JDATE scam - Phil Knots engineer [email protected]

I have just been scammed for FOUR WEEKS. I am a smart South African that knows Nigerian scammers - this guy is a PRO. He had me going until the end. His stories checked out all along the way. This is a smart and well thought out script. You can read everything on my blog http://jdateromancescam.blogspot.com

JDATE is not safe! Just because we think its a religious site we think we can let our guard down. I told them about 2 scammers only to find that one had his profile up again a few weeks later. They can screen them but they dont because that would be losing revenue. I reported 2 scammers only to find 1 up there a few weeks later with the same photo!!

He poses as Phil Knots [email protected] - he may have many other names and is doing this to several women. He chatted with me on yahoo chat saying his blackberry had an antivirus so we couldnt use skype. We chatted for 2 hours at a time - nothing seemed wrong. He sent me pictures.

He is an American engineer living in London for the last year, he is a son of a former ambassador to SA and Switzerland and moved around a lot. Originally from Brooklyn but his accent is mangled. He knows Johannesburg and Geneva - two places I have lived and worked in. He could not have known about Geneva.
Why? They tell you this so that you are not suspicious of the accent and the grammar. I have lived around the world this man has a Brooklyn accent mixed with who knows what.

His English is good, spelling almost always perfect - grammar a bit off but not apparent. He sounds like one of my French friends when they write. No obvious warning signs.
He works as a consultant for an offshore oil company. I was an engineering writer and asked him questions - he had correct answers.How? Nigerians know about oil and engineering and their stories are water tight.
He has a son in Canada living with his ex who is 14 and called Rosco Knots.

This man knows London, Edinburgh and the hotels and streets. DO NOT BE FOOLED. He poses as a silver spooner that is lonely and looking for love. He sends poems. Imagine the heartache when I googled the poems and found them on the net.

After 3 weeks of me and him mailing and chatting on IM he calls. His voice is deep and thick and suddenly has to go on a business call. He mentions he wants to come visit me. Nothing for 3 days. Sends me a mail - his son is sick with brain cancer and he had to fly to Canada. Sends very lengthy explanation and diagnosis. All checks out.

Chats increase I give him support through this terrible time. He keeps mentioning his friend Matt all along the converstations and how supportive Matt is doing. Matt is married. He calls but has to rush off again.
Suddenly he needs to go to Dubai to sell a property (implied to pay for private treatment for his son). Calls from Dubai to say on his way back to Canada to his sons surgery he wants to meet me. We have chats the first night he almost loses the property deal. Second night we are celebrating on chat - he is so happy and is coming to see me the following day. All the flight details and times check out.
Then the
Motherf*&&er goes for gold:
He has been robbed in Dubai. A police officer calls me in the morning to say he has been assaulted and robbed. We go online all morning - he is stranded and cant get to see me or his son who is having surgery.
He asks me to call his friend. The hotel is keeping his passport as he cannot pay the hotel bill.
He needs $1300 and a ticket to the USA.
Later in the day after I say I don’t have the money he bargains me down to paying half.

I refused. Many other women did not.
Please send this to as many women as you can on JDate.
JDate doesnt care about us - they could have screened him from the beginning.

Hi naive22,

first of all, I don't think your username is fitting - You didn't send any money, and you did a research when you got suspicious.

Unfortunately, scammers have begun to infest religious sites for obvious reasons. I didn't check your site - do they have a scam warning on their home page? If not, suggest it to them, many other sites already have done so.

Your post will definitely help other potential victims, so thank you for taking the trouble. Could you post the text of his first email, please? Like you, other victims will do a Google search for typical phrases and will stumble upon your post.

Best wishes
Katharina

Hi there - thanks but I dont feel smart at all because my heart is really still in a lot of pain.

I dont have the first mails as they were on Jdate.

He did send these poems - he was an idiot because only in these did I see the IP address in Nigeria. The rest were rerouted through the UK or someone in the UK.

This is me
The time we have
Morning Sun
You are this to me
Timeless

Where is the <PUKE> smiley?

And now for another nauseating installment about his son's cancer:

Hello babes,
Sorry that you haven't heard from me in a short while but its really been a terrifying week for me. I had received a phone call from my ex about my son which got me on a flight to Canada the next day after our phone chat. It happens to be that Roscoe has been diagnosed with malignant brain tumor after a long complaint of continuous and persisting headache grade 4 tumor is called "glioblastoma multiforme" (gbm). Glioblastomas represents about 30% of the all the primary brain tumors diagnosed. The doctors can not tell how long the tumor had been in his head before the doctors diagnosed it. It is believed all grade 4 tumors (gbm) started out as a lower grade and 'transformed' to the final stage.
I am here faced with this though predicament praying that God comes to my rescue in making the right decisions. Please I will be need your prayers more than anything right now. I'll keep you updated as things turn out here.
Phil
x

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Hello dear,
Thanks for your email and support, I really do appreciate it. It is really not the happiest times for me now with such a bad news. I have been trying to make him understand what is going on with him and what is involved to try to remove it. There are survivors, but so far it would be exceptionally rare for a doctor who claims to have a patient who has been completely cured of a malignant brain tumor. Hope is on the horizon for a cure, but our government and health institutions are moving at a painfully slow pace. Gbm's are generally referred to as rapidly growing, but some people may experience no growth for several months. Once surgery is complete for Rosco, hopefully doctors will have cut out the bulk of the tumor. But for gbm tumors, there is no way doctors can see the microscopic tentacles (fingers) of the tumor. So even if doctors say they surgically removed 100% of a gbm tumor, they are only referring to the visible part.Also the doctors say that malignant tumors occur in males more than females and in a higher percent per capita in Caucasians than blacks, Asians or any other race. The reason for this is also unknown. I am very scared xxx and can hardly get some sleep with my heart so heavy with worries over Rosco. His is so loving and kind that he does not deserve any of this at all...why not me instead! Again thank you for the tips on trying to stay sane during this time, you are really a true friend indeed. I really don't know what to say as I feel really down so I will have to stop here for now. Thanks again.
Phil,
X

PS- his first surgery comes has been scheduled for next week end. The set-up BAIT.

Not only is he a low-life thief, but he is using words written by a dying person to do it.

All of his information about the supposed cancer, (in fact the whole cancer story) is nothing but bits and pieces copied from a blog written by a cancer patient who ultimately died. Nothing like exploiting someone who tragically died young.

http://home.earthlink.net/~sdepesa/

That is F#$$%$%% sick. Arrrrrggghhh. I just want this behind me.

I have always believed in what goes around comes around and good luck to him when it does.

Good news is JDATE is going down on this one too - The Jewish Chronicle is running this story this week and 100 000 Londoners will read what greedy bastards they are that they dont bother to check urls. I also reported 2 of these guys to them only to find another profile with the same picture a few weeks later.

OMG - HE USED THE EXACT WORDS IN ANOTHER MAIL ABOUT IT!!

So I asked the main doctor "If 250,000 people had this tumor in the same exact way that I do, how many do you think would be alive in 3 years?" Since he felt my 5 x 5.5 cm tumor was inoperable, his answer was "maaaybe one." Later, I asked my chemotherapist the same question, he answered "zero, but I've seen miracles before." I was bluntly told there's no hope for glioblastoma patients and that searching the internet or anywhere else for a cure would be pointless since nothing that they knew of would do anything but keep me alive a few extra months. I was devastated and felt completely hopeless.

Insert another puke smiley. thanks for this - I will repost on the other forums.

Hello naive 22,

this is wonderful news about the Jewish Chronicle, and I bet that if the print run of this newspaper is 100 000, each copy will be read by several persons, and not only in GB but also abroad. You did a great job there! I wouldn't be surprised if this article got some letters to the editor. I'm going to check if there is an online edition.

You will feel much stronger once the article has been published: You have been pro-active with amazing results.

Have a peaceful Sabbath!

Naive 22,

I think you are the lucky one, YOU did not budge and pour out the content of your wallet. I found 2 scammers in Be2.com and one of them has already placed another profile with a different name but the same picture.

Gregory Michael Junge with email address [email protected]
Michael Rickson wiht email address [email protected]
These two are the same person

James William Smith with an email address [email protected].

When I confronted him two weeks ago, he could not say anything but repeated the answer : IT'S NOT ME three times. No explanation at all !!! I think most of these dating site do not care about (protect) the safety of the members. We have to screen the matches ourselves. Their Love emails were composed and copied and pasted over and over, but when we chat with them, we can notice the grammar mistakes and when they called we can hear the strange accent and lousy grammar.

Take care and chin up.

Charlie77,

I'm sorry you have had to deal with these scammers, but unfortunately you are correct--you cannot rely on the dating sites to protect you from scammers.

Can you post a short synopsis of each of these scammers (start a new topic with the scammer's name and email address, and post the emails they sent you, in particular the first few and/or any requesting money)? These scammers often use their scripts even after they change names, so having that info posted helps more victims and potential victims.

I got taken by a guy on match who said his name was Mike Duffy. I am SO mad about these scammers. They are pros. But if you sit back and really listen. you can find holes in their stories. One thing I learned. if its too good to be true.. IT IS. I now know why they call you " baby" all the time BECAUSE THEY TALK TO SO MANY WOMEN AT A TIME! why should they bother to learn your name!

Welcome Michele90!
I'm so sorry you have been contacted by this criminal, and I hope you didn't lose a large amount of money.

It's great you took the time to post a warning - do you still have the scammer's email address? It would help a lot, some victims do a Google search on them, and they will find their way here.

All my best wishes for a fast recovery from this ugly experience!

I made a thread with the topic "Mike Duffy " on this blog.. all the info is on there his E mail, phone numbers etc. He was smooth, I wish I had read all these blogs before. Everything he did to me was textbook scammer stuff from him leaving MAtch after one contact to him Falling in love with me right away. I never knew this crap has been going on for years. I was really gullible. I have tried to post my story as many places as I can. THankfully when you google his name and MAtch.com it shows up. I am sure he does not use that fake name anymore. I am over it and now I met a nice , normal person on Match who is real.. Still I am left with a mess of owing my bank money and I am too embarrased to tell anyone what happened to me.
A lesson learned... NO ONE FALLS IN LOVE WITH YOU RIGHT AWAY. ITS BULL**** !!!!

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21009 re: MIKE DUFFY

Thank you for posting your story, you saved me. I tried to goggle his information and check on him, to see if this person is real, and I have found your story here. Cannot thank you enough.