Nigerian UNICEF Scam

I sent a message to a 30 year old woman in Boston, MA with a profile on adultfriendfinder, tybee75. She replied through AFF and asked for my email address. I sent my email address through AFF on 3/8/15. On 3/9/15 she deactivated her AFF account, and sent me an email. We communicated by email every few days until 3/27/15. In her initial email she stated that her name was Teresa Peoples, she was a native of Adelaide, Australia, and moved to Boston 4 years ago to live with her Aunt after both of her parents were killed in a car crash. She also stated that she was currently in Borno, Nigeria, as an LPN on a mission with UNICEF, but would be returning in 2 weeks. She sent me several photos by email. I was very suspicious of her poor grammar and spelling, and after she repeated information about her parents death 3 times, I did some internet research. I was unable to find any information about her or her parents. I did discover that there is a dangerous freeway in Adelaide that has 10-12 fatalities each month. I also discovered that Australia does not have a national language, but has a few hundred, and most speak Australian English, which is not English, and has no formal regulation, which would account for her spelling and grammar errors. I became suspicious again after she explained that the local food made her sick, she had used all her money to buy outside food, and she asked me for money. I refused. After more closely examining her photos, I discovered she was involved with theChive, which is a social media website, and an organization that uses attractive young women to solicit donations for charities. After confronting her, she was upset, but admitted to being involved with theChive, and appeared to be very open and honest with me. I still refused to send her money. She had mentioned a local airport with a Western Union. I researched the area in Nigeria, the Airport, and UNICEF. I found that UNICEF does have a current mission in Borno, and the airport only uses 2 airlines. She told me that UNICEF contracts with a UK airline for all travel. I was able to confirm that. I was still suspicious, but decided that I may have made incorrect assumptions about her honesty. I decided to send her a small amount of money to placate her, and see if she would want to continue with our plans to meet upon her return, even though I would not send her what she wanted. She said that she borrowed $380 from a UNICEF Commandant, and needed to repay it before leaving. I took a gamble, and offered her $160. She was grateful, our communication improved, and we further discussed plans to meet upon her return. I sent $160, plus a $7.50 transaction fee through Western Union on 3/25/15 (tracking number (MTCN) : 8239553758). I received notification that she picked up the money later that day, using a government issued ID. Several days later she explained that her return trip was delayed due to the Nigerian Presidential election, and potential violence. I confirmed the election, and expected violence, on the internet. The next day, she essentially professed her love for me, and explained that her return trip was further delayed, but she could escape the danger and return home at her own expense. I became very suspicious, did not respond, and spent the day doing internet research. I discovered a trend of Nigerian UNICEF scams, traced her email & IP address to Moreno Vally, CA, and through a photo search found many of the photos she sent me on several websites. Her identity was stolen from a model with photos on theChive and other sites, I also found a photo of her on stop-scammers.com, another victim described a very similar experience this time using the name Audrey Thomas. I received many photos of this woman, they can be viewed on her stop-scammers.com profile:
Removed outside link (BW)

Please post the emails she sent, especially the first ones, which are likely to be script.

Australian English is just as English as American English; a speaker of one would have no trouble understanding the other, except for some dialect-specific word such as "brumby" or "mustang". English written by a Nigerian, though, has some obvious errors which many of us recognize as West African. If the scammer is in Borno, which is in northeast Nigeria, he may have a different pattern of errors, as the common language there, Hausa, belongs to a different family than the Yoruba and Igbo of the south.

Please post the photos here. Fakemark them first so that other scammers can't reuse them.

Yes, I was always suspicious, especially of the grammar, but I was caught up in the romance. In hindsight, it was obvious that this person was not from Australia.
I tried to post the photos, but it didn't work. How do I do that? I have them in JPEG format.
Should I just add a post with the e-mails?
-jade0511

Please post the emails she sent, especially the first ones, which are likely to be script.

Australian English is just as English as American English; a speaker of one would have no trouble understanding the other, except for some dialect-specific word such as "brumby" or "mustang". English written by a Nigerian, though, has some obvious errors which many of us recognize as West African. If the scammer is in Borno, which is in northeast Nigeria, he may have a different pattern of errors, as the common language there, Hausa, belongs to a different family than the Yoruba and Igbo of the south.

Please post the photos here. Fakemark them first so that other scammers can't reuse them.

Copy and paste the emails sent to you. Remove any of your personal information from the emails prior to submitting.

Here is how to post pictures. viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3219 Mark the photo's as stolen or used by a scammer.

Was just going through almost the same situation and decided to check out further information on the web. Was unable to find any other information about Aubrey Tomas in the internet or whitepages. She was saying she is from the Denver area and working for UNICEF and was getting sick from the food in Africa and needed money. Her dad was Australian and mother American who ran off and left her with a drug addict aunt. When asked about her local life I was ignored and misdirected. I have to give it to them that they lay out a pretty convincing scam at first but the language missteps and to sob story raised my concerns. I do have pictures I can post if it would help others from getting scammed. I did do an image search and one of her pictures came up on chive but the others didn't. The fact I found an image of "Aubrey" on a website pretty much confirmed it for me that I was being worked over. Luckily I had not gave in to their requests for money.

Hi and welcome, GWCO. Please post the picture(s), look at Bryon's post above yours for instructions how.

Also please post the email address, phone #, or whatever information you have about this scammer, so others can be warned using an internet search.

Below is a few emails I received from Aubrey Tomas, her email was [email protected] and was met on adult friend finder website. I also found a match to pictures she had sent to me on the Chive and the IP address showed it from California from a spam account X-Originating-IP: 65.55.34.20

I go to the gym to swim sometimes. I had one in the house I grew up in melbourne, australia. Writing back to you makes me miss home even though I am enjoying myself here, the people here are so lovely. It feels bad to know that they need so much help. At the moment, you are the only person I am writing to back home. I have just one friend I tell things about me but she has a lot of friends. Her friends are not my friends, of course we hang out but we don't talk much afterwards. My dad is dead and mum left me me after dad's death and got married to another man in Mexico which I don't get to see her again. I was raised by my aunt who is now caught up in drugs and alcohol, i really love her and it pains me that she chose to live that way. I see this charity work as a way of relaxing and doing to others what I was supposed to do with my Aunt when I was more younger. I just had to tell you about my personal life because i will like to know what you have been through in life too. I believe human beings are what they have experienced, the past presents the future. But anyway I'll not and I'll never allow that to pull me down or back in life. I just have to be strong and move on in my life..I pray the Lord guides and protect me and lead me through the right path.
This is my first time ever in Africa. I was introduced to online dating and this site by a friend out here in the camp. You seem to be a very nice person and I hope you will not hurt me. I want to be your best friend and I also need your advice in life and your support as well to achieve my goals and I don't want to be hurt any more.

I care,
Aubrey

3. When last were you so close to a woman? I asked because talking to you has really brought out some feelings. Now I feel like I want to be close to you. Tell me about your past, my last relationship is something I dont really like talking about cuz I don't like to remember it but I'll definitely tell you about it cuz I believe it's a way of knowing each other better. The relationship lasted for 2 years, he got tired of me and decided to try new things. He was getting fastidious, finding fault for everything I did and, I tried my best to make things change because I have expended a lot in the relationship (Time, Money and energy) but he just made things worse. He showed me the way out when he started having an affair with another girl which I got to find out and that was when he told me he doesn't need me anymore right in front of the other girl I caught him with. That made me very very miserable and I just couldn't believe such thing could ever happen to me. I like being honest in anything i find myself doing. I have always been very honest in my past relationships but what hurts me is that I don't tend to get that honesty back in return from my partner, it really sucks me out but it teaches me more about life. I was very honest and loyal to my ex and everything was going smooth until he started changing his attitude, I talked to him to stop that cuz I made him know I understood what was going on then but he didn't and I figured we weren't compatible anymore so we had to call off the relationship cuz he wasn't honest to me. I really wanted to have something serious with him but he was not ready for that.
I have been single for some months now and I dont want to rush into any relationship cuz I don't want the same thing that happened in my last relationship to happen again, I want someone that I can always call mine and mine only cuz I'll be his only one too. I want someone who's really ready for a serious relationship and ready to prove to me that it pays to respect, love and cherish a woman and I'll definitely prove to him back that it pays to be honest to a woman. I want my next relationship to be my very last one which I have been praying to God about and I'm sure he won't let me down. Well, I hope that makes sense to you. I'm feeling very weak and sick now. I really need some rest and then find something to eat. I'll be hoping to hear from you real soon though but until then take good care of yourself and have a nice time and fun filled week even if i dont. I think i'll have to go and see the doctor if this persists. I have to go now though. Be safe and talk to you soon!

I Care,
Aubrey

I am not really happy with my health. I feel so weak, I got to figure out somethings, the doctor said I got sick cuz of the foods i ate here. I knew that already but I don't think I have any other choice than to just eat the food they serve us here. The first time I ate the food I threw up so I had to buy my own food stuff for myself and I have been doing that ever since we arrived here. Everyone out here is eating the food and nothing is happening to them. My food stuff finished some weeks back and that was why I have been eating the food they serve us out here which is what made me sick..The doctor advice me to get my food stuff since that's what I have always done until recently. The problem is that we haven't been paid yet, though I'm working as a voluntary worker out here but I will be paid some amount of money when I'm back home but right now I don't have any money on me to buy my food stuff for myself anymore. When we were coming here I came down with some money and I have exhausted it on my personal feeding and other stuffs. I'm really broke right now and I need to get some food stuff for myself cuz I don't want to eat the food they serve us out here anymore. It's making me sick and I'm scared. I'm confused right now and I don't know what to do. I hope you've been having a good time unlike me out here though, things have stopped being exciting to me here and it's really making me very sad and unhappy. Anyways, I have to go now as I'm tired of typing and boring you out. Wish I was chatting with you. Do have fun and have a nice day even if I don't as I'm sure I won't. Write me a message when you get this. Hoping to hear from you soon.

I care,
Aubrey

GWCO, thanks for posting the emails and address... was that a "reply to" or a "From" address, or are they the same ( it is very unusual if they are the same).

the IP address you posted is a MicroSoft IP, and all email that originates from an MSN address will show that ( or a close) IP.

If you can post the complete header (and it sounds like you know how to view it already, if not see one or both of the links at the bottom of my post on how to reveal the complete headers), remove your personal information prior to posting it ( your name, email address). We may be able to find additional information about the origin of the scam.

The IP address belongs to Microsoft. Aubrey did not grow up in Australia; she is a character played by an African.

Same scam experience happened to me: She contacted me via AFF
Jill Mccord <[email protected]> Aug 20 at 5:51 PM
To

Hello Honey

I am so glad to read from you and enjoy the sweet way your mails make me smile. I have fast gotten so used to you and getting much more closer to you and it makes me so happy to always have a reason to look forward to something again, after this long period of loneliness i have experienced. You are like a breath of fresh air to me, and the way you warmed up into my life makes me look forward to many more with you and it makes me look forward to when i will finally meet you. I look forward to reading your emails every time. I love how i smile when i see that i have a new mail from you. There is this thing about you that warms me up inside and its so lovely that we have something beautiful going. I have to say this dearie, that i am so glad we met. You make me smile a lot.

There is this way you make me so happy. I just love the very simple ways you do this. You fill my head with your images and you have come to make me think of you a lot. I am glad i met you because you have become a predominant part of my thoughts. Well, one of my goals has always been to have a successful career, and to someday establish a midwifery clinic for pregnant women, its really something i have always dreamed of and I'm really working hard towards that direction.

I am so happy to have known such a honest, responsible and caring man; someone who really has made me so happy and gotten me to bring down all my walls and let him into my life I am so happy i met you. Well, hopefully, everything works out good for me; for us . Anyways, I see relationships as one of the most natural things that can happen in life and i believe a good relationship is built on trust, honesty, togetherness and prayers. I love how we have built on this so far and i am hopeful that we can grow into a lot more.

I have had my fair share of hurts in relationships and the hurts has been horrible, but it doesn't put me off me totally. They only made me stronger and wiser. I have always been a firm believer of "what doesnt kill you only makes you stronger and thats what i have become over these years. I am really glad i met you. You make "living again" so easy and so beautiful.

I have spoken to a couple of people off the internet but i haven't met anyone yet who caught my attention the way you do. Knowing you, i learnt to easily allow nature to take control and i am glad for how it is all going. I must say this, you are very interesting. There is so much to say but so little time. I have to jump in the shower now; get something to eat and get back to work.. I'll be looking to read from you soon..Take care of yourself and get back to me when you can. You are in my thoughts.

I care,
Jill.