Profile of a Scammer

models

Scammers will pose under the disguise of beautiful pictures as either male or female claiming to be from the United States. The Scammer weaves a story of a successful business person working over seas, having no family; they present themselves as a thoughtful, caring and loving individual who is looking for their soul mate. The scammers are good at what they do; they ask lots of questions of the victim regarding what they want in their lives. The Scammer then takes the information and turns it into a dream that becomes a reality to the victim.


Profiles on dating sites can be attractive, informative, interesting and the biggest misconception individuals have are what you see in the profile are true facts. Scammer profiles can be difficult to spot unless you know what red flags to look for. Users have an ideal person they are looking for whether it's an attractive individual, common interest, common geographic location, friends and hobbies.


Scammers can be cleaver with their words, usually the text of the message is cut and pasted or they can be sloppy in their text as the email below shows. The email is an example of “Scammer grammar” the misspelled words, and the short abbreviations of words.

Example Scammer First Contact Email
I would really love to know as much as i can about you.
Well i think i have to tell you more about myself.I'm
mixed,dad from Belgium while mum from USA. I was born
and grew up in Belgium before i move to the states.Im
an civil engineerwell am in Nigeria now working on a
contract but i will going back to the statessoon.
I dont have children, though i was married but i lost
my wife on a car accidnt I also attach couple of my
photos on this email i hope you like them.I would also
want you to send me some photos I really like your
profile and it was nice.I have never done this before also.
Have a nice and great day. Hope to hear from you soon

Profile Inconsistencies

  • Their profile picture looks professionally done and can be found on a modeling website Focushawaii.com, Musecube.com, NewFaces.com, Q6.com,
  • Their height/weight is not proportional -e.g. 6’ and 95 lbs
  • They claim to have blonde hair and blues eyes when the picture is dark hair and brown eyes or vice versa
  • They have a wedding ring on in the photo yet they claim to be single
  • They claim to be Native American or some other ethnicity when the photo is Caucasian
  • They claim to be older/younger than the photo looks
  • Their specified age range seems to have no limit-e.g. 25-60
  • Their profile seems to disappear off the website immediately after conversation begins
  • Their profile seems cut and pasted
  • Their profile states that they do not smoke, drink or have kids
  • Their spelling is atrocious, they are notorious for using “i” instead of “I”
  • They appear uneducated with their speaking/writing skills
  • The details they give you on email/IM are often different that what was stated on their profiles, one of the more common ones they give different answers to is their birth date, height/weight, and age
  • Their full name is two first names – John Michele, Florence Francis, Shawn David, John James

This list is not in anyway complete as the scammers come up with more “stories or lies” on a daily basis.

Occupation

  • They claim to work over seas, but are located in the same State as you
  • Import and Exporting
  • Building Contractor
  • Engineer / Oil Contractor
  • Mechanical Engineer
  • Construction
  • Model/ Fashion Designer
  • Self Employed
  • Business man

Steps to Take

  1. Immediately cease all contact with the Scammer!  Block their email address, ignore
    their instant messages, ignore their phone calls
  2. Contact Western Union to see if the payment has not been picked up yet
  3. Make copies if your email conversations, and instant messages. Keep originals for yourself, give copies to the various reporting agencies, and keep all receipts anything that can be used as evidence
  4. Report Scammer to dating site you were contacted on, Yahoo Profiles, the FBI IC3, police department (make a report) and our data base
  5. Contact the bank fraud department and make payment arraignments if a check/money order has been found fraudulent and you owe money to them
  6. Contact the bank fraud department if you suspect a check you deposited will come back fraudulent
  7. Contact your Postal Carrier/Post Office and ask that no packages to be delivered at your home/ work. Also bring checks and Money orders that you received to the Post Office to make a report and turned them over
  8. Contact your Postal Carrier/Post Office if you have been sent packages or letters to forward for a Scammer. Keep the envelopes or shipping package for evidence
  9. Contact any companies that have sent you gifts or merchandise and inform them that they were purchased on a stolen credit card and make arraignments to have the items returned
  10. Contact your local Police Department, they may not do anything but it will help you to create a paper trail

After being scammed you are put on a “contact” list by the scammers. You will be receiving random instant messages and emails from people you do not know. These are scammers trying to scam you again. Please tell them you know they are a Scammer and block them. You will know within 5 minutes if it’s a Scammer by looking at the profile, how they write/speak, their picture, they state they live in Nigeria, they confess their love in the first meeting, they claim God brought you to them etc. After you keep blocking them, they will stop and you will be placed on a “NO” contact list.

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