credible background checks? family member scammed

Hi Everyone,

I'm afraid my mother is a victim of a romance scam, and I could use some advice on finding credible background check services to use. I"m concerned that she may be reluctant to report it, and I'm prepared to do that myself considering the amount of money she has wired this man. Having some proof that he is not who he says he is would probably help to convince her at this stage.

Can anyone point me to some legitimate online background check websites?

I feel like having that info would help to convince her to report it.

Without wanting to get into every detail here, the summary is that I have serious concerns that my Mom who lost my stepdad to illness about 9 months ago is being scammed by a man she met on an online dating site. He has convinced her to wire a large sum of money to a foreign country and it sounds every bit as phony as the classic Nigerian Prince Scam although it's more situational and specific to his con. She has not met this man in person at all over 3 months but has frequently emailed and exchanged texts, and supposedly talked over the phone at times but she said he had a bad cell signal so they haven't talked much.

At this point I'm afraid that the damage is done but supposedly Tuesday she is getting a wire for her "help" in the matter. And per the regular CL/Nigerian Scam protocol it is for more then she is owed and she needs to return a sum of it.

After hearing about it from my Grandparents for the first today I confronted her about it over the phone (I live 9 hrs. away) and she sounded a bit distant about the whole thing but willing to answer the questions I asked her. I got a name, DOB, phone number, and employer for the guy. The area code checks out for the city he supposedly lives in and the employer may be real and has a website and Better Business Bureau Accreditation. However all of this just means he may have done his homework. I have not found his name anywhere from a basic google search, or on Linkedin, etc. A 59 yr. old man isn't likely to have a social media footprint, but nothing shows up.

I asked her to call in and REPORT THIS as fraud tomorrow because the rest of the family that is now aware of this believes that it is. However I am not 100% confident that she will. I'm going to give her until mid morning and then contact her to find out if she has. If not, I'm considering taking the matter into my own hands and reporting it myself.

I don't expect the police or whoever else I speak to to be a wellspring of information though.

So what I'm wondering here and the reason I'm really posting is, are there any good LEGIT background check websites and services online that I can use to run his information and see if anything comes up?

I'd like to get a basic idea of whether or not he didn't just give her a fake name to begin with and she is basically screwed already.

I only discovered this is happening yesterday so I do not know an email address, personal profiles, pictures, etc. that this man has been using to share with the forum.

I'm sorry your mother has been scammed.

A background/credit check on the scammer will do no good. He's using fake names, stolen photos and fake information. That's what these criminals do.

Your mother needs to file local police reports and also IC3 http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

Is it possible for you to post some of the emails, email addresses and phone numbers being used by the scammer in order to warn others?

Thanks. I realize that they are going to be using a fake name I want to give her evidence of that.

The way she talked about this yesterday she still believes this. Rather then acknowledging how much she screwed up by sending him all of this money she was carrying on about love notes and how much this guy loves her when she talked to my Grandma.

Anything I can do to prove that this guy is a fraud at this point will help convince her. I'm going to report it myself if I am not satisfied with believing that she has.

I don't have any emails or anything else at this point worth sharing with everyone here to alert them of this scam. It does appear that he was very specific and prayed on details about her anyway (supposedly the same age, also a widow, etc.).

[AlanJones]

He will either be using totally fake details and stolen photos or he will have stolen the identity of a previous victim, so a background check is going to show you nothing (except perhaps that he doesn't exist, but if challenged he'll probably have a reason for that).

Your best bet is to show that he's not who/what he says he is. If you can get hold of some of the photos, reverse image searching them on Google or Tineye may show you previous scam use of them or who they belong to. Try googling the phone number to see if it has been reported for scam usage and also take a look on WhitePages to see what type of number it is (it's almost certainly a VoIP number).

The actual content of the mails can tell us a lot as well - many of them will be stolen or scripted and searching those will often show the source or other scam usage. Those that are actually individually written may indicate that the person isn't a born and bred US national.

At this point I'm afraid that the damage is done but supposedly Tuesday she is getting a wire for her "help" in the matter. And per the regular CL/Nigerian Scam protocol it is for more then she is owed and she needs to return a sum of it.

If this turns out to be a check tell your mother to not deposit the check because it will either be forged or stolen and once the bank discovers the fraud she will be held liable for the full amount of the check.

Post any information that can get from her and we can do some additional checks.

At this point I'm afraid that the damage is done but supposedly Tuesday she is getting a wire for her "help" in the matter. And per the regular CL/Nigerian Scam protocol it is for more then she is owed and she needs to return a sum of it.

If this turns out to be a check tell your mother to not deposit the check because it will either be forged or stolen and once the bank discovers the fraud she will be held liable for the full amount of the check.

Post any information that can get from her and we can do some additional checks.

Yeah I want to report this to the FBI TODAY for that reason. If there is any wire or check that comes in I want to prevent her from cashing it.

He will either be using totally fake details and stolen photos or he will have stolen the identity of a previous victim, so a background check is going to show you nothing (except perhaps that he doesn't exist, but if challenged he'll probably have a reason for that).

Your best bet is to show that he's not who/what he says he is. If you can get hold of some of the photos, reverse image searching them on Google or Tineye may show you previous scam use of them or who they belong to. Try googling the phone number to see if it has been reported for scam usage and also take a look on WhitePages to see what type of number it is (it's almost certainly a VoIP number).

The actual content of the mails can tell us a lot as well - many of them will be stolen or scripted and searching those will often show the source or other scam usage. Those that are actually individually written may indicate that the person isn't a born and bred US national.

Thanks. I just checked whitepages and you are right, says that the number is "VoIP - Bandwidth SMSEnabled" Does that mean that I will likely gleam nothing useful from it?

I fully expect that his info is bogus but I want to run a background check anyway and send the results to her to prove that in order to convince her to report this as fraud. I will do that myself if she does not agree to report it but I figure it will be easier if she is willing and participating in that herself.

I really don't have all of the details right now as far as pictures, online profiles, emails exchanged, etc. I questioned her for whatever personal information she had from him yesterday. He contacted her first through match.com and crafted a story that has some obvious "uncanny similarities" such as the same age, also being widowed, etc.

[AlanJones]

The fact that the number is VoIP shows that the scammer is almost certainly overseas. Someone actually from the US would have a landline or mobile, they wouldn't need to have a VoIP number.

The fact that the number is VoIP shows that the scammer is almost certainly overseas. Someone actually from the US would have a landline or mobile, they wouldn't need to have a VoIP number.

And can you purposely chose the area code you want your number to originate from even if it's overseas?

The area code is from where he supposedly lives, but that isn't saying much.

[AlanJones]

Scammers will find a way of getting a number where they want (possibly registered by a previous victim or someone they know who lives in the area), and failing that they can always locate their character local to where the number is.

Scammers will find a way of getting a number where they want (possibly registered by a previous victim or someone they know who lives in the area), and failing that they can always locate their character local to where the number is.

Could they possibly send text messages from a VOIP number, or figure out a way for it to look like a text is coming from a VOIP number?

She said they have texted frequently and she's called him on it but that the signal was choppy because he's overseas on business. The core of this ruse is that he's overseas for work and he's participating in some kind of architecture contest and needed the money first for his entry fees and later for taxes to release his money to the US.

[AlanJones]

The number that you checked is SMS enabled according to your earlier post, so yes it will be able to receive and send texts. Failing that, scammers can often spoof texts to look like they have come from a particular number.

The call quality will be poor as it is likely that the country the scammer is in has lower quality Internet connections than the US. Add to that the possibility that the scammer is operating from an Internet cafe and it will struggle with the high amount of data that a voice call would require.

The whole of the story about being overseas on a project is a common one in romance scams and scammers will often claim to be architects or engineers so that they can claim to be travelling to the country where they are actually located.

The best background check you can get on this scammer / fake individual , is post or message all the details he is currently using here on scamwarners so the team can look at it . Social Media Profile names, email addresses , scam email and profile wording , phone numbers .

You can see other similar romance scams where they target the elderly on this thread :

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=118042

The whole of the story about being overseas on a project is a common one in romance scams and scammers will often claim to be architects or engineers so that they can claim to be travelling to the country where they are actually located.

That's the premise of his scam. Can you recall any other ones that have this premise?

The whole thing centered around him going to Turkey for a "Competition".

First he needed an entry fee for it and she sent him some money.

Then it was additional fees or costs to travel.

Finally he got there because of her money.

Then he won the competition, but needed additional money to pay for taxes and fees.

Supposedly he convinced them to let him have 1/4 of the winnings up front provide he covered the taxes.

He is supposed to wire her that amount and then will have to return to Turkey later to obtain the rest of it.

She will supposedly get double what she gave him and there will be "extra" to return to him.

He's supposed to start his own business with this after he had a falling out with his former inlaws who he was employed by.

He initiated this on match.com I don't have user names, emails, or pics yet, but if I convince her to report it I am sure that I will and I will share it here.

The money he sends will be stolen and he will use your mother as a mule to transfer it back to him in an untraceable method . It will be a fake check or money order , or money from a hacked account . If you know for a fact this is going to happen and when , than I would suggest you make a report on IC3 website . The aftermath of this scam will be financially devastating to your mother .