Help. I think I got scamed

So I met a person online and she claim to be in Nigeria. I decided to check ip address and found that it is sent from California. Is she lying? Is she a scammer. She asked me for phone number and stuff but I didnt give it to her. Help!

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Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 8 Jul 2012 13:55:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tiffany Bruce <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Hello
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and also she has my photos, am i going to be in deep trouble?

hey, i'm sorry to hear you were scammed.

you won't be in deep trouble but your photos might be used to scam others. i don't know what's suggested in these cases, i saw someone suggest that you post your photos in a bunch of places with the words "used by scammer" on them but to me it seems not worth the trouble.

let someone else chime in on this.


did you send money? can you post the email text itself as well? and i think you read VERY_SAD's topic so you saw what to do, like ignore them and watch out for a bunch of scammers contacting you with all kinds of stories.

Yes, he or she apparently lied to you. It's unusual for someone in California to claim to be in Nigeria. Usually it's the other way around. That email address, [email protected], seems to have been made up very recently, as there are no references to it elsewhere on the Internet.

Sorry he/she lied to you, but it doesn't appear that you have lost any money, or that you will lose any if you stop now.

If you simply drop all contact, do not answer emails, chat requests, or anything, he/she will go on to the next potential victim.

Very glad you are being careful!

so is she a scammer? please let me know that she is not. here's part of the conversation we had when I asked her about it :

Tiffany Bruce: WHy i would love to meet with you dont doubt that
Tiffany Bruce: Wouldnt you like to meet me
muyijntr: I don't know. I am afraid.
muyijntr: and also we are so far away from each other
muyijntr: and you say you will be back in two weeks
muyijntr: where are you currently?
muyijntr: other country?
Tiffany Bruce: Yes
Tiffany Bruce: i am in Nigeria
Tiffany Bruce: I am on a fashion contract
muyijntr: sorry to ask.
muyijntr: please tell me that this is not true
Tiffany Bruce: It is true
muyijntr: I don't know what to say honestly
muyijntr: i feel like my heart just broke
Tiffany Bruce: Why
muyijntr: because of lie?
Tiffany Bruce: what lie
muyijntr: Can you give me a moment I need to clam down a bit
Tiffany Bruce: Okay i would
muyijntr: ok
muyijntr: i don't want to lie to you so I'm just going to tell you whatever is on my head
muyijntr: ok?
muyijntr: So
muyijntr: this is a thing I learned from my peers
muyijntr: tiffany
muyijntr: do you know what ip address is?
Tiffany Bruce: yes i know
muyijntr: Every device connected to the public Internet is assigned a unique number known as an Internet Protocol (IP) address. IP addresses consist of four numbers separated by periods (also called a 'dotted-quad') and look something like 127.0.0.1.
Tiffany Bruce: ok
muyijntr: and when you said that you are in Nigeria
muyijntr: I want to know if this is true so i decided to lookup some ip address
muyijntr: please forgive me for doing that
muyijntr: I just feel unsafe
muyijntr: when I look up, it says that the email is sent within America
muyijntr: CA
muyijntr: and this is it
Tiffany Bruce: yes here i have to use some servers from the states to browse
Tiffany Bruce: thats why i called you so you can hear my voice
muyijntr: I am really not sure about this. I feel unsafe I hope you understand that
muyijntr: Just blame on me
muyijntr: I will take it all
Tiffany Bruce: let talk on here
muyijntr: I don't know
muyijntr: I'm really confused
muyijntr: I know you are angel
muyijntr: at least i want to believe you are
Tiffany Bruce: Yes i am

I want to cry so badly. Is she really going to use my photos to scam other people? If so, are people going to look after me?

Thanks for posting that. It screams SCAMMER to me. The next step in the scam is to say he was robbed or that the hotel has seized all his money or he had an accident. In any case, he'll need money, lots of it. Then his family will need money, and so on until you are completely out of money, which is when he'll disappear.

Sorry to be saying "he" all the time, but that's how I read it. Just move on. There are plenty of non-scammers out there.

I want to cry so badly. Is she really going to use my photos to scam other people? If so, are people going to look after me?

if she does (she's a he, btw, i'm 99% sure of it) no one will go after you, people usually realize that the photos were stolen

Thank you to all of you for giving me the reassurance and courage to move on. bad thing is.. theres one photos include my mom and I don't want to put her in any trouble. omg i'm so stupid

she won't be in trouble and you're not stupid. i don't know the numbers (millions?) but so many people get scammed because these people are good at it. they know how to act, what to say, what buttons to press. their scams evolved over many years.

don't blame yourself, you're not stupid, just trusting and that's not such a bad thing. be careful next time, lesson learned, move on.

Thank you Boss. If I do have chance to meet other person online, how do I know that they are scammer or not? It sounds so real that I cannot tell the difference. When she ask for photo sharing, does it mean that she is a possible scammer? should I share/send my photos to other people at all?

there's no 100% test for a scammer (except them asking for money but that doesn't happen right away).

all the other things can point to a scammer but it's not 100%. i've seen so many scam formats that i can point them out by just looking at them and still, i'm sure, sometimes i will be wrong (scammer speaks good english and uses unknown formats).

they usually "fall in love" within a few emails, they usually write (steal off the net) a bunch of love bs, in emails they don't use your name but call you "sweety", "honey", etc, in emails they don't answer your questions or they do but they're answered in the beginning of the mail or at the end, not throughout the email.

since most of the scammers are not the people on the pictures - the best thing you can do is ask them to get on webcam. or send you a picture holding a sign saying something you make up.

listen to your gut, most of the time the people that come here say that they had a feeling but they supressed it.

Thank you Boss. You have been my great alliance!

Welcome AJL,

I just want to clarify some of the information posted here.

First of all, the person talking to you is indeed an African scammer.

With that said, though, "she" is not in California. "She" (I will say he from here, because in reality most likely it is really a young African male on the other side of the emails--he will either use a female acquaintance or a soundboard to make phone calls) is undoubtedly really in Nigeria. Ironically, location was the only thing he was honest about. The reason he was honest is because it will prevent you from becoming suspicious later when he wants asks for money but wants it sent to Nigeria.

The confusion over the headers relates to this:

by nm40.bullet.mail.ne1.yahoo.com with NNFMP

Ordinarily, a yahoo header will give you the sender's true location (as long as he is not logged in under a proxy), but when you see the letters NNFMP in headers, that is not necessarily true. NNFMP is a special yahoo protocol that is often seen in forged headers. It is usually associated with scammers and spammers. When the headers are forged, it is not uncommon for the originating IP to be missing or altered, as in this case. NNFMP in the headers should be a definite red flag.

The true location does not change the fact that this is a scammer. "Fashion model in Nigeria" is a bog-standard scammer line, used to explain why the photos they are using look suspiciously like professional model photos.

Nigeria is not exactly a world fashion center, and professional models from the US and other countries only travel there to model in the imaginations of scammers. Even if that were the case (and again it's not), a model on assignment is actually going to be quite busy--they aren't sitting around hanging out on online dating sites picking up strangers (and for that matter they usually don't need to use dating sites to meet people anyway--unlike a run-of-the-mill office job, a professional modeling career does involve working with and meeting an extremely wide variety of people.)

While I understand the desire to confront your scammer, we do recommend that you not educate scammers. Explaining things about IP address, or how you realized someone is a scammer, helps them to improve their scams for the next person.

Since you showed some potential as a victim, the scammer will likely approach you again with a new fake identity. He or she may even use photos and video of a porn actress, and use existing video to create fake webcam interaction.

There are lots of things to look for that can help you to determine if you are dealing with a scammer. A few common signs include:
-photos that are just a little too good
-English is just a bit off
-the person is conveniently out of the country/far away, returning soon
-falls in love awfully quickly
-quick to send lots of photos or sexy photos, or sexy webcam (search all photos on google and tineye)
-highly romantic emails (romantic poetry/love letters copied from romance sites)
-"she" seems to be a bit unaware of things that you would expect someone from your area to know
-quickly starts using terms of endearment (babe, baby, darling, honey, etc.) instead of your name.

You can always come here and ask too, if you are unsure.
This scammer may not give up. He may continue to proclaim his innocence, or he may even "confess" and give you a sob story of how desperation led "her" to scam. She may send you new photos claiming those are "really" her--those will simply be another set of stolen photos. The truth is, it costs money to have internet access, and a person who is broke and starving won't have that access.

You said that "the scammer will likely approach you again with a new fake identity." I just shut down my account would that be enough to prevent he finds me?

Welcome AJL,

I just want to clarify some of the information posted here.

First of all, the person talking to you is indeed an African scammer.

With that said, though, "she" is not in California. "She" (I will say he from here, because in reality most likely it is really a young African male on the other side of the emails--he will either use a female acquaintance or a soundboard to make phone calls) is undoubtedly really in Nigeria. Ironically, location was the only thing he was honest about. The reason he was honest is because it will prevent you from becoming suspicious later when he wants asks for money but wants it sent to Nigeria.

The confusion over the headers relates to this:

by nm40.bullet.mail.ne1.yahoo.com with NNFMP

Ordinarily, a yahoo header will give you the sender's true location (as long as he is not logged in under a proxy), but when you see the letters NNFMP in headers, that is not necessarily true. NNFMP is a special yahoo protocol that is often seen in forged headers. It is usually associated with scammers and spammers. When the headers are forged, it is not uncommon for the originating IP to be missing or altered, as in this case. NNFMP in the headers should be a definite red flag.

The true location does not change the fact that this is a scammer. "Fashion model in Nigeria" is a bog-standard scammer line, used to explain why the photos they are using look suspiciously like professional model photos.

Nigeria is not exactly a world fashion center, and professional models from the US and other countries only travel there to model in the imaginations of scammers. Even if that were the case (and again it's not), a model on assignment is actually going to be quite busy--they aren't sitting around hanging out on online dating sites picking up strangers (and for that matter they usually don't need to use dating sites to meet people anyway--unlike a run-of-the-mill office job, a professional modeling career does involve working with and meeting an extremely wide variety of people.)

While I understand the desire to confront your scammer, we do recommend that you not educate scammers. Explaining things about IP address, or how you realized someone is a scammer, helps them to improve their scams for the next person.

Since you showed some potential as a victim, the scammer will likely approach you again with a new fake identity. He or she may even use photos and video of a porn actress, and use existing video to create fake webcam interaction.

There are lots of things to look for that can help you to determine if you are dealing with a scammer. A few common signs include:
-photos that are just a little too good
-English is just a bit off
-the person is conveniently out of the country/far away, returning soon
-falls in love awfully quickly
-quick to send lots of photos or sexy photos, or sexy webcam (search all photos on google and tineye)
-highly romantic emails (romantic poetry/love letters copied from romance sites)
-"she" seems to be a bit unaware of things that you would expect someone from your area to know
-quickly starts using terms of endearment (babe, baby, darling, honey, etc.) instead of your name.

You can always come here and ask too, if you are unsure.
This scammer may not give up. He may continue to proclaim his innocence, or he may even "confess" and give you a sob story of how desperation led "her" to scam. She may send you new photos claiming those are "really" her--those will simply be another set of stolen photos. The truth is, it costs money to have internet access, and a person who is broke and starving won't have that access.