Skype

Not sure if this is the right forum.

Haven't been scammed yet but I would like some advice concerning this.

I have been in contact with a women on Skype who is the same as her profile picture.

The trouble is she has 3 or 4 different profiles and just as many names.

She is french. Claimed she had to go to Africa and called me. The number given was African but she didn't sound 'french' to me.

Have been speaking to her for a month or so and yes she has all the hallmarks of being a scam. But as of yet she hasn't asked me for anything.

Is this odd? She even offered to pay me to go to France or visit me in England

Welcome to Scamwarners Anenglishman.

It isn't odd at all and the best scammers are happy to invest a lot of time in setting up a victim. Being told that the person has had to make an unexpected trip to Africa is common as it explains why the person is there when you phone them, when they have been there all along. It also is a good place to have unexpected problems which require you to send money to help them out, whether its border or customs problems or an accident.

Well she's/ they have not asked for any money yet. As I said the fact we have spoken on the phone and skyped each other just seems to me to be a different type of scam. Not experienced this before. She/they even offered to visit me here in England or even pay for my flight to France.

[AlanJones]

The trouble is she has 3 or 4 different profiles and just as many names.

She is french. Claimed she had to go to Africa and called me. The number given was African but she didn't sound 'french' to me.

That says all you need to know:
1. Why would she have all these profiles with different names?
2. What did she sound? West African perhaps?

There are various West African countries, such as Ivory Coast and Togo, where French is widely spoken, but they won't have a "French" accent. It is also not unknown for them to get a female to do the phone work for them.

Where did you first meet this "woman" and can you post (or PM to me) a link to her profiles or picture?

And forget the fact that she hasn't asked for any money, I have seen many romance scammers spend months building up the trust of their victims before requesting any money at all.

It seems as if you are waiting for the question of money to be either "the final straw", or the next reason to think "scammer".

If you've all ready seen (as you put it) "all of the hallmarks of a scam" yet you are still pressing forward for some reason. I think you need to ask yourself why do you put yourself in such a position??

http://www.google.com/ is a good place to start looking into the "person" and "stories" that "she" claims to have. Have you done searches on the phone #, address, email address, DOB, name, and other personal data "she" has given to you??

My guess would be that either you can't find any records of such a person, because it is a made up name / person. Or they are impersonating someone with a lot of media exposure and just repeating tales "she" reads in the news.

What you are describing is not unusual at all.

It is so common that Josie Ann Miller has this posted on the main page of her website.

PLEASE BE AWARE; I'M NOT ON ANY DATING SITES ENGAGED! SCAMMERS ARE USING MY OLD WEBCAM VIDEOS IN YAHOO CHAT.

MAKE THEM DO SOMETHING REALLY UNIQUE LIKE PICK UP AN OBJECT IN THE BACKGROUND; THEY WILL MAKE AN EXCUSE. PLEASE MESS WITH THEM

While we certainly see our share of "obvious" scammers, not all scammers are the clueless, barely literate people who fall in love in 5 minutes and ask for money by the 3rd email. The better, more experienced scammers take time to get to the money request. The create fake webcam and have plausible phone conversations. Sometimes they send gifts (ordered with stolen credit cards, of course) like flowers, teddy bears, etc. to their targets. They may send e-cards for holidays and/or the victim's birthday, and may set up a social networking page, even changing their status to declare their "relationship" with the victim.