possible online romantic scammer?

Greetings to all,

and thanks for your support, it is really appreciated.
I think I have been scammed by an 'online romantic scammer', using the technical term.
Since a couple of months I am in match.com. I am writing from Switzerland.

I just need to know if this guy - Mikel - is a scammer.
From this first email, he sounded to be a very good guy.
He sent me 10 pictures of him in one email,
and 15 other pictures in another email,
and again, he seems to be a very good person!

During our 4th chat (which means yesterday - 23.7.11)
he asked me for money for an urgent project.
I have also kept the texts of this chat.

But first I am sending you the first email-text.
I have to say that I feel sorry for doing this checking,
but I need to know if this guy is a scammer or not.

Thanks for the help, I do really appreciate it a lot.
M55

That is his first email:

"... I promised to email you and tell you a fair bit about me,well here goes;I am South African,but born in Tanzania and spent my pre-teen years in Mali,due to my father's job;he was an archaelogist whose fascination with Timbuktu and it's history made me fall in love with culture,history and travelling from a very young age.We didn't get to move back home to Johannesburg until I was 14.I'm an only child but from a very large family.My father passed away in July 2008 after having battled stroke for over a decade and my mother was a nurse, but retired for a few years now and living back home in Johannesburg.My mother is very close and important to me,hence why I try to see her at least twice a year.
I moved to the United Kingdom in 2003 due to my girlfriend wanting to be close to her ailing father and I've been single for almost 3 years,since I lost her to an auto accident in November 2008;we had been dating for 9 years.I have now chosen to get back into the dating game, but opted for the virtual route because I have never been a fan of pubs nor clubs, and everyone has embraced online/dot.com culture.I'm looking for a soulmate who would be my friend and lover.I'm not keen on looks even though chemistry is important.I like modesty,intelligence,decent sense of humour and being skilled in the culinary arts,in a woman.I don't have kids but I love dogs; sadly my job doesn't allow me enough time to care for and own one.
I am a Petroleum engineering consultant whose specialty is maintenance and repair of oil tankers and vessels.I'm also in the process of acquiring licenses to lift or dredge for crude oil in some specific OPEC countries.I'm an old romantic who's friendly,honest,down to earth,a good listener,eager to learn and well-versed in a lot of things.I'm also very ambitious and adventurous.I like reading a variety of stuff which challenge my intellect,I love Latin history;it's literature and arts,massive football follower(I'm an LFC fan).I listen mostly to deep,but mellow music,mostly watch funny movies only and cartoons.I like video-games,ride motorbikes(used to own an Honda Hornet,but got a Goodwin scooter now) and most of all,enjoy wild and exciting adventures like abseiling,bungee jumping,mountain climbing,white water rafting and deep sea diving.I am an adrenaline junkie,but not to the extreme.My favourite books,are The Partner by John Grisham and Fools Die by Mario Puzo.The Champ,Escape from Sobrebor and Carlito's Way are my favourite movies.The Gambia,is my favourite holiday destination.Blue is my favourite colour.My dream is to build orphanages and football academies in war-torn 3rd world countries within the next decade,God willing.I am presently working on an oil haulage and dispersal project with some colleagues from my former work and a few friends.We are setting it up in Phillipines and the Middle East,so shuttle between Europe and Manila for now,so as to bond and strategise on ways to commence with the project.
I hope I haven't rambled on and bored you?Have a lovely week.
PS I've attached a few random photos of me."

That is the information attached to the

Delivered-To: XXX
Received: by 10.52.160.105 with SMTP id xj9cs24738vdb;
Mon, 4 Jul 2011 02:07:05 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.220.189.71 with SMTP id dd7mr2100110vcb.59.1309770424287;
Mon, 04 Jul 2011 02:07:04 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from snt0-omc2-s3.snt0.hotmail.com (snt0-omc2-s3.snt0.hotmail.com [65.55.90.78])
by mx.google.com with ESMTP id w3si3091829vcq.7.2011.07.04.02.07.01;
Mon, 04 Jul 2011 02:07:04 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 65.55.90.78 as permitted sender) client-ip=65.55.90.78;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 65.55.90.78 as permitted sender) [email protected]
Received: from SNT140-W12 ([65.55.90.73]) by snt0-omc2-s3.snt0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.4675);
Mon, 4 Jul 2011 02:06:01 -0700
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Return-Path: [email protected]
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="_aa4e04bb-2aa7-4c28-b1f5-e4c72ac9a30a_"
X-Originating-IP: [91.214.169.114]
From: Mikel Vermaak <[email protected]>
To: <XXX>
Subject: Mikel
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2011 10:06:00 +0100
Importance: Normal
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 04 Jul 2011 09:06:01.0226 (UTC) FILETIME=[986D1EA0:01CC3A29]

--_aa4e04bb-2aa7-4c28-b1f5-e4c72ac9a30a_
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="_e8c8d685-bd95-4bb6-a085-5cd50eac60b6_"

--_e8c8d685-bd95-4bb6-a085-5cd50eac60b6_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Hi Marianna, do not send any money, this is a typical African scammer.

Everything in his email suggest the common phrases and grammar of a romance scammer.

Please drop him from your contact lists, do not send any money, he will continue to ask for more if you do send any.

Welcome to Scamwarners...

The email headers are telling me that the email is originating from Switzerland ! (so I am a bit confused on that, unless he is saying he is in Switzerland)


The text of the email does seem to be one of which we see a lot of, engineer working abroad etc

I would be very wary if he is asking for money after only a few emails, my instincts on this are screaming Scam

Please have no more contact

Thanks a lot for these replys,
I do really appreciate it.

The Swiss path is 'strange' to me as well, because I am living in Switzerland.
In match.com website he was logged in Lucern (he said that he lived there for 5 months).
This city is at one hour from were i live, meaning in Basel.
But after a couple of days, he logged in Kent, UK.
Now, I cannot find his profile in match.com anymore. Strange!

By the way, I have an additional question:

this guy sent me about 25 pictures of the guy I think is not the scammer.
So, my question is: is there a way to find the "real" guy on the internet?
I do believe that the scanner has taken these 25 pictures
on a blog or on picasa or on another pictures' sharing platform.
What do you think about it? Thanks a lot,
and I really really appreciate your feedbacks a lot!

Here I am quoting the skype chat we had,
where he is asking for money.

Thanks for your additional feedbacks, I do really appreciate.

Marianna

last chat via skype 22.7.11

[21:00:37] me: hello mikel!

[21:04:26] Mikel: 15mins please

[21:04:40] me: sure!

[21:26:00] Mikel: hi

[21:26:55] me: here we are! how are you?

[21:27:08] Mikel: depressed

[21:27:16] me: nooooooooooooooooo! why?

[21:28:02] Mikel: i need to raise some money urgently within 5 working days

[21:28:17] me: do you have a strategy?

[21:28:24] me: a plan?

[21:28:40] Mikel: yes

[21:29:00] Mikel: i emailed friends asking for loans and its been negative results mostly

[21:29:21] me: well, it is difficult for a lot of people right now!

[21:30:37] Mikel: the person who coud help me, his daughter has leukaemia

[21:31:18] me: i am very sorry for this person!

[21:31:39] Mikel: me too

[21:31:40] Mikel: thx

[21:31:45] me: so what is your planB?

[21:32:08] me: by the way, where are you now? still in manila?

[21:32:18] Mikel: yes

[21:32:24] Mikel: that was my plan b

[21:32:32] Mikel: plan a was to ask the bank for a loan

[21:32:40] Mikel: plan c now is to sell my things

[21:33:41] me: i am sorry for you mikel!

[21:34:58] Mikel: can u lend me some money till the end of august?

[21:36:29] me: Mikel, can i ask you something?

[21:36:35] Mikel: ok

[21:38:15] me: you know, i read a lot of really strange online stories that happen to people ... and i really hoped - from the bottom of my heart - that i would not experience such a story ...

[21:38:43] Mikel: what?

[21:39:09] me: well, we do not know each others, and you already ask for money ...

[21:39:30] Mikel: i asked because i am despsrate and stressed

[21:39:35] Mikel:sorry i asked

[21:39:40] me: i trusted you and what you wrote ...

[21:39:46] Mikel: if u think i am after money from u then pls forget me

[21:39:48] Mikel: goodluck

[21:39:52] Mikel: i dont ned this right now

That chat is 100% romance scammer, as is the original email. The constantly changing IP's suggest he is using proxies. He most likely stole those photos from a model's online portfolio (lots of scammers use focushawaii.com) or from someone's facebook page or similar.

We do not generally encourage trying to locate the actual person in the photos--that person is most likely not looking for a relationship, and in many cases may not welcome contact from a victim scammed with this photos. In the end, he cannot do anything about the scammer's use of his photos--the scammer has now saved them to his computer, and there is physically no way to stop him from reusing them, even if the owner takes them off the internet.

Note how he moved from Match to chat right away--scammers do that because they know their dating site accounts are likely to be closed quickly.

His profile is most likely gone from match for one of 3 reasons:
1) He joined on a free trial in order to pick up victims
2) He used a stolen/phished credit card for a paid membership (scammers don't use their own money, they use stolen money) and Match was alerted to the fraud.
3) He was reported to Match by other people he tried to scam.

Thank you so much Dotti for your precious advices,
which I really really appreciate a lot! Now, a lot is more clear!
With very nice greetings from Switzerland, Marianna

Greetings,

I have an additional question:

here is the reproduction of the header of the first email sent by the "romantic scammer".

Delivered-To: XXX
Received: by 10.52.160.105 with SMTP id xj9cs24738vdb;
Mon, 4 Jul 2011 02:07:05 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.220.189.71 with SMTP id dd7mr2100110vcb.59.1309770424287;
Mon, 04 Jul 2011 02:07:04 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from snt0-omc2-s3.snt0.hotmail.com (snt0-omc2-s3.snt0.hotmail.com [65.55.90.78])
by mx.google.com with ESMTP id w3si3091829vcq.7.2011.07.04.02.07.01;
Mon, 04 Jul 2011 02:07:04 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 65.55.90.78 as permitted sender) client-ip=65.55.90.78;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 65.55.90.78 as permitted sender) [email protected]
Received: from SNT140-W12 ([65.55.90.73]) by snt0-omc2-s3.snt0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.4675);
Mon, 4 Jul 2011 02:06:01 -0700
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Return-Path: [email protected]
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="_aa4e04bb-2aa7-4c28-b1f5-e4c72ac9a30a_"
X-Originating-IP: [91.214.169.114]
From: Mikel Vermaak <[email protected]>
To: <XXX>
Subject: Mikel
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2011 10:06:00 +0100
Importance: Normal
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 04 Jul 2011 09:06:01.0226 (UTC) FILETIME=[986D1EA0:01CC3A29]

--_aa4e04bb-2aa7-4c28-b1f5-e4c72ac9a30a_
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="_e8c8d685-bd95-4bb6-a085-5cd50eac60b6_"

--_e8c8d685-bd95-4bb6-a085-5cd50eac60b6_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

I used the website ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/ in order
to understand "something" about where the IP is coming from.

Now, I found out that the total of 3 IPs,
2 are coming from the USA and 1 from Switzerland.

1. US
65.55.90.78 IP address location & more:
IP address [?]: 65.55.90.78 [Copy][Whois] [Reverse IP]
IP country code: US
IP address country: United States
IP address state: Washington
IP address city: Redmond
IP postcode: 98052
IP address latitude: 47.6801
IP address longitude: -122.1206
ISP of this IP [?]: Microsoft Hosting
Organization: Microsoft Hosting
Host of this IP: [?]: snt0-omc2-s3.snt0.hotmail.com[Whois] [Trace]
Local time in United States: 2011-07-28 11:21

2. US
65.55.90.73 IP address location & more:
IP address [?]: 65.55.90.73 [Copy][Whois] [Reverse IP]
IP country code: US
IP address country: United States
IP address state: Washington
IP address city: Redmond
IP postcode: 98052
IP address latitude: 47.6801
IP address longitude: -122.1206
ISP of this IP [?]: Microsoft Hosting
Organization: Microsoft Hosting
Local time in United States: 2011-07-28 11:23

3. Switzerland
91.214.169.114 IP address location & more:
IP address [?]: 91.214.169.114 [Copy][Whois] [Reverse IP]
IP country code: CH
IP address country: Switzerland
IP address state: n/a
IP address city: n/a
IP address latitude: 47.0000
IP address longitude: 8.0000
ISP of this IP [?]: Softronics Communication AG
Organization: Softronics Communication AG
Host of this IP: [?]: vpnseek.vserver.softronics.ch[Whois] [Trace]

My question is:
from what I read, there are many scammers from Africa,
but these 3 IPS are not coming from Africa.
How can this be? (sorry for my ignorance)



Greetings and thanks for a reply,

Marianna

Hi Marianna,

As Dotti mentioned in her previous post, the scammer is hiding his true location to try to avoid detection. Scammers will sometimes use proxy servers to do this.

Notice this information in the IP analysis you posted:

Organization: Softronics Communication AG
Host of this IP: [?]: vpnseek.vserver.softronics.ch

If you do a search for Softronics Communication AG, you'll find a German website that offers such protection. One of the options is for a virtual server, which shows in the vpn.vserver part of the info you posted and I quoted.

Thanks a lot for this explanation, Jillian.
I appreciate it immensely!
Many thanks again, M55

Hello together!
My English is not so good, but I want to thank you for your posts and tell you that Mikel now call Joost Hendrick, [email protected]. As I saw the pics I was sure that he is not real. With your posts I'm now sure
Thank you very much. And here is his Mail from today:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello, sweet xxx. I am sorry not to have been online last night. I was very busy and I hope you are not offended? I have decided to tell you a bit more about me seeing as we've rarely been in touch since we first chatted. Well here goes; I am South African, but born in Tanzania and spent my preteen years in Mali, due to my father's job; he was an archaeologist whose fascination with Timbuktu and stories of it's desert universities and lost scrolls made me fall in love with culture,history and travelling from a very young age. We didn't get to move back home to Johannesburg until I was 14. I'm from a small family; just my parents, me and my little sister. My father passed away in July 2008 after having battled stroke for over a decade and my mother was a nurse, but retired for a few years now and living back home in Johannesburg, with my Tess, my younger sister who teaches kids aged between 8 and 13. We are a very close knit family, hence why I try to see them at least twice a year.

I moved to the United Kingdom in 2003 due to my wife wanting to be close to her ailing father. I've been single for almost 3 years, since I lost her to an auto accident in November 2008 and now chosen to get back into the dating game, but opted for the virtual route because I have never been a fan of pubs nor clubs, and everyone has embraced the online/dot.com culture. I'm looking for a soulmate who would be my friend and lover. I'm not keen on looks even though chemistry is important. I like modesty, intelligence, a decent sense of humour and being skilled in the culinary arts, in a woman. I don't have kids but I love dogs; sadly my job doesn't allow me enough time to care for and own one.

I am a Petroleum engineering consultant whose speciality is maintenance and repair of oil tankers and vessels. I'm also in the process of acquiring licenses to lift or dredge for crude oil in some specific OPEC countries. I am presently working on an oil haulage and dispersal project with some colleagues from my former work and a few friends. We are setting it up in The Philippines and the Middle East, so shuttle between Europe and Manila for now, so as to bond and strategise on ways to commence with the project. I'm an old romantic who's friendly, honest, down to earth, a good listener eager to learn and well-versed in a lot of things. I'm also very ambitious and adventurous. I like reading a variety of stuff which challenge my intellect, I love Latin history; it's literature and arts, massive football follower(I'm a Liverpool FC fan). I listen mostly to deep, but mellow music, mostly watch funny movies only and cartoons. I like video-games, ride motorbikes and I've owned an Honda Hornet for 6 years now, but most of all, enjoy wild and exciting adventures like abseiling, bungee jumping, mountain climbing, white water rafting and deep sea diving. I am an adrenaline junkie,but not to the extreme. My favourite books are The Partner by John Grisham and Fools Die by Mario Puzo. The Champ, Escape from Sobrebor and Carlito's Way are my favourite movies. The Gambia is my favourite holiday destination, blue of any shade is my favourite colour and my life's dream is to build orphanages and football academies in war-torn and 3rd world countries within the next decade, God willing. I was born into a catholic home, but my faith has faltered on and off in all honesty, because of the depression and self loathing that crept in after the tragedies that befell me. I am gradually reconnecting with the Lord and slowly making my way back on a spiritual path so I can grow wiser and better as a person, more.

I hope I haven't rambled on and bored you? Have a lovely evening.

J x
PS I've attached a few random photos of me.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Big Greetings to all and be carefull!!

Crosbi

Welcome to Scamwarners Crosbi, and I'm glad you realised it was a scam. There's no need to apologise for your English. It's good.

Good morning all..
I have been chatting for some days with a man who contacted me on TAGGED using the name Richard Pet.
He pretends to be from Manchester but for this moment working on a contract in Lagos, Nigeria..
I had to deal a few times with scammers and it almost surprised me that they already admit being in Africa...
His email address is [email protected]
His nigerian phone number is +2348157523267
This man's IP address is 46.19.136.172 so also in Switserland.
I don't know if he is the same scammer than the one described above or just using the same proxies.
I am always using Readnotify for foreign mails and it has saved me from a lot of grieve...
I wanted to post some pictures of thIs guy but I wouldn't know how...
Anyway, I hope to have helped you.

Thanks for posting the information. The more information we have posted on these scammers, the better the chances of preventing someone else from being scammed.

There is a link in my signature line with instructions for posting photos, if you would like to put them up.

Hello,
I have found your website tonight, perhaps a bit late. I have been contacted by the same guy than Marianne ( from switzerland) in the middle of july '11. I am still chating with him and as Marianne he send me 15 the 10 pictures, the same first email ( some sentences are a bit different but the story is the same). He is also living in Kent, going to Manilla for job and now leaving in Lagos ( Nigeria) because he has not enought money to come back in UK. I Have about 50 pictures of him, some with other people who are working with him. I am honnest, he asked for for money as he did with Marianne. I wonder how to do to know if the pictures was true or false. I have doubt now, since I have found your website.
Thank you for your response.

Welcome to Scamwarners galway13. The details you gave in your post makes it absolutely certain that he's a scammer only interested in your money. So please break off contact as there is no point in continuing to talk to him.
http://www.scamwarners.com/ makes it easy to upload photos here after printing "Stolen" on them. One or two will be fine, not the whole fifty.