Am I being scammed? (Romance scam)

Hi all,

I met a woman on an online dating site a couple of months ago and we've since been communicating via Skype. She did profess strong feelings for me very quickly and said she was coming from England to my home town in February. She said she probably couldn't find accommodation around the time she has booked the flight and would camp in a tent if I could recommend any camping grounds. I felt dreadful and had fallen for her quite hard so suggested she come stay with me, which she agreed to but said she would find her own accommodation within a week or so. My friends and family said I was crazy to do this as I hadn't met her so I trusted their better judgement and told her I couldn't have her in my home as a stranger. She said she was fine with that but then about ten days later she pulled away a little and said it was crazy to be taking about love etc so soon and that we should pull it back a little. I thought that made sense and I've since tried keeping my head about me.

Fast forward a few weeks to today where she has just asked me if she can deposit money into my bank account before she gets here. She said that she gets charged too much to use her MasterCard here and it would save her money this way. I asked her why she couldn't just set up a bank account when she gets here and she said she can't transfer money to a new account from here...that she needs to physically do it from England.

This is where I've really started to get concerned. It was a slight concern when she needed accommodation but I could see that maybe that was the case...but transferring money into my account and without having met me? This is a major alarm bell.

Am I paranoid here or right to be concerned?

Hello Purplereign,

Yes you are right to be suspicious this has the signs of a scam. They intend for you to be a money mule. In this case the scammer has other victims deposit money in your account then has you Western union the money to the scammer basically using you to launder stollen money.

Can you please post some of the initial emails you were sent?

Justin

Hi Justin,

Thanks for your reply. The initial emails were all very generic and innocent banter then we moved quickly into conversing via Skype where I divulged a lot about my personal life/issues/worries and she was very warm and caring. I thought conversing over Skype was good though so I could verify she matched her photos.

I've just confronted her about it and she was really apologetic so I guess I'll see what happens in the next few days but she now knows I will not give her my personal details nor send her a cent. I guess if it is a scam she won't bother sticking around.

I am about 99% sure it's a scam but can be 100% sure if you post a couple of the initial emails. We can tell from the writing style and content.

Confronting the scammer does no good scammers are liars for a living and will not admit they are a scammer. They will simply more on and work on regaining your trust.