Walter Gerth <walter_soul2011@yaho?o.com>

I had a VERY similar incident recently. A man named Walter Gerth (ironically a Nazi war criminal), born Walter Marino in Italy 50 years ago this week, found me on a dating site. The pictures he sent were of an average looking man, well built but bald with glasses. He said he found too many "unserious" women on the site and begged me to cancel my ad now that he's found me (not sure how that helps his scam, other than grabbing me from other scammers). Said he moved from Italy 6 months ago, moved to TX two months ago after living in LA and Napa for a few months checking on properties he owned there. He moved very fast in the relationship, sending me love poems which I later found on the Internet. He called me 'baby' or some other term of endearment in nearly every sentence. Encouraged me to get on Yahoo Messenger so we could chat nightly, and I thought it odd that he went to bed every night at 7pm, kind of early. Must have needed to close with me so he could check on his other victims. He begged me to get a webcam but I never did. Within a week he was begging to come meet me, as I live 2k miles away. Said he was eager to meet a woman for a serious relationship. I got the sob story about how his parents died in a car accident when he was 18 and his family tried to take his inherited land, so that's why he changed his name from Marino to Gerth. Says he moved to Spring, TX since his American mother grew up there. He even sent me roses; I called the florist to see if I could get any info on the buyer, but was told Walter had ordered the flowers through FTD online, and they have no info on the buyer when that happens. His fatal error was in sending me a letter from a porno site. I was very offended. I am an English teacher so I thought it was odd how he went from broken English to perfect poetry, so I knew he was plagiarizing from the Web, but tossed it up to him being under-confident in English. I thought his Italian accent sounded more French, but I know that Italy has many dialects and asked him to spell a few words for me in Italian; he did so with ease. Said he had a daughter named Linda who was 17, looking to go to college to become a nurse. Because they just moved, she stays home all day playing video games and reading. The pictures he sent included a girl who fit Linda's description. He said he worked as a contractor for oil supplies, and was flying out to the Phillipines this week on new business, and would fly to me (with Linda! He no doubt said this to make me trust him) on his way back. Luckily, I felt he was moving too fast and declined his offer. He mysteriously disappeared soon after, when I told him off for the pornographic letter he'd sent.
He had given me a phone number and address; here is all his info:
Email: walter_soul2011@yaho?o.com (This is his Yahoo Messenger name as well)
Phone: (Napa area code) 707-637-9172
Address:
445 Wildwood Forest Apt 9108
Spring,Tx 77380

Welcome Alison,

I have separated your scammer into a new topic because it will make it easier for other potential victims to find the information.

begged me to cancel my ad now that he's found me

It's partly a move to keep other scammers from stealing his maga, and partly to make sure you don't have the opportunity to meet real men and either find someone you like better, or start to recognize that he isn't real.

, but was told Walter had ordered the flowers through FTD online

Almost certainly with a credit card that was phished or stolen.

and would fly to me (with Linda! He no doubt said this to make me trust him) on his way back

This would be the initial setup for the money requests. He would be mugged, robbed, detained by customs, etc.- and your financial help would be needed to help him get out of the mess.

The pictures he sent included a girl who fit Linda's description.

The best thing you can do is drop him without further ado.
He copied the photos off a social networking site, or a modeling site like focushawaii.com .

Thank you. I found it oddly suspicious that my experience was so similar to the post I'd originally replied to-- the widow who was conversing with a German man: Oil supplies business, sent her flowers, said his parents died when he was 18, property in CA, suddern urgent business... Either this is the same guy, or he bought the same How To Scam book. I still can't figure out why he begged me to get a web cam. Wouldn't that have blown his cover if I had? He no doubt didn't match his photos, so what does he get out of it?

He wouldn't have gone on webcam himself. He just wanted to get you on webcam--there would inevitably be stories of why he couldn't get on (unless he has video of the person whose photos he is using, in which case he could fake webcam--but that is uncommon for scammers targeting women.)

Getting you to go on webcam does a few things:
1) it makes you feel like you have invested more into the "relationship."
2) it puts him more in a position of control, and tells him how much he can manipulate you.
3) He may be able to talk you into webcam sex or at least get you to undress or pose for him. Then he can record (or pretend to record) the webcam on his side, and when you realize he's a scammer and refuse to send him money, he can switch to blackmailing you with the footage. Sadly, I have seen this scenario way too many times.

Hi, I recently joined a web dating site, where the first man that responded was a firstly named Walter Marino, then became Walter Gerth with an e-mail addresss of [email protected]. He had a photograph of what I though to be a very attracive man, bald head, lovely smiling face with sunglasses on the top of his head, and had an interest in my profile. He asked for my e-mail address an sent me an e-mail stating how much we had in common and how much he wanted to meet a woman who is his soul mate, he wants a loving relationship based on honesty , trust and sincerity. He said all the right things in a broken english letter with bad grammer. His explanation was that he as originally from Italy. He stated how easy going he was, great sense of humour, fun, honest caring. He had a daughter called Linda who was 17 (Co-incidentally my daughters age) .
I thought this all too good to be true, so I googled his name and found this site with a/ several prior warnings on this sort of scam. Thank you girls for this vital information.

Welcome to ScamWarners Lynne 61. We are pleased to hear that you found what is posted here helpful. It really makes out day to know a scammer didn't make a new victim today!

Alison 6,

As Dotti has already mentioned, this is quite a common scam. It is good thing that you saw some of the early warning signs, even though you might not done it consciously. Suppose it was the women's intuition kicking in . Lynne 61, it is wonderful that you did some homework and got out something that could have turned nasty. It is really awesome to have a resource like scamwarners.com to come to and check on things like this. Dotti, I think you have helped more people than you know of!

Thank you,
Bojan