UK Love Scam on Ceramic Import

A close friend of mine in the US has enountered the following strange and very unsettling "love scam" -like situation and I am helping him to track this down. Any suggestion and/or assistance in tracking this/her down will be extremely appreciated. He feels there is still a chance that this was a legimate love, but it could be a denial of a scam.

1. He found a "soulmate" in personals website. She is in UK. He initiated a contact. He requested more photos and she sent three more than what was posted in the personals website. Chatted via the personals website and migrated to daily Yaoo Messenger Instant Messenger chat.
2. He was falling in love with her through Yahoo Messanger (IM)/Email and occasional phone calls (she can call him but he cannot call her for some reason due to her number not supported by his carriers) and she suggests if he invites her, she will come to the US for a few weeks.
3. She is short in purchasing airline ticket, so he sends money.
4. Then she says she needs money to get a BTA (British Travel Authority?) permit to leave the country. So he sends additional money.
5. Subsequently she has a big surprise. She says she invested a huge amount of money, inherited from her father died when she was 3, with granny in ceramic materials in China four years ago and China withheld them due to their suspicion that they contained illegal drugs, and four years later after legal contest by her lawyer, they were released and the captain of the ship called her saying the goods were arriving shortly in a few days.
6. Then a series of additonal money transfer request ensued to clear/support: customs waybill clearance, duties, transport, etc. She showed over the Internet the waybill. He did send money.
7. Then she was stopped at the seaport checkpoint about a seller's license and she did not have one.
8. Another "last" money request to obtain this. Without it, she says she would be put in jail.
9. Another the last money transfer and he has not heard from her again for several days.
10. All the monies would have been repaid once the goods were sold and in fact, she says she found the buyer for them waiting for all of the clearances of the above.

He has her passport no., address, emails of course, her Yhoo chat name, phone number (that he cannot call from the US for some reason, i.e., not supported by his phone carriers.)

Have you heard of this or is this a legitimate sad story and indeed she could be in jail since something happened unexpetedly? How can he find if she is in jail? If she is, she cannot chat with him? How long will it be before she is released in a case like this?

What kind of recourse does he have to get the money back and find out what happened and find her?

It's all very familiar I'm afraid, classic romance scam material.

One pointer is that he can't call "her". When a number is not supported by his provider it's usually a +44 70 redirect number. To the untrained, it looks like a UK mobile number, but it can in fact be anywhere in the world (and usually is). I suspect that this person is probably in West Africa.

There is no such thing as the British Travel Authority. Any UK national can leave the UK whenever they like, free of charge. They can visit the USA for a limited period without a VISA. That's just another pointer that this person is not in the UK.

The advance fees for the fortune are another classic scammer tactic. It's straight advance fee fraud. This "woman" sees your friend as a gravy train (he'd already paid out twice, so why not again?).

So to answer some of your questions:

He has her passport no., address, emails of course, her Yhoo chat name, phone number (that he cannot call from the US for some reason, i.e., not supported by his phone carriers.)

Pass these details onto us, and we will research them for you. The passport number will be fake, but the other details should at least provide final proof that unfortunately your friend was scammed several times over. The address will be fake too, but it will probably pop up in other scams somewhere.

Have you heard of this or is this a legitimate sad story and indeed she could be in jail since something happened unexpetedly? How can he find if she is in jail? If she is, she cannot chat with him? How long will it be before she is released in a case like this?

Yes I have heard of stories like this, but they are all in connection with online scams. People don't get put in jail for having unexpected circumstances. I'm resident in the UK, and we don't lock people up for not having sellers licences... it's pretty hard to get jailed for stabbing somebody, let alone for selling things.
And yes, if she was indeed in jail, she wouldn't be still contacting him. A common mistake from scammers is for them to email from "Jail". It doesn't work like that. We're soft, but not so soft as to allow computers in cells.
And the hardest part:

What kind of recourse does he have to get the money back and find out what happened and find her?

I'm going to have to be tough here I'm afraid.
1) There is no realistic way of getting the money back. It's gone. This scammer is in all likelyhood in West Africa, and is certainly using a fake identity.
2) There's no point in finding out what happened to "her". "She" never existed. It's not a real person.... more likely it's a young male scammer or a gang of scammers. The pictures your friend has will have been stolen from the internet.

I'm really sorry your friend has lost money to these people.

Please do post the details, and we'll prove the case beyond doubt for you. It will also assist any future victims to find the details on the web, and hopefully they will see the truth in good time.

I can assure you 100% that it's a scam. "She" is not what she says she is and, most likely, is a He. I've seen cases where they impersonate a female themselves but it's common to use a female to do the calls.

The reason why he can't call "her" is that the scam artist doesn't want a link that can be traced to him. He knows that sooner or later the scam will be evident (it is for me at this point but a victim "in love" may take some time to understand that) and he wants to stay out of reach. Email can be traced up to a certain point and rarely linked to a person with the certainty required for a criminal procedure. A land phone, on the other hand, is a stronger evidence. The passport number is false and the address too, I don't even have to see them to tell you this.

Just take a look at the whole story.
He lure the victim first, slowly takes his time to make the victim fall in love. The victims now wants the illusion that was created for his benefit. The next step is letting the victim know that the illusion can become a reality, increasing the value of the potential reward. At this point is where the demands start, money to make the dream come true, a plane ticket. The scammer can't make the dream come true because it's not real. He can walk away with what he's obtained so far or yank the line again and hope for the best. He creates a problem that prevents the dream from coming true and problems only can be solved throwing money at them. The process keeps going on because the scammer has nothing to loose, he knows that sooner or later the money well will run out so he will try to get as much as he can, all of it hopefully. To insure his success, he changes the lure. He raises the reward, now it's not only the illusion of love, a hefty monetary incentive has been added. It's as fake and illusory as "she" is but it doesn't matter. To make it all come together, more problems must be solved and more money is required to do that. The request are going to grow in craziness and size and frequency. It's a process that stops when the victim stops or when the victim completely runs out of resources. I don't say money because money usually run out fast. But once the money is gone, the victims have credit, assets, friends and family. And there's no other choice because the only other physically possible one is the scammer stopping. He won't. He has nothing to loose and all to gain, even if it's another 100 bucks.

You have to make your friend understand this. Because it's that bad, until he stops or until he get dried up.
Take a look around the site and you'll find other stories that are almost identical. What are the odds?
Also take a look at http://fakechecks.org/, specially the video interviews to victims and one to the sister of a victim who killed herself. There's a site dedicated to romance scams but I can remember the name, I'm sure you can find it here or I'll post it later. Or try Google for romance scams, the web is full of victims talking about their stories or baiters exposing the scammers.

And we're here to help in anyway to the extent of our possibilities.

Thank you so much for this reply and Togawa's reply as well.

He is thrilled about your offer of followup and looks forward to hearing about the results. I actually posted the reply to yours and due to timeout I guess, I had to re-login and lost the reply. So I am re-creating it now and if for some reason my first reply shows up magically, please excuse the duplicate except while I was recreating it, she did contact him again magically, to this versin is more up to date.

I got his details reluctantly because he is still half in denial and post them below.

First, some questions:

Realizing she can be "he," but I use she to continue the context.

1. She used Yahoo Messenger's IM Chat, not email much, and why would she do that since that is off-script.
2. Why re-direct phone in UK does not work from US? Could somebody in UK call that number for me to find out who answers without blowing your cover?
3. While I was writing this, he contacted me and said she did contact him again by Yahoo Messenger IM Chat, saying she was jailed last Wed for six days and stripped off cellphone and communication and she was released today pending her paying the fine of 3700 pounds by Thursday. Armed with some knowledge from this posting and replies, he asked about the details of the court paper and in fact he asked her to send it by email, and she said it was with her lawyer.

She blamed him for this by saying had he sent the money earlier, ... she hinted but did not ask for more moeny. How should he play this game effectively to gather useful information. Was his asking for a copy of the court paper good or he should not have asked?

He asked her to read the court paper and what she said was: ur here by charged on your abscorting from duely registering with the sellers permit council, and he also asked where she was detained and the answer was: london sherriff, eat london, london magistrate court. She could not produce the case number for him. But later on she said 000020089435.The charge was they say the actual sellers permit on the value of my goods and some litle other charges added.
4. If she is in West Africa or somewhere else, why would she ask the money transfer by Western Union to UK? How can she get the money from UK? To get the money from Western Union, she needs to show her id with the name below right? so if so, then her name below is legitimate? or not needed show an id in UK? Confused about this.

Her details:
1. Name: Timipreye Brown (sometimes Timi Brown used like in waybill paper)
2. Phone: +447023073860
3. Address: 132 Eastburn Ave, Eastburn, London Eas 6as
4. Passport no.: British Passport No. 019664388GBR
5. Email ids: [email protected] initially and later switched due to the first one's technical problem to, [email protected]
6. Yahoo messenger IM id's: she used both above and sometimes timb (could have been timib, but he does not remember and no record of this any more)
7. Personals website she posted: cupidjapan.com and her id name there was saki and as soon as he was engaged with her firmly, she took her profile down (hid) suggesting him to do the same.
8. What else you need that he might have missed?

Hi West

Welcome to Scamwarners.

My good friends above have already given you a very accurate account of what is happening here, there is absolutely no doubt it is a scammer he is dealing with.

The site that was refered to is http://www.romancescam.com I thought I found some information posted about this scammer there but I will need to find it again, meanwhile, this search result shows many other profiles used by the same scammer Click Here

The news doesn't improve for your friend I am affraid, not until he ceases all communication, he needs to ignore any further contact, whether that be by email or phone, while your friend is replying, the scammer will continue to tell lies in the hope of extracting more money.

Another concern that your friend nees to be on the lookout for it a recovery scam, we have a section on recovery scams that you and your friend should take a look at viewforum.php?f=14

Basically, your friend will be told that the person is in fact a scammer and they are going to help you to retrieve the money lost, some time later you will be told that in order for the money to be returned you must send money, this is where the next stage of the scam begins

The links I have directed you to will give you loads of information but if you or your friend have any further questions please feel free to ask

Please also provide any additional information that comes to hand, early emails, pictures or any otehr minor detail could make the difference between whether somebody keeps or loses it to the same scammer

First of all, thank you Ralph. I was trying romancescams and getting a parked page...

West, about your questions

1. She used Yahoo Messenger's IM Chat, not email much, and why would she do that since that is off-script.

There's no such thing as off script. We talk about the script because the scammers have a modus operandi that characterize them. The scripts are "limited" in the sense that we can enumerate them and explain them. They do whatever is convenient for their business. Besides, the most successful romance scams are always run over IM or phone. The kind of close relationship needed to lure a victim in this kind of scams is hard to reach over email.

2. Why re-direct phone in UK does not work from US? Could somebody in UK call that number for me to find out who answers without blowing your cover?

VoIP is relatively new. It's not a technical problem but a slow propagation of configuration. The area codes created for this are new and not all relays are updated. The local US relay verifies most of the foreign numbers you dial to avoid a rejection from the foreign relay. In that case the telco has to pay a call that it can't bill you.
About the call, I can do that but I don't think it makes any difference. The scammer surely is prepared to handle your call, a female is going to identify as the person you expect to answer the phone.

3. While I was writing this, he contacted me and said she did contact him again by Yahoo Messenger IM Chat...

Unless you pay a lawyer (or any other person) to verify that on the justice system you won't be able to confirm or deny that allegation. I can tell you that it's all a lie but for a man in love my statement is of little value. Common sense tells me that under the charges (that doesn't exist) it makes no sense to seize a cell phone. The charge, assuming it exists such charge, looks like a fail to comply with a commerce regulation. Hardly justifying imprisonment.

4. If she is in West Africa or somewhere else, why would she ask the money transfer by Western Union to UK? How can she get the money from UK?

The scammers (most of them) operate in large groups and different levels. Those who contact victims are the most exposed. Exposition may mean the difference between failure and success. If they're good, they can create the illusion just over email. On the other extreme, some scammers will meet you face to face. One way or the other they're the first line of combat to put it in a way. When the victim finds out about the scam, these are the first to go after. At another level they handle the money. They're very organized and sell the service of money handling to other scammers. Let's say that you run a scam by yourself, you would have to show yourself at the Western Union counter and show some photo ID to pick up the money. If I'm the victim and go after the money, I'll get to you eventually. What you do is to hire the service of a group that can handle it for you. Most groups in the UK have personnel infiltrated in Western Union agents and other services too. They are warned in advance, they take the money and fill the paperwork, if someone asks they say that someone showed up with the proper ID. You'll get your money minus a commission. It's a lot easier in Western Africa but now people is uncomfortable sending money over there, the common perception is that UK is OK (pun intended) and that makes the whole illusion easier to sell.

132 Eastburn Ave, Eastburn, London Eas 6as

The address doesn't exist. There's Eastbourne and Westbourne in London but they're not used as addresses.
Eastbourne is in Brent (postcode NW) and Westbourne is in Hampton (postcode TW). Eastbourn avenue is in Ealing, the post code should be W3.

I'm not an expert but I think that there's no such thing as a postcode EA in London.

Thank you thank you thank you, everybody!!! There is such a wealth of information over here and we are blessed with it. I apprecitate Michelle who introduced us to this.

I'm not an expert but I think that there's no such thing as a postcode EA in London.

You're right. There's E1 through to E18, and that's all.

West,

Just to clarify on the topic of "scripts" and "off script" as you may see these terms often, especially over at Eater.

Many scammers do work from a series of pre-written emails, and they will automatically send those emails out in order without actually reading your responses. When a baiter tries to get a scammer off-script, they are trying to force the scammer to actually read and answer the emails.

Scripts work very well for certain types of scams, at least up to a point. If the victim is involved because they expect a payout, or is donating to what they think is a real charity, the personal connection/relationship is not as deep or as important. But a love scammer generally isn't offering that big payout (though they may run a double scam, as this lad did, with both romance and future money)--the "relationship" is what motivates the person to pay. If the victim simply exchanges emails with the scammer once or twice a day for a few weeks or months, he/she is not very invested in the relationship, and has not yet learned to trust the scammer--so the victim will likely drop the scammer when requests for money come along. If he/she has spent hours on chat and/or the phone with the scammer, the victim has something invested in this "relationship"--they feel like they know the scammer's character well and trust him. The victim is much more likely to send money. Love scammers know this, so many of them (at least the African based ones--the ones from the former soviet union are a different story) are quick to move to phone or instant messenger--the sooner they can establish the "relationship", the sooner they can ask for money.

But even the love lads do use scripts--their initial emails to victims are often scripted (which is why you are often asked for their early emails), and the scenarios they set up for money requests are also often based from a script.

If I may provide an example of a small piece of script from my early baiting days that has strangely stuck in my head;
A romance scammer once had in an email this line "I like going to beaches in my bikinin" This is great example of what to search on because of the spelling mistake which would make it far less likely that an exact match on the phrase is not part of the same script
BTW, the exact search result on that phrase is Here

You will see many exact hits on that line with a few variations after it, every one of those hits is in regards to a scammer

she was released today pending her paying the fine of 3700 pounds by Thursday. Armed with some knowledge from this posting and replies, he asked about the details of the court paper and in fact he asked her to send it by email, and she said it was with her lawyer.

She blamed him for this by saying had he sent the money earlier, ... she hinted but did not ask for more moeny. How should he play this game effectively to gather useful information. Was his asking for a copy of the court paper good or he should not have asked?

He asked her to read the court paper and what she said was: ur here by charged on your abscorting from duely registering with the sellers permit council, and he also asked where she was detained and the answer was: london sherriff, eat london, london magistrate court. She could not produce the case number for him. But later on she said 000020089435.The charge was they say the actual sellers permit on the value of my goods and some litle other charges added.
4. If she is in West Africa or somewhere else, why would she ask the money transfer by Western Union to UK? How can she get the money from UK?

If "she" was able to pay a fine of £3700, why is she trying to borrow money? Scotland has Sheriff's Courts, not London. There is no such thing as the "sellers permit council". Google gives only one hit and it's this Scamwarners topic. If there was such an offence, it sounds like one that would result in a fine from a Magistrates court. You'd be given time to pay, and not immediately locked up for non payment. And while Magistrates' Courts do have cells, there for short term use until transfer to a proper prison. There is no way anyone would be held for six days in a Court cell.
Payments via WU can be withdrawn anywhere in the world.

Thank you so much for your collective replies. Greatly appreciated.

Would you recommend reputable organizations which can get the money back from this scammer? And how does this work? Earlier in some of the replies, there was general discussion and I am after more details, please.

@West,
There are organisations as well as scammers out there claiming to be able to get your money back and either way there are fees involved that need to be paid before any money will be returned, the problem is that I have heard of scam victims actually getting their money back in only 1 or 2 cases out of many thousands of cases and those cases were not as a result of any organisation helping them.

One such organisation that claims to be able to retrieve your money is http://www.antiscamers.com , what they do is not illegal but certainly not ethical, they will provide advice and phone counseling and claim to be able to get people's money back, they charge $11 US per minute for the call, give bad advice and cant show a single example of anybody actually having their money returned.

I guess the point is, you need to see any money sent as being lost forever, otherwise you are in great danger of losing even more money.

While you here, take a look at our recovery scam section http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=14 and if you ever have doubts, feel free to ask, you may have noticed, we dont have any fees or charges, we just want people to keep their money