Mr United Nations/pecious stones scammer

Same, same same. I wish I had been wised up to the scams that are so prevalent on dating sites. I am so embarrased that i have been duped out of lots of money, not once but three times to the one scammer.I have done a crash course through scam sites and am very aware now. Thankyou for your site.
I was taken in by a man who claimed he worked for United Nations in Canberra, ha! [email protected] through the dating site match.com australia.
STORY goes like this
Wife died giving birth to second child. Grandmother took custody of his daughter. He had been posted to many countries had very clear photos of himself in UN police vehicles, on assignments in remote Aust with aboriginals, his daughter, him at conferences, himself and his brothers. The photos are of a real person another case of stolen identity.None the less I was taken. His initial emails were very well written and very generous.He was well spoken with an accent. He claimed he was overseas doing business. Then he claimed he had to go to Haiti to do a report. All the while corresponding with me. Gave me his phone number we got to talking. I was initially taken back by his accent. Then he discloses to me that his business is in precious stones, which he was apparently doing business in Haiti. The deal is struck, he returns to UK to his daughter who is apparently lives in Manchester. He gets me into a state of anticipation of returning back to Australia and we will finally meet. Then there are delays taxes to pay I lend $ with the promise of being paid back believing he is genuine and when questioed he uses the fact that he works for UN he would not rip me off. He has never hurt a fly in his life and would never do anything to hurt me. I figure with his job and business he shouldn't have any trouble paying me back. Then hes needs bigger $$$$ to pay insurances on his stones to get them back to Aust. Had an answer for every question, it was push push got to get this money to pay insurances or he will not be able to fly out. I felt extremely uncomfortable about sending such a large sum of money to someone I had not even met and didn't have time to research, and was not aware of these sites, I even expressed to him he could be a scammer for all I know. This did not bother him at all.He appealed to my sense of goodwill and at this stage I still believed he was who he said he was So I send via Western Union two large sums of money separately so It would not be questioned. All along he used his work position as reason for me not to discuss anything to anyone because of his work position, that he could loose his job. He forwarded [ fake] insurance certificate to me. So this meant that he could be on his way to meet me. He sent his flight itinary and I arranged my flight to meet him. Then at last minute he is stuck in China at customs, needing more money. This time requesting a much larger sum, pushing me to get it sorted for him. Borrow money anything to get him out of there. I send him some further funds because he has exhausted his on this investment. I feel sorry for him being stuck there with no money. I even offer to send him some more money, he didnt even have to ask. I expected him to solve the problem himself after this point, which I thought he would, but no, I was the only one who could help. This is when I got into some serious research. No body of that name working for UN. I checked the documents and begun to realise that things were not adding up. That horrible sinking feeling that I'm sure others would know so well . I feel financially exhausted, emotionally ripped off, embarrased, and more than anything else I cant believe how incredibly smooth this guy is . He is very calm, just disconnects when he doesn't want or cant answer a question. The worst thing is that it is one thing to have to grieve the end of a relationship but it is another thing to grieve a ghost person that doesn't even exist at all. Then the poor guy who belongs to the photos that I thought I was falling in love with is probably sitting in his lounge room with his wife & kids. Its so wrong! I have lost my trust in dating sites, my photos will probably end up as a scammers profile to some other potential victim, so many violations. They must be laughing all the way to the bank, Knowing they are untouchable ghosts in the world of ether. Please if anyone else has similar story please post it. I have identified similarities with the supposed engineer and would not be surprised if they are one and the same.

Hello neveragain - I'm so sorry to hear of your experience with this scammer, and the loss of so much of your money. Please stop all contact with him now: don't respond to any emails he sends you, or speak with him on the telephone. Block his number if you are able, and block him also on any chat programme you may have used with him. He will not want to lose you as a source of income, and may have many stories and excuses about why and how you are 'mistaking' him for a scammer. If that fails to persuade you to send him more money, he may try other tactics, for example accusing you of being a stone-hearted women who just plays games with men. You don't need all this further anguish. Just ignore him from now on: he'll guess that you discovered he was a scammer.

You are correct that the police can rarely do anything regarding scammers. The scammer himself could be in living in any country (many are from West Africa, but they are also all over the world), and is using a false name and a webmail address set up with fake information - and, probably, also an anonymous computer in a public internet café, used also by many other people. It is unlikely that he could be located - but, even if he could be, it would be too difficult (and far too expensive) for the police in one country to arrange the arrest of someone like this in another country.

But thank you for doing the one thing you can do - warning other women about this scammer, and scams like this. You have posted the scammer's email address, so now, if another woman googles it, it will reveal to her that this is a scammer, and, hopefully, save her from also getting tricked by this man. Another useful help to others is to post the first one or two emails the scammer sent you. These are usually pre-written by the scammer, and sent to everyone that he contacts (and scammers do write to lots of people at the same time). Scammers often use more than one false name, and more than one email address - but can still use the same pre-written introductory letters; and again, these can help to warn others about the scam.

All the feelings you describe are normal emotions to feel after an experience like this. Please take care not to think negatively of yourself, though. The scammer is the criminal - you were the innocent target of his crime. He took advantage of what are good qualities in you. Be angry at him - but be gentle with and appreciative of yourself.

How do I include an attachment?

Welcome here neveragain.

Sorry to read about your loss.

Do you mean how to include a photo perhaps? You can read about it HERE

Dear Neveragain

I hope that you visit this site. I am so sorry that you suffered a lot in the relationship. I also talked with a man who claimed that he's been with the UN for 27 years in Chemistry.com. He said that he was from New York. His e-mail was: [email protected]. His letters were written in a very good English with a lot of bookish words. I have about 15 pictures of a real man in the UN police car, UN uniform, his daughter, etc. he sent me. He also wrote about the gemstones case but interpreting it otherwise. He also tried to request money from me but of course I did not send any. I wonder if it's the same man you've written about. I am not a financial victim in the case but I am ruined emotionally. Currently, my concern is that real UN employee. This person sends too many pictures of that real man and as far as I know one woman he also communicated with wants to find that real person to warn him about the case. Such people must not use the UN name for their bad intentions.
I would like to communicate with you, if it's possible.

Welcome here tired.

Most romance scammers find ID's of real people on websites, and most of the ' real people' are aware of it. There's not much they can do about it. Some of them need to have their details posted in the internet, then this is one of the things that can happen then.
Could you post the emails that the scammer has send you? If they weren't posted on the various scam warning websites, then they should be posted towarn other possible victims.

Thanks Tied
Thankyou for sharing your story. It sounds like the same guy. I'm so glad that someone else has encountered this man because it confirms it in my mind that he is a sammer without a dought, and I'm glad that you didn't suffer financial loss. He is very smoothly spoken with an accent. Against the advice of this site I lead him to believe that I was going for a loan. I have only just finished communicating. I lost a considerable amount of money and felt the need to give him the run around, which I know is not recommended. I have to say I did a good job stringing him for a further 3-4 weeks, believing that he will be getting more money. He's apparently been held by customs in China crying and insisting that I help him and has finally gone to court witout the money from me and I haven't heard from him since his court appearance. I guess he got sick of pull push from me, as we know hes probably sittting at his computor at this moment scamming someone else with his elaborate and calmly delivered lies. He even sent me a copy of an altered passport after my constantly insisting on proof of identity. He forgot to change the signature so had his name Michael Smith with a completely different signature name. The owner of the passport was born in Lismore. I feel like I have been violated in everyway and i agree the man in the photo is a humanitarian and does not deserve to have all his good work stolen either. The scammer sucked me in as he spoke about the homeless children when he was supposedly was doing a report in Haiti prior to his return flight via UK, visiting his daugher, then via China. He played on the fact that he was a humanitarian and would never do anything to hurt me. I still dont get how someone can be so congruently deceiptful. WOLVES IN SHEEPS CLOTHING! Even though I will never get my money back I do feel like I took back my power. I have studied a lot about scams and feel that I have a better knowledge and Know the style, though I don't feel confident anymore using the dating site matchcom as it seems to be riddled with scammers now I know what to detect. I'm still getting over this head fuck and still cannot believe it sometimes. Look forward to any other comments . neveragain

Neveragain, could you please post some of the scam emails here that he send you? I've just checked, and there haven't been emails posted with this email address yet on the various scam warning sites. When posting them here, it will help warn other possible victims. Education is our best weapon against scammers.

I hope you will recover from this. Just give it some time, and talk to trusted persons about it.