by johnsonccr
Wed Jul 04, 2012 3:36 pm
This particular person I found dangerous because he doesn't follow the typical patterns and I actually early on fell for his scam. That's what got me to recongizing the others. Unfortunately I am thousands of dollars in the hole to this person who is probably somewhere laughing it up. His email is [email protected]. His pattern is:
IM - contrary to other scammers he does not use IM at all
Leaving on a trip right away - we made arrangements to meet then he had to go to Idaho, not Africa. He even had a picture. But then he agonized about some workers in Africa that eventually he said he had to go check on them.
Requests for funds - he never asked me for money right away. He actually wanted a care package that was pretty normal. Cookies, disposable razors, books, etc. Normal stuff.
Shipping knowledge - he had no knowledge theoretically of how to ship to Ghana. His instructions were either non existent or wrong. That meant to me that he didn't know contrary to others who knew exactly how the scheme would work.
Accent - his accent was pretty close to whom he said he was. He was clever enough to say he was originally from new Zealand wth Malawi background. I even compared his voice to recordings of Malawi and it matched pretty close.
A friend to verify for him - yes, this ws pretty typical. He had a friend to verify for him.
Requests for equipment - at first the request for equipment was subtle enough and came late enough that I had a "relationship" with this person and trusted him. It was small at first and he was so hestitant to ask and not mad when I said no. Others get mad right away and try to bully you. He didn't.
Sex - Most scammers stay away from sex, especially on the phone. There are exceptions but it's usually in IM. We'll just say he was hands on.
Information on where he was - he had such detailed information about where he was, times of day, happenings in Africa, etc. Most won't do that, but he did. But I should have been tipped off when promised pictures didn't come, which is very typical.
Information on himself - most scammers will not give you any information on themselves. If you ask them they change the subject or are vague. Not Aaron, he had specifics about injuries, background, everything.
Information on his supposed home in Baltimore - he had his neighborhood name, restaurants in Baltimore, etc. Most will not
Sending gifts - this isn't unusual behavior for the scammers but I had not reason to doubt it.
Breaking dates - there was one date he was supposed to fly back and I was to meet him. But I never heard back on when he was coming back and he didn't and his excuse was he was in the hospital.
So obviously he worked really hard to know what patterns he had to avoid, he had information ready, and I consider that really dangerous. Yes, I hould have known better - I always thought I was smart. But everything he said made sense.
Then came the packages.
Another common scam is to send packages of goods to your houe and have you mail them. I didn't get suspicious until the second package came unannounced and had a name that wasn't his or mine on it and he coudln't tell me the name when i asked him.
by then he was supposedly returning to Baltimore in a couple of days so I said I would hold that package for him for when he returned. Of course, that was a few days ago and he has disappeared.
I chalk it up I guess to a very expensive lesson learned. I will try to be more careful and not let it make me cynical. I have alwasy tried to help my friends, I just need to be sure who my friends are. What scares me is that the typical signs weren't there until later. So you can't rely on those anymore.
IM - contrary to other scammers he does not use IM at all
Leaving on a trip right away - we made arrangements to meet then he had to go to Idaho, not Africa. He even had a picture. But then he agonized about some workers in Africa that eventually he said he had to go check on them.
Requests for funds - he never asked me for money right away. He actually wanted a care package that was pretty normal. Cookies, disposable razors, books, etc. Normal stuff.
Shipping knowledge - he had no knowledge theoretically of how to ship to Ghana. His instructions were either non existent or wrong. That meant to me that he didn't know contrary to others who knew exactly how the scheme would work.
Accent - his accent was pretty close to whom he said he was. He was clever enough to say he was originally from new Zealand wth Malawi background. I even compared his voice to recordings of Malawi and it matched pretty close.
A friend to verify for him - yes, this ws pretty typical. He had a friend to verify for him.
Requests for equipment - at first the request for equipment was subtle enough and came late enough that I had a "relationship" with this person and trusted him. It was small at first and he was so hestitant to ask and not mad when I said no. Others get mad right away and try to bully you. He didn't.
Sex - Most scammers stay away from sex, especially on the phone. There are exceptions but it's usually in IM. We'll just say he was hands on.
Information on where he was - he had such detailed information about where he was, times of day, happenings in Africa, etc. Most won't do that, but he did. But I should have been tipped off when promised pictures didn't come, which is very typical.
Information on himself - most scammers will not give you any information on themselves. If you ask them they change the subject or are vague. Not Aaron, he had specifics about injuries, background, everything.
Information on his supposed home in Baltimore - he had his neighborhood name, restaurants in Baltimore, etc. Most will not
Sending gifts - this isn't unusual behavior for the scammers but I had not reason to doubt it.
Breaking dates - there was one date he was supposed to fly back and I was to meet him. But I never heard back on when he was coming back and he didn't and his excuse was he was in the hospital.
So obviously he worked really hard to know what patterns he had to avoid, he had information ready, and I consider that really dangerous. Yes, I hould have known better - I always thought I was smart. But everything he said made sense.
Then came the packages.
Another common scam is to send packages of goods to your houe and have you mail them. I didn't get suspicious until the second package came unannounced and had a name that wasn't his or mine on it and he coudln't tell me the name when i asked him.
by then he was supposedly returning to Baltimore in a couple of days so I said I would hold that package for him for when he returned. Of course, that was a few days ago and he has disappeared.
I chalk it up I guess to a very expensive lesson learned. I will try to be more careful and not let it make me cynical. I have alwasy tried to help my friends, I just need to be sure who my friends are. What scares me is that the typical signs weren't there until later. So you can't rely on those anymore.