Scammer MARK DONALD be warned

The images have been watermarked as this is not the real scammer - CW

This man scammed my sister out of thousands. I name and shame him only in the hope that this saves another unsuspecting victim out there, but as we all know they change their name. He goes by Mark Donald and, as with all the usual scammers, will insist to communicate mainly by instant messenger or phonecalls so he can't be traced. He found my sister by a message on Facebook saying he was looking for new friends in the area when he moved back to the UK....the normal rubbish...at the moment he's a Canadian engineer working in Nigeria, but can't get back because of flooding...All very familiar scam criteria, yet she was convinced he was genuine.

He sent the occasional email with photos of a man very good looking and much younger than he clams he is. Always uses different email addresses each time. He has a sob story about his wife cheating on him and leaving him with the kids - their ages don't add up as he claims he's 60 with a 2 year old! Also the English in his emails really isn't that great - no capital letters - bad use of full stops - he calls her Honey every other sentence. Then horror, something happens to his daughter and he needs some money sent over as he's unable to cash his money orders and my sister obliges . He only asks for a small amount at first (couple of hundred I think) and has promises of helping her set up a business with him when he gets back. At this point he'd been grooming her for about a month with no mention of money. He sends her a few fake Money Orders that she finds are not valid when she goes to the bank YET STILL SHE CARRIED ON COMMUNICATION.

He also said he would visit her, but coincidentally his plane is cancelled due to flooding. Its around this time I found out as she was upset he didn't make it over and confides in me. Luckily by this point she had sent over what added up to less than £500 by several Western Union transfers, but even then I was shocked.

After showing her the plentiful online info on nigerian romance scammers and showing her articles such as this (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/17 ... index.html) I think she believes me, but then months later I find a Western Union transfer receipt for £3,000 in her kitchen. I confront her and she then confesses to having sent over apx £9,000 worth of transfers but says that she'll be getting it all back. I call a police officer friend who pops round. He gives her a brief talk explaining that her money could be funding criminal activity even human trafficking or child prostitution. I hope that she is finally convinced.

A week later she calls me in tears saying she has refused to send over anymore money. He says the life of his daughter is in her hands as he needs it for a private operation. she says that in further calls he gets angry and threatens her saying he has contacts that will find her. He apologises. Then on the final call he says that he will send people to find her and all the family she has told him about. He says he has shot a woman in the face before and he will do the same to her. Now finally she admits his african accent was clearer. She halts all calls and won't sleep in her house for over a week.

I feel hopeless and shocked by my sister's naivety and belief in this man. She is a very social, active, young spirited and sensible lady and so it shows they can get to anyone - not just unsuspecting lonely widows. She now has her house up for sale and is determined to start again, but lives in fear of him tracking her down. We both shudder when she remembers considering going to visit him - would he have kidnapped her? It makes me shiver to think that she engaged with such an evil, calculated person for so long and believed his tales. I only hope this will help another victim out there believe quicker than my sister or if you are trying to help someone it doesn't get to this point.

Emails used:
[email protected]
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Welcome to Scamwarners. I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your sister.It's a depressingly familiar story.
There's no reason to worry about him carrying out his threats. Scammers are only interested in money, and the Internet means they can operate anonymously with little chance of being caught. They aren't going to jeopardise that by trying to physically harm victims. He'll just look for other victims.

Hi Arnold,

Thanks for your reassurance. I know its so hard to convince someone even when they tick all these familiar boxes. I think those that haven't as much online experience are most at threat. Yes, I'm sure revenge isn't something they'd want to spend their dirty money on.

Thanks.

I am shamefully here to report that I too have been scammed by Mr. Mark Donald. He claimed to be an Engineer stuck in Nigeria along with 2 children ages 6 and 3. He was robbed within the first week there of nothing but his credit card. He was sent there to create electricity in the poor areas of Lagos and his most important piece of equipment was stolen from the airport. He asked for money his 2nd week there through Western Union. Of course I fell for it because of the children. He promised that the job would only take 2 weeks then he would travel to my state for our meeting and a lovely life thereafter. Things continued to happened that didn't add up from his daughter getting Malaria; which is deadly and needing money for her medicines, he wasn't moving fast enough to complete the job, he needed money for oil to go in a machine, the supervisor told him he could not leave until the work he had done was inspected so therefore, he missed his flight. He provided an itinerary; which looked authentic. He reported not having any family, parents died when he was 19 yrs old. The kids mother passed away 2 years ago; was very ill. I thought all this was not so real. Why would you travel out of the country with 2 small kids for work related issues. Who supported you at home in Philadelphia Pennsylvania? But I still fell for this guy. He just said all the right things a lonely female wants to hear. He scammed me up until the day he was suppose to leave Nigeria to come visit me. I wired him the last money, he was suppose to be on his way to the airport arriving to me the next day at 4:00 pm. I thought it was odd cause he did not provide a flight number. I checked Delta Airlines no flights was arriving at his stated time. He scammed me for 5 months for well over the total of 10k. I took out 2 loans and left paying them back with the promise of him coming to unfreeze his account to repay me. He also, caused my bank account to be closed due to fraudulent deposits. Oh, think he had help from bank officer along with a tile merchant. They both was very rude with me on the phone when I made contact with them asking why did my bank give out their contact information. Hmm. I was told to file a report with the FBI, it has been 3 weeks I have not heard anything from them. Mark claims to be 54 yrs God fearing man. Well he better fear God don't know what type of heart this guy has. Warning ladies run when you see this name.

I'm sorry that you have been scammed. Was his contact information the same as what has already been reported above? It would helpful to others if you could post some of the emails of him asking for money. Make sure to remove your personal information prior to posting.