About « Internet Dating and Romance Scams

About

Hi. I am Alan Prince. I am a Nationally known newspaper columnist in my country.Every week, more than one hundred thousand people read my articles in the papers. I created this blog in order to give you the very latest news and updates on romance scams and also, to let you know how you can date safely on the internet.

I invite you to visit these other sites for more information, education and resource materials:

Date Safely on the Internet—www.elovedeceptions.com. Recreate the sparks in your love life

27 Comments »

Hello,
I was inquiring about exchanging links. My site is about all inernet fraud, and I believe we could both add value to each other’s websites. please get back to me.

Comment by Angela | June 11, 2007 | Reply
Hello there, I don’t have a website, but since this one is about internet dating scams, I have to share a story with you. Very recently, we have discovered that a guy, Keiran MacGregor, whom a dear friend of mine interacted with was non other than a scam artist. The reason of that scam we will never know, unfortunately. “Keiran” came on a popular meeting website and portraied himself as a 33 year old scottish artist, who had moved to California, following a tragic accident in shich his beloved fiance had died. Sounds heart breaking, doesn’t it? Well, we discovered that Keiran Macgregor was instead a sick woman in California by the name of Dianne Lynch. She had stolen photos from modeling websites and art from another website, claiming it was hers. When contacted, Dianne continued the charade, and claimed to be Keiran to the end. The web-mistress of the site was contacted and she alerted the network, but I don’t know how much further it is being pursued. Any suggestions on the type of action it is recommandable to follow in a case like this?

Comment by Sandra | January 28, 2008 | Reply
Just a few weeks ago I was on Latinamericancupid and I received and instand message from a Diana. I responded to this person and we had a bit of a conversation. Before going into much of our conversation I requested that a picture be sent to me, which I did receive a picture of a blonde beautiful woman. Here is this persons email

Thanks for your lovely mail. How is it at work?Getting to know about each other better makes the bond stronger than it could be.I am the only child of my parents as i told you earlier on.My dad is Spanish while my Mom is English, from England.My dad left us when i was just a little girl.I have lived in London almost all my life.I presently live in Accra,West Africa .I moved here with my fiance about 5 years ago, who was a Ghanaian ,from Accra.We actually met in London on one of his business trips there.I then moved to him here in Accra after dating each other for sometime.As i told you earlier on,i lost him last two years through a motor accident.It was sad and very hard for me,But i have given love another chance into my heart and hope to meet the man of my dreams ones again.Please ask me any questions my dear and i will be willing to answer.hoping to hear back from you .Kisses Diana.

Now this person sent me a phone # 011233244672479 which is in fact a cell #, but we cannot contact with this person. Never in the previous emails did this person ask for money, but a recent email I received a day or so ago, does ask here is the email

Hi Jerry,

I am doing fine but had a little problem I had to solve and thats why I couldnt reply to your previous mail.

Jerry, I have fallen in love with you not because I need you, but I need you because I love you. I dont care about what you are or what you have, but what you feel in your heart.

I am a Catholic and very religious. I dont wear glasses. Falling sick in bed is something that scarcely happens to me. My mom also barely experience this .The last time I felt sick was last year, which was actually a slight headache. I tried looking for a new job but gave up when I made my mind to start a new life somewhere else other than this country. I dont do much during the day, just a few training lessons to keep me fit.

Pink is my favorite color .I love furniture. I love cooking, but I dont cook much because I live alone and also have to manage my resources. I like onions but reasonably. I might actually take a few things along .I have few friends down here but most are my neighbors. I am actually thinking of what business to open in the future.

Darling, I believe Love is about sharing and caring. It is not about what you or I want individually, but it is about what we want together. Love is not just about two human bodies fulfilling their desires, but it is about heart and soul meeting at the crossroads where two becomes one. Love is what you feel inside for that person. Love is when you can’t stop your tears falling from your eyes, when the person is away from you and every minute your heart beats is only for the person you love. Love is what I feel that you feel. Love is a sweet kiss, a warm hug and a beautiful smile on your loved ones face. True love is hard to find so I never regret to FALL IN LOVE with you.

Love always,

Diana

Hi Jerry,

I am fine, How are you too? Its really great to hear from you .I understand what you mean and I am not in a rash either .Its just that things were moving a little bit faster than I thought which I actually liked ,because I have fallen for you deep down my heart though I havent seen you in person either. I have a very good and strong relationship with my mom and there wouldnt be any problem with me moving to be with her for the mean time.

I could just fly to the states with my British passport and that wouldnt be difficult at all. I am anxiously waiting for your friends call, my dear.

The problem I was talking about has to do with some very important documents I need to renew. But costs an amount of money I dont have. Could you be of any help Jerry? If I may ask.

Well, my love. Looking forward to your next mail.

Love Always

Diana.

So a few things that throw this out the window, one she’s already in love with me, 2 she now needs money. Any further thoughts of how I should continue to research this email this person’s email is as fallowed

Dianazealiera@hotmail.com

Your thoughts?
JC

Comment by Jerry Cifuentes | March 27, 2008 | Reply
Luckily, I have not been duped out of money but I have been duped by lying cheating married men online who pose as “single” men looking for sex on the side.

I had warning signs about this guy but I should have listened to my instinct. Women beware! There are some slimy, lying jerks out there who will stop at nothing to get what they want which means lying and cheating!

I am so sorry for those people who have been duped and deceived and were scammed out of money. I think it’s a horrific that someone would make another person think they are in love with you in order to scam thousands out of the other person. They should be sent to jail for the rest of their life! Jerks!

Good luck and I hope that if you are still trying to recover lost money that I hope your luck will turn around. Remember karma will come back to bite them! Just a matter of time!

Great blog!! I would love to be on the other end and catch these jerks in the act and help bust these scammers!

Comment by yogagirl | April 3, 2008 | Reply
I found out I was recently scammed by a man in Nigeria. He got $80,000 out of me. I am shocked that I gave him this much money! My family says I was brain-washed. I ended up in a severe depression over this. I did not have the $80,000 but got it from maxing out my credit cards and taking another mortgage out on my house, as well as depleting my retirement accounts. I am now working on filing bankruptcy. What can I do to report this? I got a name and picture? I have a name of the person I sent money to in Enugu, Nigeria. Plus phone numbers. I need help and information.

Thanks,

Crystal Holmen

Comment by C. H. | April 14, 2008 | Reply
Hi, Alan, I had been looking for you and wonder how I can send private email to you.

I am one of the latest victim and lost USD180K to scammers. I am in great financial distress but doing all I can to handle the situation.

I have an idea to share and would like to hear your opinion about it.

Thank you and look forward to your email.

Haz

(latestvic@yahoo.com)

Comment by mblog123 | May 2, 2008 | Reply
i am a great GGGGGGGGG MANNNNNNNNNNNNNNN AND I AM VERY PROUDE OF MY MEN THAT STEAL 34MILLION NAIRA WOWW THAT IS A VERY LARGE MONEY………. I WOULD HAVE BEEN PART OF THE PLAN ASUMIN THEY TOLD ME TO JOIN. I HAIL OOOOOOOOOOOO…….. UNA BAMMMMM

Comment by MIGI MIGI | July 4, 2008 | Reply
why are thee so many scammers out there? I was scammed recently and lost alot of money to a man suppose to be a man of God. He works for unicef and csc and he lived here in nc but had to go to Osun State to do research on children for unicef, then had to have emergency surgery and so on. why does this happen to good people? how can we stop it? The first two scammers I quickly identified but this one was very good, using his so call daughter to talk to me.

Comment by Tamie | September 7, 2008 | Reply
I had the same thing happen,the names were, stepintolove on a site seniorpeoplemeet,that was his handle and a michael clinton and a walter bragas,saying he had a daughter and had her talk to me,he than got around to asking for 3000.00 for surgery for his daughter. all 3 men were one in the same,i never sent a penny to them. Thank god norma

Comment by norma | October 16, 2008 | Reply
I thought you all might be interested in a case study we did on Craig’s List personals about fake ads.

http://www.onlinepersonalsfraud.com

Thanks.

Comment by Tom Smiley | November 2, 2008 | Reply
Yes,….
my heart is also broken, because of a nigerian romance scammer. Look on my site.
Will I ever get a chance to find this man?
Will I?

Comment by katinka | February 12, 2009 | Reply
- You could try and see if you can contact the EFCC with details of your case. See if they will help out.
  regards.
  alan
  
  Comment by alanprince | March 3, 2009 | Reply
I love your site!

_____________________
Experiencing a slow PC recently? Fix it now!

Comment by Michael Tim | February 28, 2009 | Reply
- thanks a lot
  alan
  
  Comment by alanprince | March 3, 2009 | Reply
I have been on tag since last summer of 2008 site called tagged, found man name Alex is email alexender202@yahoo.com is in africa stated to me that engineer working on contract was robbed hurt in hospital needed money never sent money to him never again heard from him either. There is another man Chris Tower who is was in UK asking for money to be wired from america to nigeria for him chris_tower204@yahoo.com never sent money never heard from him. There is a man named Camillo Ferrari he is italian has daughter name Juliet Ferrari that is 16 years old he stated that he is oil rig engineer daughter lives with grandmom that Juliet got in car accident on her way going to school wreckless driver hit her sent some money and previous sent gifts to her from Minnesota claims she had birthday states that he has money here in America will be marrying me need to help with purchasing his daughter ticket he needs $100.00 guess dumb not sure what to do. He has written me charming poetry unbelievable spent time on chat line yahoo here is is email camillo_ferrari4you@yahoo.com his cell phone is 0112348037843335, daugher is julietferrari@yahoo.com cell phone is 0112348068461118, lastly one more name is Danny weston is civil engineer works in Nigeria has asked me to send him money claims he got robbed on his way going to work stole his cell phone and $700.00, needed help paying his hotel which never sent money, now is stating he is going to get paid from UK needs money wired to my account that he is coming to marry me. I truly want to find good man but not at expense of being broke Please tell me are these man scammers????

Comment by Ana Redwing | April 20, 2009 | Reply
- You can see it plainly for yourself from these details that the guy is a scammer.break off all communication with him ASAP.
  
  Comment by alanprince | April 22, 2009 | Reply
  - Please have the decency to not use people’s last names’ on this site. I think eveyrone has been thru enough..and you should be smarter than that.
    
    Comment by Pat | August 5, 2009
I recently joined match.com. I was contacted by a man who claimed to be an American citizen, but raised in Germany. He said his wife died five years ago, and he has a 10 year old son. He claimed that he lived the past two years in Nebraska, but was in Lagos Nigeria Africa to build a “log home.” He soon fell “in love” with me and was due to come home in a few weeks, when suddenly he and his son were ambushed on the way to work and all his money was stolen. His son was struck with a rock and needed a blood transfusion and if he didn’t get money, his son would die. I told him that I didn’t have any money and he said OK. The next day I received an email begging for the money, and I told him I would contact the Red Cross, they probably could help and asked him for the name of the hospital, address and phone number. He wrote back today that he would get me the information from the doctor. I am trying to keep him busy talking to get more info out of him, as I am certainly not going to send him any money, but what can I do to help others from scammers like this. I reported him to match.com, but there isn’t much they can do. He had wonderful pictures of “him and his son,” and he was very convincing. He called me a couple of times and I did not think he had a German accent at all, it sounded more Nigerian. Anyway, thought I would share, I can’t believe anybody would send money to these “fakes.” It has all been very disapointing and it makes one wonder if you can trust anybody.

Comment by Cindy Kenny | May 14, 2009 | Reply
- I have been talking to him the past few days too. Man I was so stupid. What should I do?
  
  Comment by pmv | December 8, 2009 | Reply
Has anyone met a man on myspace or any other website, named Allen Joseph Brown? He was supposedly born in Chicago, January 11, 1972. Moved to Arlington, VA about 7 years ago. Although he says he recently purchased a house in OR, he claims to be working with an orphanage in Ota, Nigeria at the moment [complete with pics of him and the kids]. He uses a yahoo email address. If he is on the up and up, I don’t want to ruin him here, but I would appreciate it if anyone thinks they may have run into him, to let me know.

Comment by Renee King | July 23, 2009 | Reply
- OH MY GOD…. HELP!!!! I AM TALKING WITH ALLAN JOSEPH BROWN RIGHT NOW WHO IS THAT EXACT PERSON! HE SAYS HE IS A FINANCIAL ANYLIST OF SOME SORT WORKING IN AFRICA… HE HAS CHARMED ME FROM DAY ONE.. VERY VERY ATTRACTIVE AND SAYS HE LOVES ME AFTER 5 DAYS…. HE IS SUPPOSED TO COME FOR A VISIT HERE TO SEE ME IN A WEEK… HOLY SHIT WHAT AM I GONNA DO? HE SAID HE MORTGAGED HIS HOUSE FOR THIS BIG INVESTMENT THAT IS PAYING RIGHT NOW BIG THEN HE WILL BE FREE FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR AND WOULD STAY WITH ME AS LONG AS I LIKE.. I KNEW IN MY GUT SOMETHING WAS UP.. I TOLD HIM A STORY ABOUT ANOTHER SCAM I NEARLY GOT TAKEN BY… BY ANOTHER BOY FROM AFRICA…. TRIED TO GIVE ME ADVICE AND SAID HE HAD NEVER ENCOUNTERED SUCH A THING IN AFRICA…HE TOLD ME TO VISIT THE WEBSITE OF THE ORPHANAGE… SO I LAYED IN BED LAST NIGHT TOSSING AND TURNING THINKIN ABOUT THIS. DECIDED TO TAKE HIS ADVICE. SO I THOUGHT IF HE REALLY DONATES ALL THIS MONEY TO THIS PLACE SURELY IF I PUT HIS NAME IN AS WELL IT WOULD ACKNOWLEDGE HIS GENEROSITY… INSTEAD THIS SITE POPPED UP. THANK YOU SO SO MUCH. I AM ERY NIAVE AND REALIZE HOW CLOSE I WAS TO BEING DEVESTATED BY A STRANGER CLAIMING TO LOVE ME… PLEASE, SOMEBODY REPLY TO ME. TELL ME WHAT TO DO. SHOULD I TELL HIM I KNOW HIS GAME? KELLIE
  
  Comment by KELLIE SHEPHERD | August 29, 2009 | Reply
  - OMG, my sister-in-law is talking to this guy also. same exact story line, he started saying he loves her after just a few days, same exact M.O. we tried telling her he was full of crap, but she isn’t really listening.
    
    Comment by Allen Walker | October 5, 2009
I met a very charming guy on a Christian website. He was a missionary in Africa who was widowed 6 years ago, and has a 12 year old son. He was very charming, and very “in love” with me very quickly. He said all the right things that a missionary should say. Seemed to know about the Bible.
Then a friend of a friend from CAL. said she and her co-workers, had talked to a man with the same stats.
Then asked them for money because they were coming to thier state, and needed money for a Visa.
He has not asked for money yet, and became very offended that I would question him.
Please let me know if you have heard about this scam.

Thank you,
Lisa

Comment by Lisa | July 28, 2009 | Reply
- Lisa -
  
  I have not run into this situation, but I know the fear and insecurities that will be there until you have proof re: your situation. Having grown up as the daughter of a minister, sometimes I am too trusting. For you and I both, I pray that God will protect us, and deliver the men we hope these guys to be. Allen has not asked for money, but for my patience until he can find the resources on his end to get money to fly home to the states. I wish you well.
  
  Comment by Renee King | July 28, 2009 | Reply
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AT MY PERSONAL EMAIL ADDRESS.. IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT JOSEPH ALLEN BROWN… I AM NO FOOL. THANK GOD I WAS LED TO THIS SITE BEFORE IT WAS TOO LATE! KELLIE. kellieshepherd@live.com

Comment by KELLIE SHEPHERD | August 29, 2009 | Reply
Hello all!
Just an update on my missionary from Africa. The one who knew all about God? Well, he said he was in love with me, and could not live with out me. And how much he missed me. (We had not emailed for 2 weeks.)
We chatted that night, then he got disconected. When he was reconected, he said he got a phone call saying his 12 year old son was very sick. He was worried sick about his son.
The next day, I got an email for him, the said he was going to do something he swore he would never do.
His son had to have surgery, and he need $850.00, or they would not opperate. “Send anything you can” he said. He knew I had just lost my job, and was suviving on unemployment, and a part time job.
I wrote back and told him I could not, but I would be praying for him.
I have not heard from him again!! I guess love is only wallet deep!!
My warning, no one can fall in love with some one they DON’T KNOW!! If they do, something is wrong with them!!!
Don’t fall for the lie!!
I did not give money. but I did get my feelings hurt. I did not fall for the I love you thing, but he seemed to know SO much about the Bible~!! I thought I found someone who was in love with Jesus, just like me.
I guess he was reading off a que card. Or maybe he got his info from the net.
I still pray for him…..who ever he is.
Be careful out there,
Lisa

Comment by Lisa | August 30, 2009 | Reply
Hello fellow victams,
I wanted to let you know, I have found a patern in how these people write. The first BIG give away,
is they speak a little backwards.
They will say, “I am John by name.”
And not, “My name is JOhn.”
They almost ALWAYS are widowers, with a child. Most of the time, they are 12 years old.
They send very long emails. And are very confident.

When I write an email to someone I don’t know, I don’t tell them my life story.
I don’t give out my personal email. They do….every time.
They also use a lot of adjetives.
“I am loving, caring, giving, kind, passionant, etc”
Some say “I live in the U.S.” Even though their profile says the live in Dallas Texas. Where else would Texas be?
A lot of them say there are working in Africa, on bridges, as engeniers, or missionaries.
A lot of them are very Christian.

If you confront them about the possibility of them being a scam, they get very defensive.
No matter how long you talk to them, it always ends up the same way. “I NEED MONEY.”
Most of the time it is $850.00.
Also, a lot of them are born in England. Mine was born in LOndon….He still calls me. Even just this morning. BUt I don’t answer. There number a lot of times, is very long. Starting with a +023 and others.

Be careful out there!
Don’t trust to quickly.
Don’t give out your personal emails, or phone number to quickly.
Not every one are scammers, just learn how to spot them.
And if they are to good to be true…..they prob are!!

Blessings, wisdom, and safty be with you!
Keep Growing IN HIM!!!
Lisa

Comment by Lisa | November 27, 2009 | Reply