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Romance Scam

Please report romance scams and dating scams here. We accept reports on Russian scammers and Nigerian scammers.

Disclaimer regarding pictures posted on the board: please understand that you are NOT looking at the pictures of people who are actually scamming you. The people portrayed on these photos are innocent men and women, NOT involved in scamming in any way and have nothing to do with scammers. The scammers are using their images without their knowledge or permission to deceive their victims and steal their money.




Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Emotional Support, Compassionate Friends
username0521
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How to recover from financial ruin?

Postby username0521 » Sun Mar 09, 2014 9:27 pm

About the victim:
Recently widowed
Elderly
Obese
Poor physical condition
Savings are gone
7 credits cards are maxed out
All the money from the reverse mortgage was "taken"
The bank owns the house even if it is sold
Makes very little on social security

How can I help her find a way through this?
She is getting desparate.

How to recover from financial ruin?

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Pinky
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby Pinky » Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:33 pm

She can get on state welfare, file bankruptcy and get rid of her internet access.

You could buy her groceries and make sure she pays her utilities and housing expenses, maybe help her with a budget and nothing more. I recall you tried to help her before and she was sure you were wrong. These are her consequences now, not yours.
If your question isn't answered in the FAQ, please message a green Moderator or red Admin. We need to know.

celticsue
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby celticsue » Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:40 pm

I can't even begin to say how pleased I was to find this web site last week. I spent so many hours trying to research and figure out so many things. You are a God-sent. I need so much help. As I'm sure many here know, it literally rips your heart out and destroys you.I have never cried so hard, or so much in my life. I was so careful, but they were smart and wore me down. I will never be the same, but, I have learned so much. Honestly...I'm a little tired of life thinking I have so many lessons to be learned...I now come here daily, sometimes several times a day. It helps me to keep things in the right perspective. I need a lot of support to get through this, and here is the only place I will get it, and from others that understand the whole situation. I am not needy, ugly, a shut in, but just the opposite...I have even worked in corrections, and with sexual violent predators, and social paths. I was very guarded and cautious. But, "He" knew exactly what to say, and I fell very much in love. But, it was all a smoke screen, a game, and when I started having a few too many questions and started checking...it was gut wrenching. I now have to go through the healing process in whatever way works the best for me so I can move on. I want to thank all of you for any and all support given here. It means more than I could ever express...keep helping each other and we will all be wiser and whole again...I only wish that these horrible excuses for human beings could be prosecuted, I thought stolen identity and fraud was against the law. Some of these dating/social websites need to have a place where victims can file complaints ""with proof" of fake identities, etc. that goes against the policy agreements and have them checked out....just thinking. Gives these guys too much easy prey/money. Thanks everyone..

sweet Trinigirl
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby sweet Trinigirl » Sun Mar 16, 2014 1:19 am

Dear celticsue, I am so sorry this has happened to you but I am happy that you have found this site. Everyone here knows exactly what you are going through. We have all had similar experiences. Try not to beat yourself up about this, you are a smart woman, you just didn't know how to save yourself from these scammer dirtbags. How could you when you have never experienced it before?
Scammers are brilliant at what they do, it's their job. After this experience, you will be tons smarter than they are. Give yourself some time, healing is a process and it takes time. I promise you, you will get better. Some days will be bad, very bad but they will be less and less. Whenever you feel overwhelmed or depressed, come here and read the articles and stories and be grateful for what you have.
We all wish that these @$&_:; could be caught and punished but that rarely happens. However, if you look at the scam baitersection you will see that it is possible to thwart them and possibly save an unsuspecting victim. Please post up all the details of your scammer.
You will be better soon. Be well, be loved.

Emma607
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby Emma607 » Fri Oct 24, 2014 12:43 am

My sister was recently scammed by a man. She was talking to him four 4 months, he told her he loved her and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. She was so lonely and not trusting anyone when she met him online but he got her to get her guard down and she eventually trusted everything he was telling her. I am her sister and I had doubts from the beginning, especially when he wanted all her information including bank accounts number, social security number and other information. She gave everything to him. He sent two fraudulent checks to her bank, which they recognized immediately as fraud. Thank God, they knew her and let it go. I found out last night that the picture he used was an business author. I told her and showed her the information I found. She is devastated, confused and hysterical at times. I feel so bad for her but that is why I am writing for her because she just cannot go through anything else. I reported him to Badoo, which is where she found him, to several other websites including Google. This site has really helped me also as I have talked to several men but as soon as I speak with them, I look them up to see if there emails are legitimate. He used the name timthomas361@yahoo.com I posted 2 replies on RS and hope it helps others. He had stolen several pictures from an author named Joe Calloway. Thank you all very much. :)

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Pinky
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby Pinky » Fri Oct 24, 2014 2:35 am

She's truly blessed that you're there for her. She'll get through. There will be sunshine again.
If your question isn't answered in the FAQ, please message a green Moderator or red Admin. We need to know.

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Igulinka
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby Igulinka » Fri Oct 24, 2014 3:45 am

Emma607

Welcome to RS. You are really blessing in her life. Many victims are left alone and without support. She will get through as we all did. I am very concern with the information she gave to him.
If he has her personal info plus SSN it is just horrible combination. I am very concern scammers will able to apply for credit cards and new bank account. She should immediately file a Fraud Alert at one of three credit reporting Bureaus;
Experian, Equifax, Trans Union.

Please visit Fraudaid.com in case she needs any further assistance.
Confronting the scammer is WRONG!!! DON'T enlighten criminals with your wisdom. REPORT & BLOCK.
PHOTO VICTIM - "Do not confront the owner of the pictures, as they are victims themselves! You will only serve to further the terror and harm !" Silence Is Golden!!! I speak Polish.

DipsyDesperateFool
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby DipsyDesperateFool » Sun Mar 01, 2015 6:04 am

Hello Friends,

It's unfortunate "why" we are coming together but none of us is as smart as all of us!

I got hustled too . . . and I think I knew at the time it was too good to be true but figured I had a 50/50 chance at being right. Kind of like roulette -- black or white, odd or even. So I took a chance and I was wrong.

But I'm here to say this: my hustler kept contacting me even when I went quiet. He even highjacked my email and sent span to dozens of my contacts in my personal email including really nice, "real" guys. He was also sending emails out under my name! He has my personal phone number (which I can't change for business reasons) and keeps texting me but, I had an epiphony I wanted to share with all of you. I asked about repayment since the money I gave him was a "loan". I used the tactics on him that he used on me. Now he's gone silent. Hopefully I won't hear from him again. I won't confront him -- thanks to the advice on this site.

I think this site is excellent. And I'm grateful for the support here.

Peace be with you all.

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Pinky
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby Pinky » Sun Mar 01, 2015 6:21 am

We're glad we were able to help.

One word of caution though, don't assume silence means you're safe. As long as they know you're still at the other end of their contact, they will always have hope. There are lots of other options besides the romance scam. They will continue to try new angles and even sell you to other scammers. And if they hacked you once, they'll continue to try.
If your question isn't answered in the FAQ, please message a green Moderator or red Admin. We need to know.

DipsyDesperateFool
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby DipsyDesperateFool » Sun Mar 01, 2015 7:01 am

Thank you Pinky -- you've seen this before and I trust your guidance.

mysterylady
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby mysterylady » Tue Sep 29, 2015 2:48 am

Hello: I have been in communication with Frumpy and agreed to help in anyway I can with victim support. I was scammed a year ago and can relate to what other victims have been through. The hardest thing for me was to accept was the fact that the person who scammed me did not care about me but just wanted money. I have been successful in reaching out to victims on another cite but was told that was a no no because I was a victim and still needed to heal.

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Igulinka
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby Igulinka » Tue Sep 29, 2015 3:06 am

mysterylady

Welcome to RS . I am also a victim of the romance scammers and the best revenge was to turn anger into to passion of helping others . The support in the first days of realizing what is actually happening means safe heaven to victims and because public is uneducated and often sarcastic we are often the only one who can help to make victims feel safe again.

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FrumpyBB
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby FrumpyBB » Tue Sep 29, 2015 7:07 pm

Hello: I have ... agreed to help in anyway I can with victim support
:)
Please try your best to block ALL your scammer´s still incoming messages and calls!

What is all this? => The FAQ

The scammers vs. Why is "he" still doing it?

Why is alerting the man in the pictures DANGEROUS?

Please click why confronting my scammer is terribly wrong :)

mysterylady
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby mysterylady » Fri Oct 02, 2015 1:20 am

Thank you all. I feel very welcome here. Wish I would have joined sooner. I have discovered that the victims I have made contact with are very grateful I reached out to them.

Scorpie58
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Re: Welcome to the Victim Support section.

Postby Scorpie58 » Thu Nov 12, 2015 4:22 am

I know I go from being so angry I can spit nails to wanting to curl up in a ball and cry. And I only invested a little over 3 weeks into this mess. In 5 weeks I had two different guys make me feel like maybe I wasn't as old and ugly as I had been feeling. I have been single since 93, I did try a dating site in 2000 and met a couple of guys. One was still married when he claimed to be divorced, the second had junior standing at attention when I walked into my living room after just talking to my teenagers out the front door. I was shocked and even more shocked when he asked me to sit on it. I swear I wonder about some people.

My latest journey into the nightmare of dating sites brought me to Mingle2. All free unless you want to upgrade. Well a couple guys caught my interest and me being relativity new again to dating sites felt joyous that I actually had two guys wanting to get to know me.

Guy number one went by Derek Andrew Spencer. As our conversations grew I found out from him that he(this is all lies mind you) had been married and she died tragically from cancer. He owned his own business contracting out to Oil Rigs and building and repairing these. As we continued to talk he told me how he couldn't wait to meet me when he got done with the latest job. I think because he was probably talking to other women he got confused because he mentioned being in Arkansas. Of course he left me believing he was on a rig out in the ocean somewhere in Asia. Of course he made it sound like I was wrong and he had told me he was in Arkansas. He would never answer me when I asked for the name of his company. He gave me a company, but when I researched it I knew he didn't own that one so being generous I allowed that maybe he was contracted out and was confused.

During all these little hints that something was off I kept hoping I was wrong. Like I would ask when he would call and he used the time zone as and excuse. Anyway he tells me there had been an accident and 4 were injured and 1 killed. Didn't talk long in that email. Then he comes back next with how guilty he felt that he wasn't on the site, that maybe he could have prevented it. And the guy that died had no life insurance. He asks me in the next email if I wanted to donate to the family. I told him I couldn't as I was on a fixed income. He said fine don't worry. A few days later he asks out of the blue where do I bank. I was like um why and really none of your business. When I questioned all this trying to find out about my bank account and asking for money he got really ticked. I told him by. He came back with a few mean words and by

Guy #2 Eric Barnet

Eric claimed to be in the military. Canadian Army loaned to US through a join NATO job. Not to far fetched right. Well believe me as the conversations grew the stories got more twisted than a pretzel. I knew enough about the military from having my son in the army and my son in law as a Marine to know that his stories were too far fetched to be believed.. When I finally confronted him he got extremely angry and told me he hated inquisitive people.

I want to meet someone to hang with. 22 years is a long time to be alone, but I am not desparate enough to fall for this. No one needs anyone bad enough to allow their-selves to be scammed financially or emotionally. If there is anything I can do on here to help track down these A-holes then I will.

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