and he typed yes, I couldnt control my self I was laughing so hard and they could see me not knowing I could see and hear them. Needless to say he was not the solider in the photo. I told them they were stupid and should be ashmed of themselves, I could hear him telling someone else what I was typing to him, I told him he didnt need to type I could see and hear everything they were saying because they are stupid. I told him never ever email me again, I did tell him that the army soliders pictures that they are using the USA needs to get a task force together and come over there and kick some A$#. I have report these guys to match dot come every time and match lets them back on under another profile name, dont you need a credit card to use match, dot com I would love to meet the real Ralph Edwards. That is if he is single!!!!

Welcome Alisa!
Good thing you know how to spot a scammer when you see one.

Unfortunately, a lot of victims meet their scammer when they are vulnerable, for instance after the recent death of their husbands, or they are inexperienced with dating sites; so they don't recognise the red flags.

I don't recommend to report scammers' fake profiles. Their account will get closed, and all the information gathered here will be worthless for a victim doing an internet search. In the meantime, the scammer opens new accounts within minutes.

You seem to enjoy stringing scammers along - are you doing it anonymously?
What you are doing is called "scambaiting". You might like to browse our sister site,
http://forum.419eater.com/forum/
where you find a community of these scambaiters.

Enjoy your Sunday!

[coilor=#004040][/color] Itoo have come across edwards, early last year, but he was then using the name Capt.percil dino, with edwards pic, i became suspicious very quickly, which led me to investigate him. I still chatted to him letting him believe i was believing him. On other sites he was edwards ... percil edwards. he was different ages, lived in different places. After a lot of investigation on him, i found his real identity, he is from nigeria, his real name is Jackson Labista. he has used many names, including raymond, ronald brand, he still has his yahoo account as [email protected] . he has certain traits that give him away, he likes to call you "honey" he will take you to the alter, He is not very imaginative with his pic, usually the same one of edwards. His favourite country he wants you to go live with him in is Spain. He came up on another site 2 weeks ago,, when he realized it was me he quickly disappeared from the site not to return, it was DPEDWARDS. so be aware of any contacts with similar names as it is most likely Jackson Labista,

Welcome Loonmagnet!

I'm glad you caught on to this scammer without losing money. Scammers do tend to use the same scripts over and over again, and excessive use of terms like "honey" and "babe" are typical of most Nigerian scammers.

I do want to point out that his real name is most likely not Jackson Labista, though. It may be another name he is using. He is Nigerian, and neither Jackson nor Labista is a Nigerian name.

i agree it doesnt sound a nigerian name, i did a lot of investigation and the information i have as to his name, is where he has been busted and his real pic is shown. he has been under investigation for some time and has been tracked down. Unfortunately these scammers do not be prosecuted.im curious as to what email he is now using as he still has his percil dino email active. there are sites where you can see the real pictures of scammers and pics they use to scam with. Thankfully with the help of these sites it is giving people the knowledge to be aware and stay safe.

Unfortunately, most of these "investigations" are merely email address or phone number searches (some people even base their research on IP addresses or bank account info, which is even more likely to be wrong as several scammers can share an IP or use the same bank account). Often, what is presented as the truth is only more unverified speculation, or the investigator points to the profile that looks the most real (in that case, it may actually belong to the scammer, but still contains fake info).

But in the end, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that the posted information doesn't lead to false hope or result in a victim being set up for another scam. As long as you understand that the information posted is not verified, did not come from law enforcement, and is not going to lead to an arrest, there is no harm done.

As to what email address he is using, he is undoubtedly using several. Scammers don't limit themselves to one identity. They typically have several identities going at one time, often with multiple email addresses for a single identity. They also frequently have multiple phone numbers, including redirect numbers.

This guy has ripped me off. I live in the uk and he said he was a sgt in Afganastan due for retirement last june 2011
He asked me to send two expensive mobile phones so he could give them to his bosses to get early release from the army
I was silly and sent them to an address in Nigeria they sent them back so I should have been suspicious I then send them by DHL to another address in Nigeria but he couldnt access them and they should be back this week
He also asked me for several t mobile vouchers
He only phoned once and has an american axcent
Last thursday I got a text saying he had been shot by the taliban and yesterday to said he is in th e states
He says he has a simple daughter who lives in stateside
I got his name from girls date for free under eddyfed and hes on facebook as fredric edwards
he convinced me he loved me and wanted to buy a house in the Uk
please can any body who is or has been involved with this man email or reply
why does he need phones probably to sell, and why didnt customs get him
im scared because he has my address and am trying to change my internet provider

I'm sorry that you were scammed, though it is fortunate that the phones couldn't be delivered for some reason.

Just to clarify, though...
He is not American. He is Nigerian.
He is not the man in the photos.
He doesn't know the man in the photos--he simply copied the photos from the internet.
There is no way to buy leave or release from the US Army using phones, cash, or anything else.
People who are not in the army cannot make requests for people in the army.

As to what he wanted the phones for--if he wasn't going to use them in further scams, he would undoubtedly sell them.

You haven't said why the shipments were rejected--but it may not be for any known crime on his part. It is not illegal to receive gifts from a friend, and the authorities may not know that he was posing as someone else. Even if they did know, law enforcement in some parts of Nigeria is notoriously corrupt, and more likely to demand a bribe than arrest him.

The best thing you can do at this point is cut off all contact with this scammer immediately.