Sgt Andy Williams

I feel really foolish but for the past 9 months I have been under the spell (sorry if that sounds overly dramatic but it is the closest I can describe to what has happened) of a US Army Sgt called Andy Williams. He approached me on Uniformdating.com (they are aware of the problems he as caused me) and seemed like a really nice, homely guy - just what I needed after a nasty divorce 18 months beforehand. Anyway to cut a long story short, he asked for money for his business of importing timber from Nigeria (a family business left to him when his parents died) and despite resistance, I did pay small amounts to him - he even had someone transfer money to me, for me to send on!! Luckily I had set up a separate account "in case" and this has not affected my normal bank account. Time went on and he decided he wanted to come home on leave. This then turned to taking retirement, all of which required money to be paid to a Colonel Brian Wells ([email protected]). I paid various amounts as I thought I was doing the right thing, and the emails I got back looked and sounded official. I even got one that appeared to come from Quantico!!!! Then 2 weeks before Christmas we lost contact and I thought that maybe he had found someone better! On Christmas Eve he got in contact again (contact was either email or Messenger) and said that he had been shot in the arm just after we had last chatted. He had been in hospital and had been under one operation with another 3 required. At this point his boss SFC Ken Martins would chat to me and made me feel like they cared!! After Andy's 4th operation, he came online and told me that Ken had been killed in a fire on the base (I checked regularly on iCasualties.org and could find no mention of that, or even of Andy being shot). That was the lowest point - I was upset, thinking that someone I had been talking to, had been killed, and worse, the fire had destroyed some of the paperwork for Andy's return to the UK, thus prompting more demands for money. Anyway then my brother saw a newspaper article and thought that some of the circumstances were similar to things I had told him. A bit of research later, and I was convinced that I have fallen for an old trick, stupidly. However, having told the police, I kept in touch with Andy in order to keep the emails and the bank accounts live - in case that helped them. This has gone on for about 5 weeks in which time I have used the conversations to make myself feel better - knowing what I know now, I was able to control things. Even having told him that I knew what he was up to, all i got was how hurt he was that I didn't believe him, etc, etc. More demands for money have followed, but none has passed to him (obviously!!!) and then finally this morning he emailed me to say that if I didn;t hear from him again it was because he had seen a post that I had put on a website about the scams. To be honest, that will be a relieve and I can now move on with my life and find someone honest and true. Two things I would like to know : how to trace his IP address (he used a hotmail.com email address) and is there somewhere to check on the photos of these scammers, to see if his picture is used anywhere else. The photos were what made me fall for him - they were a really nice homely guy and looked like someone I could be happy waking up next to. If someone can help me with these two things, I would be really grateful.

Hi scoobysal!
I'm so sorry to hear about your experience with this scammer. Thank goodness you found out the truth about him before you lost more money.
To trace his IP address on Hotmail, go here and follow the instructions:
http://www.ip-adress.com/faq/view_email ... e_hotmail/
Then copy and paste the headers here:
http://www.ip-adress.com/trace_email/
To see where the pictures that he sent show up on the internet, go to http://www.tineye.com
As far as feeling foolish and stupid, please know that you were targeted by a criminal who has likely had a lot of practice in twisting women's feelings around in order to steal money. I'm glad that you are here, where you will find the support that you need, and can learn how to keep yourself safe on the internet.
The best thing for you to do now is to stop all contact with this scammer.

Hi there, just found your post and thought I should contribute as I've been chatting to this person as well. He contacted me via the same location.

It was purely by chance that I saw an article about scammers and thought it wise to check him out. Thankfully I tried searching him out but found not a lot and when I asked for verification of his identity, which proved false, and I actually confronted him about it he then started asking for money for his son's suddenly sick guardian.

His email address [email protected] has a couple of IPs attached, both of which originate from Nigeria via Mauritius and the US.

I may well have been the trigger for him stopping contact with you as I confronted him this morning!

Whether or not he contacts me again has yet to be seen. He's certainly not getting anything out of me though.

So glad you're no longer part of his little scam and thankfully I escaped by the skin of my teeth!!

Thank you for confirming what I suspected. I feel stupid about being taken in, but have drawn a lot of comfort from all the support of this website and the original one which gave me information about the scams.

I can now move on with my life without a backwards glance (but with fingers crossed!!!)
Good luck to you in the future

Here is a photo of the scammer - he is the chap on the left, without the hat!

Thank you for posting this additional information scoobysal. I hope that you are beginning to move on from the scammer you were communicating with. As you can see, your posting helped someone else already.

Of course, the photo isn't of the scammer - it is the person who I thought was Sgt Andy Williams. I feel very sorry for the innocent people whose photos are used indiscriminately.

Met someoen on Uniformdating.com and Im not sure if I've been scammed here either, but by a different person called Sgt Owen Smith, everything he said seemed genuine.

I to was asked to contact Col Brian Wells ([email protected]) regarding leave request and sent money over to them for it.

He still hasn't come home and am now starting to get extremely worried after all the money I have sent.

I tried to view message source on his email address for IP etc but didnt understand it so don't know whether its real or not.

Im hoping its not a scam as now in so much debt due to it - HELP

Dear Kazza

I'm obviously not an expert as i was taken for £15,000 by this person. I didn't want to believe it wasn't true, but unfortunately he (whoever "he" is) doesn't exist. I am sorry that you have fallen for the same tricks that i fell for, but can honestly tell you, that if you walk away now with your head held high (you, after all, are not guilty of anything other than wanting someone to love), you WILL recover. It has taken me a while and for several months all i wanted was to write to "Andy" again, as he was the rock that held my life together. However with the help of my family and close friends (and it is SO difficult to admit what you have done), I have recovered and now found someone on the same website who is wonderful AND GENUINE. You must confide in someone - doesn;t matter who, but until you do, you won't be able to move on and you certainly won't feel better. Tell the Police too. If you are in the UK, it will be referred to the Serious Organised Crime Agency who collate all these issues. I haven't seen any money back and don't expect to, but we need to hit them where it hurts most. Oh, and tell Uniformdating - don't get annoyed if they tell you they already knew (which is what i was told!!). The Scamwarners website is excellent as everyone is so supportive. We have all "been there" and you will get the support you need to move on. I wish you the best of luck and hope everything turns out okay for you. xx

scoobysal

Thanks for that. I have just emailed Uniformdating to ask how to find out if he is genuine or not.

I am hoping that he is genuine but am having doubts now.

Dont think could tell anyone in my family as they would be very mad about it.

Kazza
I didn't want to tell my family either - especially didn't want my teenage children to tell my ex-husband!! But telling my 24 year old daughter was the best thing i did. She knew about "Andy" and when it came to the crunch, I felt that i had let her down, especially the amount of money - that was plain embarrassing. But to be honest, She was great, very supportive, not judgmental at all and i actually felt bad for assuming she would think badly of me. Family tend to be there when you need them, even if they are a pain at other times. If not family, then have you a close friend you can confide in?? Even telling an understanding Policeman (which I thought was going to be the height of embarrassment) was therapeutic - just to say it out loud. They (Police) should not be judgmental, they merely take the facts, but as the Constable said to me "I am good at my job, you are good at your job and they are good at their jobs". And once it sinks in, yes, it's true. Hold your head up high, girl, you've done NOTHING WRONG!!!! and everyone is here for you. I don't know if this is the done thing, but i am happy to provide an ear or a shoulder if I can - i don't know if i can put my email address on but would happily help in anyway that i can. No money!!! but lots of support and understanding xx

Thanks scoobysal

I really am hoping that its not a scam, but dont know how to find out if it is. Tried the IP address thing that I saw on think it was your first post, but dont understand it

Any ideas how to find out if he is real or a scam

Kazza
I struggled with the IP address thing too, and I work with computers, which didn't make me feel any better!! It was more the fact that after the other lady who has posted, confronted him, he got all nasty with me and emailed to say "If you don't hear from me again its because of her". I replied,"If I don't hear from you again, it will be a blessed relief". I felt better for a few minutes. I deleted all his contact numbers and details and then panicked for several days just wanting to talk to him again, literally to beg for forgiveness. It was actually like being addicted, which is very scary. Hold firm and you will be fine. I had asked for proof of his identity (using the US Army email) and he got all hurt and offended, but funnily enough, nothing arrived. If he's genuine he will prove it, but unfortunately, if Col Wells is involved, i really don't think that he will be able to. Walk away now and dust yourself down and get back on track. You WILL be fine, honestly. xx

scoobysal

when you say about using the US Army email what do you mean, he has always used a private one.

I dont want to believe he is a scammer cos of everything he has said etc

My scammer used [email protected], but apparently (I read literally hundreds of web pages about scams on the day that i found out about this one) the US Army gives all it's soldiers a genuine Army address. I forget off hand what it is, but it isn't USA.com (which sounds like it should be). Search all the sites that you can. Even if the scam doesn't sound like the ones you will find. I am still convinced that mine is in the uK somewhere as he gave me a "pager" number ( it was a mobile number but didn't accept calls when i tried to ring him), and when i got my phone bill, it cost nothing to text the number, whereas if he had been in Afghanistan, it would have cost me £1+ per text (I checked with my provider). Also the details were different to the Nigerian ones, so i felt that he was genuine. Until i read a site that said something about if you want someone who asks for money, adopt a teenager!! A gentleman would not do this, even if it sounds like a good reason - I had his son's guardian was ill and he needed to stay with someone else, so could i send some money. I even was asked to help feed starving children. You can't refuse without feeling bad, and that's what they want. The fact that you have been asked to send money to Col Brian Wells is enough to convince ME that you have fallen for the same thing that i did, and it IS a scam. Did your man look like the photo I posted???