Internet Dating and Romance Scams

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Nigerian Internet Scam Hits Vermont

Burlington, Vermont – April 18, 2008

Internet scams are a dime a dozen. But when a Vermont woman found a great deal on a rented house — online — she suddenly realized that something wasn’t right.

Amanda Thomson says she found it on the Internet. She was looking for a house to rent with her fiancee. She went onto Craig’s List, a free website that includes homes for rent.

“I saw this great house for $700 in the Burlington hills,” she said. “And it had pictures of the inside and it looked very nice. So I jumped on it.”

Amanda Thomson had the good sense to check further on the house in Burlington’s Hill section that supposedly rented at such a low price. She Googled the address. Guess what? The house she hoped to move into was for sale. She called the realty company.

Sybil Chicoine, vice-president for marketing with Coldwell Banker Hickok & Boardman Realty, said, ”We contacted Craig’s List and they were quite cooperative in taking the listings down.”

Chicoine said several consumers called with similar stories about rental listings on Craig’s List. It was obvious that this was a scam. Especially since the email address of the people asking for a rental deposit up front was located in Nigeria.

Others dealing with offers on the Internet need to be careful. Chicoine added, “Just to do a little due diligence when they’re working online, and to — it sounds a little cliché — but when something’s a little too good to be true, you know, it might in fact be.”

Thomson said she feels embarrassed. But at the end of the day she avoided the trap. ”I did not send any money,” she said. “Still, I’m just the bulls eye because I fell for it, I was so convinced that I was going to get this house and we were going to have a great place to live. And it didn’t happen. But we did find something and it was good.”

Thomson hopes others will take heed. Verify everything when it comes to financial dealings on the Internet.

Andy Potter – WCAX News

April 20, 2008 - Posted by alanprince | Blogroll, Dating, Internet Dating, Internet Scams, Nigeria, Nigeria scams, Nigerian internet scams, african women romance internet scam, african women romance internet scams, banks in Nigeria, internet dating scams, romance scams | , , , | 22 Comments

22 Comments »

  1. [...] Credit:Nigerian Internet Scam Hits Vermont [...]

    Pingback by Nigerian Internet Scam Hits Vermont | Conning Us | April 20, 2008 | Reply

  2. May 08. I am currently in talks with an African guy who is presumably in the UK (but usually resides in Australia) as his Grandfather has died and left him a large amount of money. He states he is/has been a Doctor at a Sydney hospital, and when he returns to Australia,his dream is to build a hospital. He sent me a copy of a Courier/Cargo receipt, where he states he had to pay $USD49,000.00 to ship his Grandfathers goods back to Australia. He is the sole beneficiary. He has never asked me for any money, but he did state that he needs to get some more money to pay for more Cargo. I did not send an money, I just wished him good luck in obtaining a loan from his friends. I also asked him if he was so rich after his Grandfathers death, why he cant afford to pay the Courier fees himself.
    I met this man on Yahoo Dating. It would be nice if this was for real, and he was genuine, and I apologise to him if he is, but since Ihave asked these questions I have not heard back from him, and, as the saying goes, if it sounds to good to be true, it usually is.

    Comment by Susi F | May 7, 2008 | Reply

  3. I meet this guy name is Chris Brown Hurbs and he was in Nigeria stating that he was from Beaumont Tx. And that he had to go Nigeria because his mom was in a accident. Everything was fine at first I meet him on MySpace and then he started saying he Loved Me within two days. And that he need $100.00 us money because he didnt have enough money to pay for is flight back.

    So beware of this guy

    Comment by Debbie | June 6, 2008 | Reply

  4. Found a man on Chemistry.com Alberto Gomez… Italian living in the US. On contract in Nigeria. Never stated where exactly, actually never answered many of my questions at all. Corresponded via IM for 2 months, all of a sudden he loved me and was returning to the US. Then the very next day his hotel was robbed by a gang, he lost passport, laptop and wallet. American Embassy just gave him travel documents but he needed $700 to pay his bills. Wanted my bank details/credit card details etc for his company to deposit money into. I said no, he disappeared. Beware!

    Comment by Jackie | June 10, 2008 | Reply

  5. I found a man on eharmony.com and his name is Alberto Gomez.. Italian living in the uS and on contract in Nigeria. He told me he was staying in a hotel in Lagos. We have corresponded via IM and email for about a month. He called and said he had been picked up by militants and was being held for ransom… he gave me his attorneys name and asked me to call and make arrangements to come up with the money. The attorney wanted $3200 for his fee… told me to set up a emoney acct and to send him the money for his fee by western union. I told them I did not have that much.. only $400 and they begged me to send that so that things could get started to get Alberto out of jail. I did not send the money… and I have no idea if any of it is true… but my gut told me to run it was a scam and thats what I did… I am glad I did.

    Comment by Karen | June 30, 2008 | Reply

  6. I was contacted by a man on match.com, his name was “Sean Carter”. He said he and his sone live in Houston but where in Nigeria as he was working on a contract installing phone services. He contaced me the second week of May and we begain iming one another on a daily basis. When I asked about his son not being in shcool he said that he home school him. My first flag that something might be odd was when he asked about I owning my own home as well as if I had a bank account. That pretty much put me on edge, but none the less I continued to coorespond daily. The week before he was due to return to the states, he said he needed to ask me a big favor, I thought perhaps he and his son needed a ride home from the airport. But that was not the case he told me that he was short $600. and need the money to pay for the flights returning home. He told me not to tell anyone that he was asking for money as he was “shy”. I told him that I did not have extra money to send and he got very angrey and suggested I sell somthing and he would pay mey back upon his return. I told him I could not, but perhaps if he gave me his bank information her in the states I could talk to a V.P. of that bank they might be able to help him, again he got angry and said no do not talk to anyone about this at that point I new what he was up too… After giving him an excuss of having to leave I called match.com an reported him, I was told by someone at match that he has been scaming women for sometime now. I then returned to my computer and told him I knew what he was doing and to leave me alone. Needless to day he had a few choice words for me. Needless to say he is still on match.com, I know his writing and boy does he have several profiles…. He did give me his phone number in Nigeria and it is a land line, I checked the number on international and does belong to a home there. What I don’t understand is why match.com has not done a better job in filtering these people out. I have sent several e-mails to the corprate offices of match.com in the last five weeks and never did anyone ever respond to them. So when it comes to daiting or finding a mate, the old fashion way is the best way… in person…

    Comment by Norma | July 10, 2008 | Reply

  7. Stay away from a young girl who calls herself sexykat and with a supposedly real name of Abbey Pestana. She said she was on a work project in Lago, Nigeria. After a weeks chatting and when she was about to fly home to UK she was robbed of everything and could not pay the hotel, please send £500. Well actually you cannot stay in a Nigerian hotel without paying up front, so it was all a scam. There were many other things that, after you realise what shes doing, did not make sense. Stay away!

    Comment by Paul Tatham | July 18, 2008 | Reply

  8. a woman calling herself vanessa graham from the UK working on a missionary In Ghana contacted me and told me that she was in love with me. She sent some pictures of a beautyful woman and a copy of her passport. I told her from the beginning that under no circomstances I would send any monney. Well to make a long story short I told her that if she was the woman she pretended to be; then I am the eastern bunny. Since then I have not heard from her.

    Comment by eddie hofmann | July 20, 2008 | Reply

    • Shes still around

      Comment by Tim | October 18, 2009 | Reply

  9. I met a man that calls himself Rubben Richards – a contractor who works for Malone Construction in Atlanta. He is currently working in Nigeria rebuilding bridges and roads. A very attractive widower with a 13 year old son John.
    After just 2 emails, he wanted to IM on yahoo messenger because his Match.com profile was about to expire. He sounded too good to be true. We chatted for a few days, but his English was very “broken” which I rationalized away because he was (supposedly) of German decent. He said he brought his son with him to Africa where he was schooling there.
    He quickly started using terms of endearment – baby, sweetie, darling, etc. the very first time we were IM-ing. He said he loved me before the week was out and that his son was anxious to meet me. I kept the charade going just out of curiosity, even though it was obvious by now that he was NOT for real. His conversations were just how much he loved me and was so happy to have found such a wonderful woman (unless I steered the conversation elsewhere) which I did. I asked him his address in Atlanta, where he grew up, went to school, college, etc. He answered all my questions without even asking why I wanted to know. These answers were obviously scripted and ready to go.

    I called Malone Construction and asked for him and they’d never heard of him. They also said they do not do any work outside of Atlanta, let alone outside the country. I checked the address in Atlanta and tried a reverse search, with no results. Nothing came up on a people search with him either.

    So, I came up with my own plan to see how easily he might scare off. I told him I had a friend who just retired from the Atlanta PD, visiting for the weekend. After our visit that weekend, I told him she didn’t believe he was for real and told me to investigate his background. This did not deter him. I confronted him about his work in Africa for Malone Construction. He has yet to answer. He has sent me several IM’s saying he missed me over the weekend and loves me, blah, blah, blah.

    I figure I’ll play the game… maybe even give him a taste of his own medicine… give him a sob story and ask him for money!!! LOL

    Bottom line ladies (and gents)… if he sounds too good to be true, he probably is. Listen to your gut!!!

    Comment by Laura | August 4, 2008 | Reply

  10. I met a woman who was in Lagos, Nigeria, Africa on a job, but originaly from the UK. She was interested in a relationship. She was an engineering consultant, age 31. She claimed to be English but did not look English on her picture. Said she was nice, kind, and looking for the same. She would speak this way “am engineering consultant, am nice, am looking for someone, etc”. Was very patient too. She was not desperate, and wanted to take things slow. This was really a man. As soon as I told her that I wanted to verify her voice for security reasons. She stopped writing me.

    This is pretty much the same description as many other stories of others who encounter a person online who is too good to be true.

    Comment by Gabriela | August 15, 2008 | Reply

  11. I met a guy on my space whose name is suppose to be Micheal A David and he said he is from Detroit, Michican and that he is working in Nigeria on a contract building a bridge, and he wanted me to reach him on yahoo messanger, he even gave a phone number where i could reach him if i wanted. after the first 2 times im he also i love you i want to marry you, that he was looking for a wife. And that his parents died 5 years ago and he has an inheritance but he can not get it until he is married. Then a week after he is gonna get cut off the internet if he does not pay his fee of $500US he has $300 but he needs me to send him $200 and he will give it back when i comes home. When i asked for the name of the hotel he was staying at he got hostile, when is said give me the address where you are so i can send him a letter her renigged. I said well if you need the money so bad send me your ATM card and pin and i will access your account from here and send you the money he gave every kind of story. He even used GOD thay he was such a christian because he knew i was a christian so he used that. When is said call the company you work for and tell them you need money he made an excuse for that.I told him straight you are a scam artist and someone is going to get you good. Thank GOD i never sent him any money.

    Comment by Marie | August 16, 2008 | Reply

  12. Interesting to read of Lagos stories especially Abbey Pestana who I was contacted at a Nudist contact site. Initially I wasn’t her type, but after a break started using Yahoo messenger for romantic exchanges. I became very fond of her encouraging me and offer of job help, money etc and I really thought this attractive girl of 30 was interested in an old fool like me – in fact the age gap became an argument topic.

    Just before an eager Monday evening session while waiting I typed her name in quotes for fun in a search engine and shocked to see different photos to the ones I received and different tales. I confronted her about being an auditor and who she really was .. the message line went dead/offline when I gave her one of the story links.

    We exchanged personal details some sounded true like some reactions but sometimes I wondered who was typing for an auditor her grammar wasn’t great and skipped answers – didn’t know who tv chef Gordon Ramsay was or his strong language. I was smitten perhaps due to loneliness. Offers by her for my birthday won’t happen and I wonder if the girl in the photos was really her. I’ve now sent short messages to encourage some truth .. but no luck.

    Luckily no money was exchanged, something she complained I mentioned too often. For photos & story please go to my website link.

    Comment by Steve | October 15, 2008 | Reply

  13. Hey,

    My buddy is on Yahoo Personals, He started chatting this chic named “Dawn George”. We found out it’s a scam and playing along with it just for fun.

    Look at my blog, we are documenting it.
    http://yahoopersonalscam.wordpress.com/

    She just sent us the “money email”, what do you think we should say back? We really would like feedback

    Comment by kimchigun | February 11, 2009 | Reply

    • tell her u have temporary cash flow problem but u are lucky u live in country where friends help out. Then say if ur really desperate please send her bank account details with password and u will send what u can afford. hehe

      Comment by stuart | October 18, 2009 | Reply

  14. Nice

    Comment by Smith | February 24, 2009 | Reply

  15. If anyone knows of this person please let me know (Paul Corwin) of Columbia, SC, doing work building new roads in Lagos, Nigeria…The needing money thing…doing goverment work, and the goverment wont settle, but he needs to get home, needs money for air ticket, and so on…if someone else is being scammed by him let me know..will be happy to play along and let him get bit in the @ss….

    Comment by Sherie | March 19, 2009 | Reply

    • I have also been talking to “Paul Corwin” since Jan. I found his profile on Yahoo Personal. I was told the same thing that you have written. I was also told he has a
      daughter that live in Canada withher mother. He has hit me up for money back in the spring. Now he is asking for money again.
      IF You do recive this message and know of Paul PLEASE
      e-mail at ellengeorge14@yahoo.com.
      If he is doing this to other women it needs to come
      to a stop ! Thank you for your time.

      Ellen

      Comment by Ellen | November 30, 2009 | Reply

  16. I too have been talking to a girl that is in Nigeria on business. It has only been about 3 or 4 days and she’s in love LOL. I have told myself on many occassions that this is too good to be true. She’s supposedly flying back home here on the 19th of this month. I took the innitiative to type in myspace dateing scams in the yahoo seach. When I saw Nigerian scam I pretty much put 2 and 2 together. I haven’t told this person I have found these facts. I’m going to wait and see if they ask me for personal information, to send money, or anything crazy like that. It’s kinda like a game to me now. I kind of hope they do ask for all this stuff, and have a sob story of how they were robbed, or something of that nature. “Sure I’ll send you 400, that’s all I have. What’s your bank account #!” LOL. If you have doughts about anything online, research it. It’s not that hard to type into the search what you are looking for. Myspace dateing scam seemed to clear things up for me.

    Comment by John Doe | June 7, 2009 | Reply

  17. Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R.

    Comment by sandrar | September 10, 2009 | Reply

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    Comment by megan fox | September 11, 2009 | Reply

  19. A man using Match.com started corresponding with me daily via yahoo.com daily and he used IM twice. He says he is David Milton, his Match.com name is Jauntysmile (his profile is blocked at this point.) The first week of writing he had an emergency in Boston, a lawyer swindled him out of $15,000. rent. I knew he was a con at that point. Next, he says he went to Dubia to get his paycheck and then to Republic of Benin to work on dredging and survey work. He sent me photos of him at work and they were all from the internet and oil web sites!! I confronted him via e mail, reported him to Match.com and filed a IC3 FBI report. He sent me a copy of a “contract” for 1.5 million from the Benin government. It was just a matter of time before he asked for money. I am lucky my ex is FBI, so he is investigating on his own. Another great part of the story is, about one week into the e mails, I knew he was a con, so my office staff and some college students in a class of mine, composed the e mails we sent back to him in an attempt to get him to call a cell phone (with a recording devise attached to it) but he never did call. He threatened to sue me for breach if I reported him. I have legal experience and several advanced degrees and breach is a silly attempt to stop me (and my class and my office staff…) We had a great time writing to this guy….this one is sloppy bc he sent photos of equipment he purchased in Dubai and they were all from the internet too. Not very bright, has bad grammer, choppy language. Frankly, I feel bad we could not get him to call bc the my ex was and is ready to find him. He can run, but he can’t hide. Match.com has not responded to any correspondence including my ex’s, which is a terrible indictment of this web site.

    Comment by Terry Sands | November 26, 2009 | Reply


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