I think it's a scam, need help, getting scared

Emails are all gone now and i only have my old one which i never give out to anyone. Will try and see a different store about the over seas call blocking but as you said Jolly, chop up the old one with scissors and get a new one

Dont know how many times ive said this to you all, but i really mean it when i say

THANK YOU EVERYONE

Emails are all gone now and i only have my old one which i never give out to anyone. Will try and see a different store about the over seas call blocking but as you said Jolly, chop up the old one with scissors and get a new one

Dont know how many times ive said this to you all, but i really mean it when i say

THANK YOU EVERYONE

I'll admit, it was frustrating reading this thread and the fact you kept looking back and questioning whether the scammer was legitimate or not.

Think of this from the scammers perspective: The vested time it takes to send you a precomposed email, a quick text, or a 30 second voicemail is very very small. Suppose they work an 8 hour day and have hundreds of contacts (you included). If they can wiggle out even $100 then that is a good investment of their time.

To put this in perspective, consider an investment day trader. High risk, high reward, basically it's the equivalent of you and the people he is scamming. If he can get $100 per day, working 5 days per week, then that's $25,000 at the end of the year. Untaxed. His success rate is low. Some people see through him, other times he plays the wrong emotional card and the person is unaffected, or sometimes he succeeds. Now consider if he increases his volume of 'client's' and betters his scamming tactics through FEAR and UNCERTAINTY. Every human is susceptible to both, and when combined it makes us do IRRATIONAL things. He makes $200? Boom, $50k a year for sitting on a couch trolling the internet...

Hey everyone it has been pretty quiet lately then all of a sudden on my home phone i got a phone call from a Australian state number (Victorian state) which i ignored. The guy left a message saying his name is Lance. Later on tonight the same guy called my mobile and i answered. I asked him who he is and he says he works for Trustcomm. I looked up this site and saw that it was an American site which is for Secure Satellite Servivces DoD. Now this looks pretty legit this site which is based in a military site in Texas.

After i hung up from Lance i got a message from the same US soldier/scammer? saying:

"Hello , why haven't replied my mails? Reply to my mail now."

Again im sorry this is probably getting annoying when i say this but i am scared all over again, we have some telemarketers here that use a South Australian number that appears on caller ID but then is connected to the overseas number, could this be what this Lance guy is doing, as his name does not appear on the contact us list in the Trustcomm site. Could it be another identity?

Lance's accent did sound a bit like the US soldiers that had been threatening me and i have never ever seen or heard of the site Trustcomm

Please again i ask for your help thanks

It is indeed similar to what telemarketers do.

It's actually very easy to get a virtual Australian phone number--basically a computer-based number that looks like an Australian number, but directs calls to a completely different phone somewhere else in the world. Scammers (and baiters) do these things pretty regularly. He doesn't work for Trustcomm--he just found the name of a real company on the internet, and then claimed to work for them. Anyone can claim to work for any company--that doesn't mean that they really do.

At this point, it is safe to assume that any call supposedly connected to an American soldier is going to be connected to one or more of the scammers, so just hang up.

So you think it is just the scammer with his tricks trying to scare me into contacting him. I just want to know how he got my home phone but i guess it is in a phone book and he has my full name so easy look up....

I will just ignore all calls from that number i was just shocked when i recieved the TEXT message from him with the number attached and everyhting when earlier on he said he didn't have a mobile? My daughter said the other night we havent heard anything, he may have given up. i just told her this and she yelled I jinxed it! It just dragged up my daughters and mines fear of him showing up at our home but as you guys said he wouldnt waste the time and money to do so. If all else fails we might just go to the police and see if they can do anything, not find him and arrest him but offer us some solutions.

Thanks if all else fails i will just change my mobile number. I deleted my emails so i guess he is trying to find new ways to scare me into trying to contact him

Hi Lildogs3. Have sent a Private Message to you.

He is in Africa and will stay in Africa. Anything is a smoke screen. Having had the "get lost" indication he persists. He still thinks he can get money off you. Just continue as you are. He will give up, but remember he is investing time and money in this which will force him to stop in the end. He won't win and each time you discover a subterfuge you block it off and he is back to square one again. Looks like he is the loser.

thanks Jolly for the message, made a difference.
sorry again if i am being annoying but its just the first time ive ever gone head to head with a scammer like this and i dont know their tricks they use so it just scares my daughter and I. I just went and got an overseas block on my house phone so will see what plays from that. Thanks to all for putting up with me

This is what the site is for. It doesn't matter who or when needs help.=)

I have just gone and changed my number and have added the number the scammer has been trying to contact me with to my reject and block list. He begun to continuously call and text me. I ignored the calls but i read the texts. One was saying how he just want to hear from me to see if i am ok and he wont bother me if i reply anymore. This was followed by another call which i ignored then another text which was You have not pick my call. You will pick, You have ingnored me I am sorry for what i must do next...

Turned my phone off and went and got it changed but one more message came through saying he will now post one of the "private" photos i had sent him so that i will know he is not bluffing. He said he knew that i have deleted my emails i used to talk to him and that i will not reply.

As you can tell his grammar and spelling are absolutely terrible, he spelt phone "fone" and all punctuations were spaced away from words and everything, i love how he says You will pick my calls, pick it now (Pick what )

As usual this has gotten me scared aswell as my daughter but the number is changed and his number is blocked so hopefully that prevents any further contact. Not sure about the threat about posting the pictures though i have blocked him on facebook so dont know where or even IF he will post one.

You have done very well L. Having the block placed on the landline and changing the mobile will cut it's communication supply off. Just be careful not to advertise your new number online anywhere and all should be well. Not really familiar with old fb but blocking and reporting the scammer should see it off. Dare I say it, but maybe close your fb profile if the scammer gets past it and create another, perhaps? Yes I realise highly inconveniencing.
re: One was saying how he just want to hear from me to see if i am ok and he wont bother me if i reply anymore. No, no, no don't even think of doing that. That is scam talk for the scammer to sucker you in deeper and you told more lies.
re: saying he will now post one of the private photos i had sent him so that i will know he is not bluffing. That is a feeble attempt to scare you into further dialogue with it. I can verify and clearly state with 110% clarity of seeing more at our local beach on a summers day than what the scammer might think it's seen.
You have the scammer on the backfoot, which is a position they do not like. The grubby tricksters are used to being in the drivers seat controlling the scam and using the target as simply a source of revenue. The scammer is not even thinking of going any where near you. It's purpose in life is to fleece their target and not spend money on imaginary visits. It will stay hidden in it's little internet caf?.
I realise it can be unsettling for some.
You've done well with your report because countless people in future will take heed when reading your story.

Thank you Jolly

I hope now this is the end of it all and that i will now come onto this website not as someone asking for help but as someone who can help other victims who go through similar experiences as well and I will most definately tell anyone who has a scam issue to come to this site ASAP.

Will give it some time and will see what will happen if i hear from him again (which i hope absolutely NOT)

Now begins the long process of telling all my contacts that my number has been changed, didnt have to get a new sim just called up my phone company and they gave me a whole new number, which i now have to remember

As soon as i read the part about him just wanting to know if i am okay and that he wont bother me if i reply i was like: Uhhh, NO!! It was a different attempt though to get me to reply though.

The phone company worker i had was even more understanding when i told her why i am changing my number and she did it so fast and so nicely, i wish they were all like that.

You have all been wonderful and so helpful, i wish that we can all spread this information on this site to EVERYONE so that the scammers run out of victims to scam and hurt

Thought all was going so nicely and have had no contact from the him, then tonight i get an email from him (i thought i had him blocked from his address but must not of worked) nothing was said but there was 1 attachment. It was a love themed/romance song which i am sure he had sent ages ago to me. Didn't want to open it just in case it had a virus or something bad with in it so deleted it straight away.

Cant believe that he is still trying to contact me, persistence....
I asked this before but never really got a clear answer, Can the scammers be THIS persistent especially if they think we are easy to push around. Just wanting to know that is all

I asked this before but never really got a clear answer, Can the scammers be THIS persistent especially if they think we are easy to push around. Just wanting to know that is all

Yes they can, especially with a victim who has paid out.

Just to give you some idea of how persistent some scammers can be I am a scambaiter, I am sure you have come across that term, essentially someone who plays the part of a victim to waste as much of the scammers time as possible. I have just received a phone call this morning from a scammer in Turkey who has been trying to scam me for nine months and even after all this time and him not getting a single penny out of me he is still trying. If they believe they can scam you they will continue to contact you.

Cant believe that he is still trying to contact me, persistence....
I asked this before but never really got a clear answer, Can the scammers be THIS persistent especially if they think we are easy to push around. Just wanting to know that is all

4X has given a good summary there. Many scammers (but not all) are like members of a scam syndicate. If one scammer is given the flick, another gang member may try. It's common for scammers to sell or pass on a targets email address to other scammers too.
Yes they can be that persistent sometimes. When I was scammed by the Russian syndicate, they kept writing for months hoping I was gullible again. Give a scammer an inch and they'll try to take a mile, so the saying goes.
But yours will get the message soon and it will give up.