Relative being scammed

Hi guys,
I posted this on 419 Eater and the folks there said you might be able to assist:
My worry is for a close family member who is being scammed dry by this guy and she refuses to believe he is a scammer.
For a start, he writes in broken English, claims to be an architect (who doesn't exist), claimed he was going to visit her here and had made a booking at a local hotel (there was no such booking made), his photos are clearly from a modelling site (I couldn't trace them through Tin Eye though), he has made other fake emails to pretend to email her as other people telling her "how lucky she is to have a guy like that" etc.
Because he tells her he loves her and acts like he is a wealthy Englishman, she is totally sucked in and tells us we're bad for doubting her "husband" (within about a week to talking to her he was referring to her as his wife and asking her to marry him).
He then claimed he was in Nigeria and had everything stolen, she sent him over $3000 and refuses, of course, to give it back. He will clearly keep taking more money from her because she is "in love" with this persona.
He's a really cocky creep, if you contact him and tell him to buzz off he still pretends to be in character.
He is obviously, clearly fake, because he claims things like Edinburgh is 50 kilometres from London, which is of course rubbish.

His details are as follows:

Emails:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected] (his supposed sister)
[email protected] (A woman who writes, in his exact same writing style, telling her she is lucky to have him)
Supposed address: 25a Buckingham Palace Rd, West London
Phone number as given by the scammer: +447035938544
Penpal site profile: http://free.penpal.net/Eddy001
IP: 209.85.210.47

I guess, my question is, how can we get rid of this creep? He has already taken all her savings, and he will keep taking money from her. We have told her but he has her so smitten she just won't believe it. What deters creeps like this?

[AlanJones]

Hello scammerssuckbutt and welcome to ScamWarners.

Unfortunately, nothing will deter the scammer while he can still extract money from your relative. Your best bet is to find evidence that will convince her that she is dealing with a scammer. A search of the email addresses doesn't bring anything up, except for your post on Eater.

However there are a couple of things that jump out from the information you have given.

Firstly, the address that he has given comes up on Google as being an office building that has recently been sold, so if he was claiming that as a residential address, that is something to show your relative. The property listing can be seen here http://www.mellersh.co.uk/PropertyDetai ... pertyID=63.

The second thing that jumps out at me is the phone number, which is a +4470 number. Whilst these look like a normal UK mobile phone number, they are not. They are actually personal redirect numbers, which can be redirected anywhere in the world. There would be no legitimate reason for an individual in the UK to have one.

If you can get access to the emails that she has received and get the headers for one of the ones from the Hotmail address (unfortunately not the Gmail addresses), then we might be able to track the IP address to see where it was really sent from.

Thank you so much, it's terrible seeing her being fooled. But at least the more proof I get the better.

Do your best to save her. Scammer will never stop until they'll get victim's money to the last cent. I was just scammed by the way with $7000. Scammers still continue to contact me right now. Yes, +4470 was also used with me.

Hello there
let me tell you that you are right to be concerned. He has also got money out of me too $4500 very clever man and how stupid we are for falling for it.

he also goes by the name
[email protected]
address and sister is all the same and his other phone number is
+2347039563600

tell her to move on fast he will destroy her sense that there are real people out there too.

[email protected]

facebook.com
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Edward Spencer
Worked at coll
Studied at Oxford University
About Edward
Easy going and GOD fearing

Hi There
Thank you so much for your post. I knew I was being scammed but still fell for it.
He also goes by the name of Tony Collins all the other details you have are the same and the story is as well even the address and phone number. I too have lost money but I am beyond caring. these people will get their own justice one day. Please tell your relative to move on look at the facts. I couldnt find addresses and such either shame I didnt listen to my own gut feelings. But I got to say He is good .......
Good luck with it.