And the list grows...

I am an author with a very public personality...and an online talk show. I'm also a dating/relationships expert and have written much on the topics of online dating/romance, and a few years ago, ran an article in a column on romance scammers. I think I will do a show on it next week and post some new articles. Nice to meet you all, and I am sorry that this is a little long...

You can add to this list two more...Donald Smith and Major Carlos Mason (both at Yahoo) Same sad letters and ultimately the same result. At some point, they will ask you for money...for the girls of course--since he is in Afghanistan or whatever place of origin they choose. (Donald Smith is a diamond broker--currently in Mumbai-- and will get caught up in some drama, needing his 'wife' to send him money to get home (just until he gets to his company account)

You know, they're really a bit obvious about it....if you've seen it enough you laugh when opening it, knowing what is already obvious to you. A man, or a woman, gets online and proceeds to write you a long diatribe about what they are searching for, a sad story about the 'love of his life', and how he's looking to find his soul mate...sent by God no less! There are pictures and IM's....

They have no shame, they don't really care about you, and are going to ask you for money.
I crossed paths with Donald Smith about a year ago....Google'd his email address, and of course, I've been a fan of your site ever since!

From his first contact, I gave the 'Major' at least 15 days before he set in with some b.s. Only took him 3...I was impressed! ...unfortunately for him, I'm not that easily duped. I made him turn on his video camera the other day...and now I know what he looks like. Too bad really....he's extremely handsome. An IP address application let me know that he was actually in Sunnydale, CA and not in Afghanistan (not today anyway)...but when he sent me the 'heartfelt poem' I had to come and see if the poetry had made it to the forums, and yes...it has! I finally joined the forum so that I could post today.

However, I admit, I toyed with him something awful...and then I let him have it full force...he now knows that I know who and what he is.

He was, of course, outraged that I would not believe his stories, and those 'oh-so-poignant' outpourings of love, promises of fidelity, and let's not forget...."our family". This one is military, twin 14-yr old daughters. He couldn't believe that I would call him those names! (So, which one are you Major? Nigerian scam?) Oh! the treachery of the woman he thought really loved him!
It was epic! And I am still laughing.

I am a fan of "Spam/Block/Delete" so I am good. But seriously....this is getting ridiculous.
We know, they know we know...and still, they don't stop!

...I think copy & paste has gone further than it's founder intended.

Well, let's see if I can do something about that.

by the way....should you really meet military personnel--they will most likely give you their .mil email address. Not too many use yahoo or gmail, etc. if they are not worried about their conversations being monitored, and even if they do use it...it's monitored. And they can ONLY get that if they are in a branch of active military. Check those IP addresses & locations, I like http://whatismyipaddress.com you can get anyone's physical location & IP address if they have sent you email.

Welcome!
We'd love to have you post any scammers you're coming across. If you post each on a topic including the names and info their using, as well as an example of their early scripted mails, the info shows up in searches to help protect others.

You're right, after you start to recognize the scams they do start to look obvious. The key is getting more and more people to that point of familiarity with them!

Checking IPs is helpful, though not foolproof. Some providers and protocols remove the originating IP. Another great tool, which includes an email header parsing tool, is http://iptrackeronline.com

As for toying with the scammers, please check out our sister site, http://419Eater.com. It is a scambaiting site. Members there engage the scammers, pretending to be a victim. This should only be done with a fake persona, however, not your real info. Visit 419Eater to learn more.

U know I have been approached by alot of military men asking for something, SGT Lingo ----asked for satalite phone, pay leave fee, then there are franklin Lucas asking to set up pay pal for money of selling his dads house, David Shawn asking for money for daughter school trip fees in london. and then there is luis matton, claiming to have daughter of 14 years old and is a cop in Texas. Oh I got that I fell hard till someone named Duwayne Smith approached me at bearshare.com dating line sent this link to me, all pictures have the word fake, crashed my happiness down then had the nerve to ask for 200.00 till the end of the month. then hit on me. I lost faith in love and in relationships.

Welcome here, DelmarPhilly02. I'm so sorry you've been a victim to these scammers, and to hear about the hurt it has caused you. Please don't lose sight of the fact that the qualities that enabled scammers to prey on you are good qualities to have - openness and trust. Arm yourself with information to be able to detect the scammers so that you will be able to tell who deserves your love and trust. It takes time to heal, but don't let the scammers take those wonderful qualities away from you. Also remember that you're not alone in this.

We have information on scammers impersonating military here: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6527
and a topic of information for romance victims here: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=18484

Let us know if you have questions, and when you're ready, we'd be glad to help you profile the scammers who targeted you. That empowerment can help the healing process.