Reshipper, Charity, Romance Scam: Anthony James

SCAMWARNERS Information Report sent by 2-2-12

Type of Scam: Romance/Reshipper/Charity Scam, combination
Active Dates: December 2011 to February 2012

Perpetrator alias: Anthony James (Anthony John James) Petroleum Geologist
Email: [email protected]
Match.com ID: anth609 (met here, but emailed directly)
Means of communication: mark receives Instant Messanger chats at approx same time daily; smarmy letters come every few days. Phone calls are short, less than 2 min.)
Home Address: 1200 Conklin St Baltimore, MD (luxury condos overlooking bay)
Business Address: 7743 Burnside Rd, Hyattsville, MD 20785 (low income residential)
Phone: 301-202-8767 (number is out of service at this time)
London Apartment: (leased monthly @$600 per month beginning on 1-31-12)
18 Runacres Court, Pasley Close, London SE17 3JZ
Age: 51, born in Cork County Ireland in charity hospital; Irish mother/Italian father
Family: Mother, Rachel James, is in ICU at The Heart Hosp. in London
Father abandoned them when he was age seven. (left with mistress to Japan)
Grandparents ‘are no more’; no siblings although he used to pray for a bro or sis
No living relatives except dying mother. (who had a heart attack while in Glasgow Scotland)
Education: Imperial College in London, ‘bachelor degree’ geology/sedimentology
Business: Established petroleum geology consulting firm five years ago in USA employees a personal assistant and a secretary. Business originated in Bern, Switzerland. Anthony James considers it his hometown although he 'moved all over Europe' as a child due to his mother’s job as a ‘humanitarian worker' for a charity where she found employment after they were abandoned by his father.
Note: Anthony James appears to know quite a lot about petroleum geology and refining as evidenced in various emails not included here.

Charity: Heart of Gold Foundation. Note: there IS a charity with this name and I have contacted them.

Scam Pretense: Because 'Anthony James' was out of the country visiting his sick mother, he asked me if I would accept/pick up the donations for Heart of Gold on his behalf. He instructed me that I would be given instructions at a later date for when and where to ship the donated gifts.

The supposed 'charity donations' are gift items for children with heart disease or cancer. (I expected teddy bears, etc. but the gifts turned out to be electronics for resale overseas. (Playstation3 & accessories) I was given the name of the supposed donor and a barcode and told to pick up the ‘gifts’ at the Walmart Shop to Store desk. I was requested to go to two local Walmart locations to pick up gift donations. The individual gift donations were always less than $1,000, probably to defray suspicion by retailer management.

Names of Charity Donors: The scam artists had fun with this: –one donor name was a popular hip-hop model; one donor name was the founder of the Mormon church; one name was taken from Dateline NBC’s show To Catch a Preditor with Chris Hansen and was the name of the first person arrested for soliciting sex with a minor, Brian Gosselin.

Writing Style: varies somewhat: letter-type emails are much more sophisticated than daily chats. Our first chats often demonstrate awkward usage of English. In almost every chat he asks about my dog and how he’s doing. He begins each chat with “How are you and how are you doing?” and proceeds to “ How was your day”; “How was the weather”; What are you making for dinner” Will you be working tomorrow”; and so on.

Correspondence hours: Perpetrator usually comes online at same approx time each evening, around 7PM, CST and we chat until he takes a break to go shower and get something to eat for 15-20 minutes. He signs off every night at 8PM so he can go to bed (that would be 9PM, his time, in Baltimore.)

Below is a snippet of a Yahoo Messenger Chat in which Anthony James explains how ‘donated items’ are to be distributed. The items are reported to be gifts for the ‘sick, homeless, and those less privileged.’
1-30-12 Yahoo Instant Message Chat
What church is this charity affiliated with --the one where you go to Mass?
anth_jamm: Its called Heart of Gold Foundation
anth_jamm: its affiliated to the Catholic Church
Okay. I see.
Is the charity international?
anth_jamm: they have affiliates all over the world
...and it's all for sick children? Heart patient-children?
anth_jamm: Sick children,orphans,homeless people and less privileged people in general
okay.
anth_jamm: I love you
Love you, too, Darling.
Is that who your mom works for--the humanitarian work she does?
anth_jamm: Yes
Okay, that makes sense.
anth_jamm: My mom is a workaholic despite the fact that she doesnt get paid
I have kind of figured that...! It's a pretty big deal to go from Switzerland to Scotland on your own just to do charity work! Amazing.

The terms and phrases anth_jamm uses:
Yes i am; Yes i have; Yes, i did; Yes,i did honey; Yes,it is; Yes,it does; Yes,you are right
May I call you honey? (Note: this is a generic term for either male or females; easy for scammers to use.)
OK; ok; OK honey, Same here honey, Its all in the past honey; Me too honey; is something wrong honey?
Not at all; Not a lot; Not really;
Please take good care of yourself for me; take good care of yourself for me honey
I have been thinking about you all day; I was thinking about you all day at work; you were on my mind all day long; i have missed you so much. I missed you today; I miss you; I love you; I love you so much
How are you doing and how has your day been? How are you doing and how's your day going; it was good;
brb; i just got booted off; the electricity has gone off in my apartment; I'm updating some programs
How’s Jag doing? (Note: Jag is my dog)
How are you doing? How was your day? How was the weather today?
What are you making for dinner? When will you be going to bed?
I feel is fate and destiny that brought us together; i want to bring you here someday
goodnight and sweetdreams
hug, kiss, love (these emoticons are always in same order before signing off)
bye for now honey (emoticon waves bye-bye)
I would like you to know, if you have not noticed already, that I am convinced that you are kind of woman I have been searching for.

Other Emoticons Used:
Perpetrator also uses a particularly obnoxious emoticon of a large kiss that begins as a yellow emoticon face and morphs to a red lipstick print. A clown horn goes ‘honk-honk’ during the morph from face to lips movement. I don’t believe this is a common IM icon, but not sure.

Body Text of Chat Sample:
me (1/9/2012 7:30:21 PM): Big smile on my face.
me (1/9/2012 7:31:04 PM): Darling, earlier you said you had been going through a dark time. What had happened to cause it?
anth_jamm (1/9/2012 7:31:07 PM): Love you so much
me (1/9/2012 7:31:17 PM): And I, you.
anth_jamm (1/9/2012 7:31:39 PM): I meant in my love life
anth_jamm (1/9/2012 7:32:01 PM): i have not been happy not having a special woman in my life
me (1/9/2012 7:32:12 PM): I see.
me (1/9/2012 7:32:26 PM): How long has it been for you?
anth_jamm (1/9/2012 7:32:39 PM): you mean how long i was single?
me (1/9/2012 7:33:25 PM): Well, I guess I mean since there was anyone that you cared for --or who cared for you?
anth_jamm (1/9/2012 7:34:09 PM): I have been single for a while honey
anth_jamm (1/9/2012 7:34:35 PM): I'm glad i have you in my life
anth_jamm (1/9/2012 7:34:40 PM): you are my sunshine
me (1/9/2012 7:34:52 PM): That's so kind.
me (1/9/2012 7:35:20 PM): It feels so good to be loved; to know someone loves you.
me (1/9/2012 7:35:56 PM): Did you bring a girlfriend to the states when you came over?
anth_jamm (1/9/2012 7:36:00 PM): I feel so much too honey
anth_jamm (1/9/2012 7:36:40 PM): No,i didnt
anth_jamm (1/9/2012 7:36:57 PM): I met a lady here when i first came
anth_jamm (1/9/2012 7:37:12 PM): but she was cheating on me
anth_jamm (1/9/2012 7:37:20 PM): i found out after 2 months
anth_jamm (1/9/2012 7:37:33 PM): she was actually cheating on me with 2 different men
me (1/9/2012 7:37:43 PM): Oh my God.
me (1/9/2012 7:37:52 PM): That's horrible.
----#####End of Text#####

Sample of E-Mail Letter from anth_jamm (Anthony James) follows:

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 3:45 PM
Dearest Sweetheart

These past few months have been the best that anything can describe. Our love shall never fade away, but shall always stay forever, and ever, and ever! The truth is that ‘If I ever saw an angel, I found it in you’. I'll sweep you off your feet, and make God regret he left an angel behind. Love is not about finding the right person, but creating a right relationship. It's not about how much love you have in the beginning but how much love you build till the end. Honey, I love you and I will always. I love the pictures you sent me. They are all very beautiful.

Your one and only
Anthony

Sample of Yahoo Instant Message Chat follows –please note the end of the chat where he posts emoticons; this is CONSISTENT with all his chat sign-offs. He always uses the same exact ones. Later on he began adding a fourth one: a emoticon waving good-bye and the words, ‘Bye for now’.

Anthony (Dec 19 8:28 PM):? I love you so much
Me I love you, too. Isn't this an amazing feeling?
Anthony (Dec 19 8:28 PM):? Yes,its an awesome feeling
Anthony (Dec 19 8:29 PM):? You have made me a very happy man
Me (Dec 19 8:29 PM):? Anthony, I know you must be tired and need your rest. Are you ready to go to bed?
Anthony (Dec 19 8:29 PM):? Yes honey
Me (Dec 19 8:29 PM):? I know the feeling.
Anthony (Dec 19 8:29 PM):? when will you be going to bed?
Me (Dec 19 8:30 PM):? As soon as my heart stops pounding.
Anthony (Dec 19 8:30 PM):? OK honey
Anthony (Dec 19 8:30 PM):? goodnight and sweetdreams my love
Me (Dec 19 8:31 PM):? I will say good night now, then. Sweet dreams to you, Anthony.
Anthony (Dec 19 8:31 PM):? (hug, kiss, love emoticons)
Me (Dec 19 8:31 PM):? I love you. Nite nite.
Anthony (Dec 19 8:31 PM):? bye for now (bye-bye waving emoticon)
Anthony appears to be offline.

Photos: two are posted on Match.com and two more were sent by email. I will try to get these posted here on Scamwarners as well. They are shots of a conservative looking man in a tan sports coat with yellow oxford cloth shirt, light grayish khakis, clunky shoes and a belt. He is standing with his hands clasped behind his back, this is his match.com main photo. The second shot on Match.com is very small and he is sitting down on a high backed bench and wearing a grey sweater and jeans. In the third photo, man is in ski attire (maroon jacket) at bottom of a run and is smiling with hands full of ski equipment clasped behind his back. The fourth photo shows a silver haired man in a tan t-shirt that says New Orleans across the front. He is posed leaning back on a metal fence in front of a blue boat moored on a washed-out shoreline at a marina of sorts. The background is a grey cloudy sky over a body of water.

Thanks for all your help Scamwarners! You have helped me work through this difficult time.

report to the police did not go wll for me. will finish this post in the morning.

I have also been receiving instant messages from Anthony James, as well as emails. I have never been asked to pick up anything to deliver but when I read through your post I realized the messages are almost identicle to the ones I have been getting. I decided to google his name just for the fun of it and I found your information on this site. What do I do about this? Any help would be appreciated.

Welcome to ScamWarners twitterbug46. What you need to do is stop communicating with that person immediately. Don't tell them why, just stop all communication with them. They are a scammer and a criminal.

Continuing to be involved with them will not have a good outcome.

Is there a way to report him? I have a good friend that is a police officer or we could the Today Show staff to get it public.

Unfortunately, you could have an entire police department in your family, and it wouldn't do any good.
The scammer is not in the US--in fact, he isn't American at all. He is an African, living in Africa or Malaysia. Taking any action requires an international investigation with an incredible amount of red tape and expense--generally losses of six figures (or close to it) are required to trigger one.
In addition, his real name is not Anthony James, and he is using stolen photos. All of his personal history is false--so in the end, you don't know who he is, where he is, or anything real about him.

Hi
I live in England and this man "Anthony James" is my neighbour. We have long suspected he & other people living in the flat have been up to no good, due to the huge number of deliveries coming to the address.
Have you reported this to the police, if so I would be happy to provide information.

Thanks Flora, for your post! I had given up on hearing anything further about this guy! Do you mean you are his neighbor at London Apartment: 18 Runacres Court, Pasley Close, London SE17 3JZ. That is very interesting. I suppose he might have actually used a real address in Pasley Close. The address I was more suspicious of is the one in Hyattsville, MD. I checked it out on Google Earth and it was a really creepy-looking place. --And I did get phone calls from Maryland according to my caller ID. However, if I tried to phone him there was never an answer-- although he would call back later.

Another notable thing about this guy is that he was never around much on weekends, if at all. Very quick and short messages. Sometimes he was ill--he used the phrase, 'I had a runny stomach', sometimes he was 'doing charity work', onetime he had a headache all day long, etc. etc.

I wish they would get busted someway, somehow. It took him around 60 days to set me up to do his bidding... I'm just glad I didn't get scammed out of money.

Thanks again for your comments. I feel better that someone else knows about this situation.

Dotti, I tried to go about posting the photos but gave up. I found it too time consuming and difficult to do all the steps involved...same with the url's he used. I'm just not that computer savvy. I could email you the photos but I do not have the patience to do all the steps involved in setting up accounts and so forth. Actually I did set up one online photo account and somehow it imported every photo I have ever downloaded from my cameral, even things that I would never want posted (bad shots, etc.). At that point I was worn out with the whole situation and just gave up on everything. Hate to admit it but it's true.
Thanks for all your help and for all you do for all of us.

Update: This scammer is still online. He's still posting on singles websites. Not many changes since I first ran across him this time last year except for new photo and address, as well as the upper case blah blah concerning distance and age not being a barrier to love. Note how he presses for the email address.

We know where this guy lives thanks to another Scamwarner member, but he's still in action. Must be too costly to prosecute him, even with all the stealing he perpetuates.

Here's his latest profile on Senior People Meet:

[quote]
A little about me...

PLS NOTE THAT DISTANCE AND AGE IS NOT A BARRIER TO LOVE AND IT DOES NOT MATTERS TO ME.PLS MAKE SURE YOU SEND ME A MSSGE WHICH INCLUDES UR EMIL AD SO I CAN CONTACT YOU BECAUSE IM NOT ALWAYS ON HERE.....I like to play sports just as much as I do watching them. Most of all i like to spend time with who I am with, and cuddle up and watch a movie. It is my opinion
that we all want the same thing in regards to a partner, and that most of us either do not know how or is scared to and sabotage themselves from getting it. OK, I like the outdoors, but I don't care about hunting or fishing, well I will fish with an un-baited hook if it means I will get to spend some time with someone I care about.

About the one I'm looking for...

I want a best friend and a lover to share quiet moments,am a very enthusiastic, outgoing, independent person who enjoys similar things, but who can also introduce me to new things. I am unique in many ways. In short, I am a person who strives to place other's needs before my own and people/relationships are very important to me.I believe that true loves means caring about the needs of others and wanting what's best for them.I'm looking for someone who is honest, fun loving, determined, and romantic. Someone who will make me feel like I'm the only one for them. Good communicator, good listener,and someone willing to give 110% to a 50/50 relationship. I want someone who respects me,I believe that my ideal match would be a selfless, caring, serving, loving, and compassionate lady or woman. she would embrace his God given role as head of household and strive daily to establish a home that glorifies God. I want her to feel that her relationship with me is truly a blessing from God..make sure you drop ur email ad when you send me a note.

I'd just like to add...
make sure you drop ur email ad when you send me a note.

Are you saying that the London address was where he was asking you to forward these 'donations' to ?

Of course you should stop accepting any deliveries he arranges to send you, as they won't be anything to do with charity, but purchases he has made using stolen credit card details, and you will get in to a lot of trouble doing it. He's using you especially so that you will take the blame and consequences for what he is doing.

No, I was never directed to send these 'charity donations' to any address. I was to hold the merchandise at my house and he'd arrange for a shipping company to come pick up and deliver the merchandise to wherever Anthony wanted it shipped. I assumed the donated electronics would be sent to the Catholic church where he attended to charity distributions. Or perhaps he'd have them sent to his home in Baltimore, since --he was "away in Lonon visiting his hospitalized mother." He told me not to worry about getting the merchandise shipped as he would handle all the arrangements.

I have had no further contact with this scammer since confronting him and turning it over to the FBI. I posted the info in blue just to show that nearly one year later, he is starting a scam on another innocent victim.
Keep an eye out for scammers and always report them.

I only say it because scams where you're being unwittingly involved in an illegal act are the most dangerous. One type is where you pay counterfeit cheques in to your account and the other one when you receive goods purchased with stolen credit card details. A person risks being arrested in the first instance and the risk is even greater in the second example. If my warning appeared harsh it was only to protect you as people can get involved without understanding what can happen and, it may appear innocent to them, but a card company is likely not to listen.

I wrote a response. Somehow, I had to save it as a draft. but I have no idea how to retrieve and post the draft. Anybody know how to retrieve it?