Friend is being scammed, not sure what to do?

Okay, so I was talking to an ex of my friend and he mentioned this site and another site that involves eating (he said not to mention it here.) Anyway, way back (over a year ago) the person she was in love with was proven to be a scammer. Information was posted here proving it but my friend threatened her ex with posting information about him and pics of him so he requested the information be removed. Well here we are half way through 2010 now and she flew to Gambia to marry him late last year and now has plans to bring him here. Anyway, she acknowledges that he "might" have scammed people. Well, she calls it begging because she says it's hard to live there. Anyway, there are no signs of him doing it now to anyone else from any of the screen names we know about. She sends him 100 dollars each month (she is on disability and doesn't have much so that's a lot for her to send.) He acts very suspicious in my opinion. He is often "sick" and can't contact her for days at a time. By odd coincidence someone he attempted to scam had a friend who visited Gambia. She met him in a bar and he asked her to "sponsor" him, but strangely used a different name than I knew him by. He has since changed his Facebook to be this other name. I suppose that could mean he's moved his scamming to in person? She does seem to be a little suspicious of him lately and said she wished she could go there and "surprise" him and see what was really going on. I guess I have a list of questions so I'll just list them:
1. Could he really be "reformed" and not scamming people?
2. Does he really want to come to the U.S. or is he just trying to come up with ways to extract money from my friend?
3. She says that she just needs 5000 dollars in a bank account and then he can come here, is that accurate?
4. Is there any way to track if he has other profiles on the Internet?
5. If he's scamming people in person, would it be possible to get in touch with people who could check in on him if I found out the bar(s) he frequents?
6. Are there trustworthy people in general who would be willing to watch him, even if for a nominal fee? Even like an investigator or something? I assume the police are not useful in these situations as there are so many scams going on there.
7. Is there a reason he started using another name? Is the first name I knew him by even his real name?

I'm sorry if these questions are dumb I just really worry about her and am not sure what to do.

Hi wisdomofowls

Your description of events (changing names) is very suspicious, but without more details it is hard to say for sure. If you can get some emails and email headers posted it would be easier to tell. Having someone that is on disability send money doesn't sound good.

Your questions are not dumb.

Scammers are not likely to get 'reformed'. The ploy of wanting to come to the US is a way of getting money for travel, visa's passports. If he is changing names on line, I doubt any are his real names. Changing names is a way to keep ahead of present and further victims. As far as detectives or investigators, they would have to be in his country and that might be another scam.

Again, if you could supply more info like emails and headers if would help a lot. I'm sure someone else will be along shortly with more help and suggestions. It's good your friend has you looking out for her.

Hi Seamless,
Thank you so much for your reply! I don't know what you mean about the headers but her ex is good with computers and may be able to supply this information? Could these emails help determine if he's scamming other people? Do scammers tend to choose one victim, go for many, or either depending on what is going on with them? I am just so worried for her because her whole life is on hold for this guy who seems like he must be a liar.

Oh and you're saying even if she went to Gambia and married him, it still could be a ploy? She seems convinced that since that happened things are "different" and he is not scamming. I didn't really see in the FAQs much about them getting married as a scam though I may have missed that part.

wisdomofowls

With the email opened there will be a 'drop down' somewhere on the page labled 'action' or 'more actions'. look for 'header' or 'full header' depending on what type of mail she is using. You would do a copy and paste to the forum. The same would apply to the body of the mail.

The part about her already being married to him has me scratching my head. Is she married to him and still there ? Please read viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3607 and see if any of it applies to this situation. Also do Google searches on all his known names and email addy's. Good luck.

Hi Seamless,
I will try and get some email headers though they would be older. Her ex says he scoured the internet for information and wasn't able to find more than I think two or three email addresses. There is little to no chance of getting very recent emails. She lives in the U.S., she went to Gambia to marry him and is now back here trying to wrestle with Visa paperwork to get him here. I just feel like the whole situation is fishy and just want the best for her.

For the benefit of anybody else reading along here, this has been thoroughly investigated and there was some evidence to suggest the person refered to was attempting to scam, in fact, there were several of our members that he tried to groom in order to scam.

This person was using his real face to go on webcam and we believe it was his real name being used at that time.

We have also been in touch with the person involved who has vigourously defended him suggesting we are jealous of the love they have and that we are racists.

While we are not happy to see this happen, the girl in question is free to marry whomever she chooses and while there is no evidence that he is currently scamming there is no need to add to the information we have on him, if that has changed however then we will review the information we have available.

Just to add to what Ralph said--

The type of investigation being requested here (checking the bars, etc.) is outside of the scope of our activities.
That sounds more like the work of a paid private investigator.


Questions regarding specific immigration requirements are best handled by an immigration attorney.

Just to add to what Ralph said--

The type of investigation being requested here (checking the bars, etc.) is outside of the scope of our activities.
That sounds more like the work of a paid private investigator.


Questions regarding specific immigration requirements are best handled by an immigration attorney.

Can someone suggest a paid private investigator that isn't a fraud?

Unfortunately I can not recommend anybody here and would urge you not to use the services of anybody who is put forward as a good person to deal with.

Imagine for a moment that a person who is not a good person reads you post, they may consider that a great way to steal from you would be to impersonate a private detective and ask for some fees to be paid.

While I know it does not help you at the moment, long term our policy of not promoting external services is to protect people from being scammed, perhaps try your local phone book.

My own opinion is that you would be wasting your money on a private detective but that is your business and choice to decide.

What I can suggest is that if this person is scamming, it will only be a matter of time before we can provide some proof, his disabled wife suppoting him by sending him money unfortunately does not constitute proof regardless of how bad it may seem, that is her choice.

Immigration - as Dotti suggests, there are much better places to get specific information from but on his intention to become an American citizen, I am sure he would love nothing more then to be able to be supported by The US.

suggesting we are jealous of the love they have and that we are racists

Oh, for god's sake...