by peoplesuck
Sat Dec 30, 2017 7:04 pm
I am writing this here to save someone in the future!
My stepdad passed away earlier this year. My mom met Michael Russo on match.com recently and informed her kids (myself included) of their connection, as well as an impending trip to visit.
Since meeting in-person is a big step, I looked for him everywhere I could think of to verify his information -- he claimed his wife had leukemia and passed away 6 years ago; he had a daughter in her early 20s at Ohio State; he was a petroleum engineer who works off-shore on spills; and he was very romantic!
Every question I raised had an answer - his deceased wife's name was Melissa, his daughter's name was Emily, he was a self-employed consultant. He didn't use social media much and that wasn't a red flag to my mom because really, neither does she. I started by looking for an obituary for Melissa, which was not available, nor were there any records of her death for the city/county. Ohio State did not have an "Emily Russo" as a current nursing student. I also found it odd that his 20-something-year-old daughter didn't have any social media presence either (red flag!).
I found a thread on this website for Michael L Voss and thought the stories seemed vaguely similar, as well as the names and additional aliases. We held out for him to be a real person, assuming things could be coincidental. 24 hours later, he asked for $10,000 and was sent packing.
They planned to exchange letters/packages and the one she sent was just returned "addressee unknown."
His current information is below:
Name: Michael M Russo
Phone: 2104687941
Address: 8**1 Painted Wagon San Antonio, TX 78254
Add'l info:
- born in Italy, moved to US and lived in West Virginia since age 5
- wife died of leukemia after 3 years
- he moved to San Antonio with wife and daughter when she was sick, so that they could be near her family
- registered subcontractor for KC Deutag Drilling
- worked for Exxon Mobil for 20+ years
- asked for the $10K because he needed more chemical materials or he would lose a new contract, claimed he didn't have a line of credit and she was his last hope.
My stepdad passed away earlier this year. My mom met Michael Russo on match.com recently and informed her kids (myself included) of their connection, as well as an impending trip to visit.
Since meeting in-person is a big step, I looked for him everywhere I could think of to verify his information -- he claimed his wife had leukemia and passed away 6 years ago; he had a daughter in her early 20s at Ohio State; he was a petroleum engineer who works off-shore on spills; and he was very romantic!
Every question I raised had an answer - his deceased wife's name was Melissa, his daughter's name was Emily, he was a self-employed consultant. He didn't use social media much and that wasn't a red flag to my mom because really, neither does she. I started by looking for an obituary for Melissa, which was not available, nor were there any records of her death for the city/county. Ohio State did not have an "Emily Russo" as a current nursing student. I also found it odd that his 20-something-year-old daughter didn't have any social media presence either (red flag!).
I found a thread on this website for Michael L Voss and thought the stories seemed vaguely similar, as well as the names and additional aliases. We held out for him to be a real person, assuming things could be coincidental. 24 hours later, he asked for $10,000 and was sent packing.
They planned to exchange letters/packages and the one she sent was just returned "addressee unknown."
His current information is below:
Name: Michael M Russo
Phone: 2104687941
Address: 8**1 Painted Wagon San Antonio, TX 78254
Add'l info:
- born in Italy, moved to US and lived in West Virginia since age 5
- wife died of leukemia after 3 years
- he moved to San Antonio with wife and daughter when she was sick, so that they could be near her family
- registered subcontractor for KC Deutag Drilling
- worked for Exxon Mobil for 20+ years
- asked for the $10K because he needed more chemical materials or he would lose a new contract, claimed he didn't have a line of credit and she was his last hope.
