Scammer claiming to be English in US army

Hi all,
felt compelled to tell all and let you know about a scammer. Got messaged by a man called JAMES BRYANT on the Uniform Dating site in the UK, he said he was english but in the US army. He had lost his wife 4 years ago and had a 12 year old son who was being looked after by his teacher in the UK. We talked over msn mainly, he never sent emails. Anyway, I twigged quite quickly and went along with it to see how far it would go. He told me he loved me after about 4 weeks and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me etc etc. He asked me for a new Iphone as it was multi media and we could talk easier while he was in Afghan. I said i had a phone to send him (a 3 year old knackered one) and I did put £10 credit on it. I went to the phone shop and a text to afghan would cost around 40p, I sent him a couple of texts and it cost me nothing as i monitored it. He also asked for me to send the phone to an address in Glasgow, it was a hospital and to his mates wife who knew how to bypass the usual mail system. Anyway, he then did the leave thing, asking me to contact his captain and he said I was his fiancee. He told me his dad was broke and needed money and how he was going to send him £20k but his account was blocked. In the meantime I was the love of his life and he was going to be by my side. This week he said he had been sent to Yemen and needed me to help him out with money for a flight back to the UK. This is when i turned it on him, told him i wasn't who i was, i pretended and wanted money from him to get out of an unhappy marriage etc and could he send some seeing as he was close to coming home and loved me.......... Not heard from him. I contacted the police and was told no crime had been commited but im convinced they are in the UK because of the non payment of text messages. The email address for this person is [email protected]. He also sent me a picture of him and his son.

Welcome Micante, and thanks for posting this warning!

Now I'm afraid I have to post a warning, too:

Never mess with a criminal who has got access to some of your real life details. You met him on a social networking site: Did you register with your real name, and with an email address you use in everday life? Does he have your phone number?

Most probably he is thousands of miles away from you and won't spend money on an airline ticket just to harass you face to face, but he could do nasty things on the internet.
Plus, he seems to have accomplices in the UK, not ideal either.

So, in the future, stay away from these scumbags.

Hi Katharina,
thanks for your reply and yes, you are right, it was a dangerous thing to do carrying it on but that is just me, I felt I was careful and I didn't provoke, I confused him in the end. My email address is one I created for chatting to people from sites so not my everyday one. We talked on MSN and all he could see was my first name. I don't use any social sites like facebook anyway so if my name was googled I wouldnt pop up anywhere. He has no knowledge of my address, work address, family, I told him i would introduce him to all that when he came back home etc etc.
I guess when it comes down to it, I was just as determined as he was but for a different ending.

. My email address is one I created for chatting to people from sites so not my everyday one. We talked on MSN and all he could see was my first name. I don't use any social sites like facebook anyway so if my name was googled I wouldnt pop up anywhere.

That's fine. There's no possible harm he can do with just your first name. We aren't against baiting scammers as long as it's done safely. Most if not all Scamwarners "staff" do it.

Thank you. I don't wish to appear clever or cocky, I was upset and just needed to give him a taster of what it is like. I am recently divorced and to have "the man of my dreams" pay me the attention I craved, was a breath of fresh air but then the alarm bells rang and lets be honest, if he is the man of my dreams then he doesn't exist because he would be the man of my reality..... It hurts like hell.

Hi Micante13 !
Welcome to scamwarners!
I'm really sorry that you have been hurt by this scammer. As far as giving him a taste of how he hurt you, perhaps you would like to join us over at our sister site: http://www.419eater.com/, where we safely "bait" scammers, in order to try to keep them too busy to have time to scam real victims.

Hi Helen,
many thanks for the link. I will definitely come and join you soon. At the moment I want to regain some strength mentally then I will take pleasure in wasting their time....

Hi
I met a guy on Uniform Dating Uk claiming to be a US soldier. He uses the name Chris Bryant,we mainly chatted by MSN for 3 months. I did feel sometimes he seemed foreign, but he was such a charmer. Said he was widowed and had a 12 year old son who lived in the UK called John. Even sent pics of him and John,on a couple of occasions I became suspicious and he seemed always to have the answers. (very clever) He asked me to request leave for him as he was being sent to Yemen and send money which I didn't do. It did upset me to think he was going to Yemen but at least i didnt send any money!!. I found this website by chance when I typed in the name of the officer he asked me to write to asking for his leave. I have not heard from him since.

Sharon

Hi Sharon,
yep, sounds just like him and his 12 year old John, longish blond hair, green T shirt??? We seem to have got him around the same time from the same site. I suspect if we swapped photos it will be the same person???? I agree, there were times when I did think he might be genuine but when he said about his dad and wanting to send him £20k and and of course the posting to Yemen. Ive not heard from him since I turned it round on him, lets just say we need to be grateful that at the moment it is 2 - 0 to us.......

Hi Micante

Yep thats the one very handsome man and his son. He told me his dad and sister lived in America but he was from Leeds. God i bet he got really fed up with me as being a typical woman i asked loads and loads of questions, he really had to work for it!!!. Bet he is kicking himself now as neither of us gave money. I didnt know people like that actually existed. I didnt tell him my address but he knew where I worked but i suspect he is long gone now. I do believe he has help over here though because I have had some funny calls and messages from a girl called Kay??? Hopefully he has crawled back into the hole he came from!!

Sharon

Are you from Leeds by any chance? He was "from" where I lived.... I was the same, asked loads of questions and when they obviously got tough, he showed himself as offline on MSN then said it was the connection the next day. My "slot" was 9.30pm hahaha, he was on at that time most nights. I am convinced there are people in this country as I mentioned about the texts, they cost me nothing over 3 months?? I've not had any calls thankfully but I wouldn't and don't answer the phone if it is just a number, they can leave a message but then that will be evidence. I will be honest and it did rip me up a bit when I got suspicious as I had believed the man in the photo was the man talking to me and now he didn't exist.
I would say he has slithered back to the hole in the ground. Im sorry you had the same as me but Im also pleased for you that you acted the same as me.

Hi Micante

No not from Leeds from Hampshire. My time slot was 9ish too!! and when the questions got hard he had to go or the reception was poor, sometimes I did feel he was talking to someone else as he took so long to reply.
If I went on at a different time and he was there and his answer was " we were meant to be" !! as we think the same - twat . Trouble is I will never believe what a man says ever now which is a shame. I might join up to scam them!!

Sharon

Hi Sharon and Micante,
it's wonderful you can assist each other.
However, please don't go on exchanging personal information ("Leeds", "Hampshire") in public. To be on the safe side, use the "PM" (Private Message) button on the right side under your user name.

Hi, I can fully understand how you two ladies are feeling right now, and good on you for supporting each other. It's an awful feeling, I recognise it well and I'm not prepared to let more go through it if I can help it . Hope to "see" you on the scam baiting site soon.

Try to remember there are good men out there too and there is no guarantee that the person/people we have communicated with were men anyway. I feel sorry for the guys whose identities they have stolen and the potential problems this causes them...take a look through some of the earlier postings of men being scammed/used.

Hi,
I totally agree with you regarding the fellas who have had their potos and ID's stolen. The photo I received was of"james and his son", I asked him how old the photo was as he said he lost his wife 4 years ago but was wearing a wedding ring in the photo, he told me it was a year old and then we lost the connection.......
Again, agree, there are lots of nice men out there as well, I have a few as friends and they are genuine and are all in the UK forces, they tell me a lot about what is going on in afghan and their entitlements etc etc and this has helped me recognise the scam as it didn't make sense.
Yep, will be coming over for a spot of fishing soon, see what I can reel in......