Near miss - romance scam

I believe I was involved for several days in a romance scam. I had a gentleman try to "freind" me on facebook. I ordinarily would NEVER freind anyone that I don't know, but for some dumb reason I messaged him and said, "do i know u"... What followed would be nearly a week of my time wasted and thank goodness I have friends and family that talked some sense into me.

He stated that his name was GEORGE MORGAN, and that he is a civil engineer in London. He has been a widower for 5 years and has a 12 year old daughter named Anita. Of course I was skeptical but I played along. After only about a day of our messaging he said he "loved" me and wanted a "mum" for Anita. Still playing along I said, ok. He then proceeeded to tell me about the contract he had for a job in West Africa that would pay him a million dollars, and after the job was done he wanted to come to Texas to live with me forever. He told me to start looking for houses because he would send me the money and we can buy a house together. Here is where he got me. I blame myself for being somewhat "greedy". But I thought to myself, heck ya a paid for home. He said my budget was $200,000 USD. So like a dumby I have been looking at houses online for 2 days. NO, I haven't sent him any money and now after researching online about romance scams and seeing that he fits EVERY SINGLE CATEGORY, I have severed all communication. I am very greatful for sites like this one and for my freind who helped me from losing my mind and my paycheck.

Souix-C-Q from Texas

Welcome to ScamWarners....

Pleased to see that you had the good sense not to fall for his bull !

Alas these scammers can be good at what they do, they prey on people.

The problem is souix-C-Q, if the scammer can get you to pay anything, you have INVESTED in the scammer, emotionally and financially and, at that stage, it can be very hard to let go. It almost becomes a case that you have to keep going along with the scam because the consequences of having to face the truth are too awful.

People have lost sums in excess of $1,000,000 which sounds ridiculous but the scammers are experts at sob stories and emotional blackmail and they are ruthless. They'll not even stop when they've cleared you out as they'll get you to borrow and steal to meet their demands. I recall one case where a New Zealand pensioner ended up going to prison as the scammer even persuaded her to perform fraud for him. She didn't start as a criminal but these people often operate like a pack of wild dogs and plan with their drinking buddies what they can do to extract money from people.

There's a reason why we as a species have something called GUT INSTINCT. Trust it, always, unquestioningly. It will ALWAYS be right!
I have just spent 3 weeks corresponding with someone who added me as a favourite through Match.com. His story has been very complex and convoluted but to cut a very long story short little quiet alarm bells started to ring because of a few dead giveaways.

The English used was VERY hit and miss. Some emails were perfect English including grammar and spelling. Sometimes his emails barely made much sense!
He claimed to have his own business - I could find ZERO trace of the name he was using, his family members or the company name he used. He claimed to be a graduate from Stanford University but I could find no trace of him in 10 years worth of Yearbooks.
He briefly had a profile on Match.com and on Facebook (with ZERO history on his timeline). Both disappeared within 48 hrs of him making direct contact with me.

Readers please BEWARE!!!!

He invested incredible time and effort into grooming and seducing me both online and over the phone. He sent me photographs of himself and his supposed 2 daughters (heaven knows who these photos are actually of!) he claimed to be a widower of 5 years - wife died of cancer. Of course, anyone with a heart is going to feel for him - which is precisely what he's banking on (literally!)

An elaborate tale and web of lies and deceit has been spun - despite the quiet bells I'm afraid I fell for it all - hook line and sinker. Until he asked me to 'make a donation' to a fundraising project for an injured employee and that I could 'donate' via Western Union. For the first time - LOUD ALARM BELLS !!!!!!!!!! I didn't even know this person! Why would I want to donate? Why Western Union? Answer - because it's untraceable - no recourse if used and money is lost.

I gently challenged him and was made to feel I had trust issues - damn right! He played on this for a couple of days and the grooming continued, but my unease increased. Yesterday, on a friend's advice, I copied and pasted some of what he'd said in emails on a Google search and up came REAMS of scam warnings! Am I ever thankful to my friend!
Inevitably I was upset - I'm human - but I am happy to say that although I felt I'd been emotionally and psychologically violated he didn't get any money from me. This was a VERY close call and I need to make as many other people aware as possible of the ruthless predatory gutter rats that are out there. And frankly that's an insult to rats!

Just for the record the name he was using is Justin Haylock. Email [email protected] and South African Mobile No. 00 27 72 114 7418

Take care people! TRUST YOUR GUT INSTINCT WITHOUT QUESTION - it's one of the greatest gifts you have.

One tactics of romance scammers is to isolate the target victim from their friends and families. They start by getting you away from the website where you met to avoid the risks of anyone there alerting you, and then separate you from anyone else who may try to warn or assist you, which can lead to heartbreaking situations. It's not uncommon for the children of widowed parents to come here to try and get advice what to do.

The irony is that many of the scammers are misogynists (women haters), and you'd be shocked at how they treat their real partners, and the act they put on is something they don't even properly understand. To them it's just meaningless words that they know will get them money.

There is no doubt whatsoever that he most likely has other victims on the hook, as he has been in contact with you and, if that's not true, then he will have been trying to contact other potential targets, which is why they usually try to get you off and away from romance sites, because they know they risk getting exposed the more contacts they attempt to make.

I only say this so that it's clear that they are entirely cold-blooded and ruthless. He doesn't care anything about your looks, your personality or anything about you. The limit of his attraction to any female is how much money he get and nothing will stop him. He'll mull over this failure with his drinking buddies and try to improve his tactics and scripts.