Category: Scammer Watch

Dr Phil: Internet Love Scammers

Posted on September 28, 2006

F03philOPW — Sep 28 — Victims shell out $100,000 every single day to scammers who put up nice pictures on dating sites, sweet talk singles and then say they need money, e.g. they’re on business and are stuck in Nigeria.  Scamming is an international crisis with most scams coming from Nigeria.  There’s a saying in Nigeria.  "You blame the person for leaving the rice available to steal."  A lot of the scammers are graduates but don’t have a job to go to.  70% of Nigerians live on less than a dollar a day in Nigeria. 

Scammers pocket $300 million a year from British victims.  Not too long ago a senior UK politician was a victim; $15k stolen from his bank account. 

VICTIM: Deedee accumulated a $928 phone bill…but ‘Cole’ (the scammer) said he’d pay it when he returned to the USA.  He needed a $2300 ticket home to the USA.  Deedee has sent him $3700 so far.  She totally believes ‘Cole’ is in love with her and thinks he lives in Buffalo, NY.  Dr Phil located the man.  He’s a lottery scammer in Nigeria; people send money to get money back.  She never noticed that he had a West African accent.  The man in the picture is Michael, a model (and police officer) who’s picture was taken from focushawaii.com.   

The next guest is pretty sure she’s being scammed but is in love and can’t give him up.  The scammer says he’s English and his father is African.  Hence the accent.  He asked her for money a month after  they started talking.  He’d gone on a contracting job and was beaten and robbed and needed money for hospital.  Then he asked for $750 for an airplane ticket, then $200 more for additional anti-terrerist fees. "I don’t know, love does strange things to you I guess."  Noone was at the airport.  Five days after she went to the aiport the scammer’s ‘doctor’ called.  He was in a coma after being hit by a car and woke up calling her name.  The doctor needed money for his bills.  After leaving the hospital he wanted $25k for a farm.  She kept on sending him money.  9 times out of the 14 times he asked in the ensuing 4 months.  To this day, she wishes he would show up at her door.  She’s STILL chatting with him on the internet!  In reality, the picture is of a UK model. 

Dr Phil estimates internet scammers take $15 billion a year. "All those people who are bullying and victimising innocent people.  We’re gonna turn a big floodlight on over their heads, on this show, this year."   

Mark Brooks – Dr Phil mentioned Yahoo and Yahoo chat on the show.  No mention of Match.  After the show at 7pm PST Dr Phil was on the Match.com website on a live chat to take questions.  Alas, I logged in at 7:30pm and the chat session was over. 

Internet dating sites have three lines of defence again scammers. 1. Automated filters that look for words and behavioral patterns that indicate the presence of a scammer. 2. User flagging.  Users can flag profiles of people that they suspect are up to no good. 3. Customer service/abuse teams review profiles, photos and user flaggings. 

Scam and Fraud Consulting Service

Posted on August 10, 2006

PR WEB — Aug 8 — Pendulum Communications new consulting service "Scam Vigilante" will focus exclusively on assisting online relationship providers. Said Greg Moore. "We confidentially, audit the entire operation of the site from the IT, customer service, security and web development departments and make defensive, restructuring, decisions based on our knowledge of how scammers from Russia and Africa are able to get onto dating sites to scam innocent people, even when these countries are blocked from registering."  Greg Moore – (718) 593-4533. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB

Mark Brooks: If any of you use Greg’s services, please comment on them here, or email me and I’ll add a comment.

Man Shocked His Photo is Part of Online Dating Scam

Posted on July 27, 2006

9 NEWS — July 26 — A software programmer and former model discovered that his picture was used for an online dating scam. "It’s an off-shoot of the original Nigerian scam," according to Lon Garner of the Secret Service. The original scam asked people to invest in oil and gas and evolved into sweepstakes-type scams where you had to send in money to win. This new version of the scam targets online dating sites. If you’re registered with online dating and someone asks you for money, experts say you should hit delete. If you have what you think is this type of mailing, where someone asks you for money, send the information to the U.S. Secret Service in Denver. Tel: 303-866-1010.

Mark Brooks: I’m still amazed people get duped into sending money…but the scammers are expert at playing on people’s heart strings, which makes these kind of scams all the more brutal. The emotional damage can be as bad and worse than the financial hurt. Please, users, follow the simple rule. DON’T SEND MONEY TO PEOPLE THAT YOU HAVE ONLY MET ONLINE. (Especially if they are abroad, especially if they write in broken English).  And don’t receive and forward packages. Case in point, Joe Hunk asks unwitting Debbie Dating Site User to forward a laptop to him in Nigeria because his business computer just failed…after a couple of months of romancing by instant messenger. She thinks nothing of it and forwards the package only to find it was bought on a stolen credit card and she, as the receiver, is now liable for the laptop. 

Dating Site Fights Scamming Proactively

Posted on December 20, 2005

OasisofloveI-NEWSWIRE — Dec 16 –  While dating online is convenient for the parties involved, it also attracts unsavory characters with every intention but finding a date. Online dating scams are perpetrated predominantly by foreign subjects primarily from Eastern European countries, Asia, and parts of Africa.  Scammers lie about their true location. Oasisoflove.com detects a user's location during sign-up. So, if someone is signing up from Russia, or from say, Ivory Coast, he or she cannot simply claim to be located in the USA.  If a user sends a message from a location other than his/her registered location, the recipient is alerted upon opening the mail.

The full article was originally published at I-Newswire, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Many sites block users from certain countries.  I was in Prague recently and signed up for the 10 online US dating sites.  I was blocked from signing up for three of them, presumably because of my Czech IP address.

Dating Scams Prey on the Lonely – and the Stupid

Posted on November 25, 2005

Myspacecom_2GANNETT NEWS SERVICE — Nov 23 — Morgan wrote me an e-mail saying she was "looking to definitely become intimate" with me.  She really wanted me to call her, but in order to get her phone number, I had to go to her Web site.  I found a slightly naked Morgan; I had to plug in my e-mail address and credit card number to see more pictures of her. But she was only asking me to do this "so not just anyone can see all of me!"  "Don't worry," she said. "It's free!"  On MySpace, a cheerleader law student identified only as "C"…"I like what I've seen from you so far," she said, even though she had seen nothing of me so far.  She wanted to make sure I liked her also, so she sent me to her Web site, where for $19.95 I could see pictures of married women who wanted "discreet affairs." 

The full article was originally published at The Hub, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: The internet dating industry is putting up a fight against these kinds of scams.  'Abuse teams' monitor profiles and reported scams. Most services have a button on profiles inviting users to report people for abuse.

Scammers Dupe Online Daters for Millions of Dollars

Posted on October 17, 2005

Internetweek_1— Oct 14 — Markus Frind, of Plentyoffish, estimates that scammers operating on Internet dating sites steal at least $100 million a year. Those performing a ruse could be women in Russia asking for money to leave their country; or a Nigerian sending "business proposition" emails. Crooks often use stolen credit cards to join a site, send out messages to other members, wait for responses then sometimes chat for four or five months before asking for money. "It's bad for someone like Yahoo because it reduces the value of their service, it tarnishes their service," says Dave Evans, a consultant to the online dating and social networking industry who also writes a blog. Nelson Rodriguez, CEO of LoveAccess.com, explained that two and a half years ago Nigerian scammers used stolen credit cards to join the site causing so many charge backs (about 1% of all transactions) that it threatened his merchant account with his bank. But he's since blocked Russian and Nigerian IP addresses and cut that rate down by three-quarters. LoveAccess.com, with 3.5 million members, also reviews profiles manually, like its bigger competitors. TRUE created a stir in the industry last summer when it announced a nationwide campaign for legislation to require dating sites to conduct criminal checks of their members. Not everyone agrees with Evans, who estimates that on the majority of dating sites, nearly 10% of all profiles are fake. Mark Brooks, a former executive with Cupid.com, FriendFinder and Friendster, disputes that figure and says the actual dating sites, not their members, are even bigger targets. Fraudsters will set up an affiliate Web site to send traffic and fake members, which earn them a commission that can exceed the price of the monthly membership, says Brooks, who also writes a blog, Online Personals Watch.

Mark Brooks: Of 120 employees onsite at Friendfinder in Palo Alto, CA, over half are dedicated to customer service and the 'abuse team'…which grooms for scammers amongst other things.  Smaller sites rely on automated methods for spotting scammers.  Larger sites usually apply people resources for checking profiles and dealing with scammers more proactively.   

Beware Russian Brides

Posted on April 19, 2005

Russian_bride_web_ripoffCBS NEWS — Apr 14 — Vladimir is an undercover detective hunting down Russian women who bill themselves online as brides. "They suck out $3,000 to $5,000, then simply disappear," he says. He helps clients find out if their online love is real or an Internet phantom. "I’m a little surprised at the sheer volume – three to four a day is pretty significant and you have to bear in mind that we’re probably not receiving all of the complaints," says James Pettit, the U.S. Consul General in Moscow. "One big warning, do not send money for visa and tickets," says Garrett.  FULL ARTICLE @ CBS NEWS

Internet Scam that Led to Heartbreak

Posted on April 19, 2005

Russian_scamARIZONA REPUBLIC — Apr 15 — The Russian brunette he met online appeared to be everything Steven Coffman was looking for. He had known her for less than two months. But he was ready to propose. Coffman arranged a visit to the US for the woman, who said her name was Elena. The cost was $2,000, which he thought would cover her visa and travel costs. Then the day came. Coffman went to Sky Harbor Airport. The Russian beauty didn’t ever arrive. "I never thought I could get fooled by something like this," Coffman said. "I know now I was naive.

Mark Brooks: Perhaps he could have flown to Russia and met her…and been duped by the Russian mob.  Best to play local.  Or, if you do want to date long distance, be mentally prepared to turn your visit to a distant love into a lone holiday.

From Russia with love? No, it’s a Web scam

Posted on November 3, 2004

HERALD TRIBUNE — …Medvedeva is one of scores, perhaps hundreds, of fictional characters in a resurgent Internet hustle that has become a Russian boom industry this year. Using fake names, forged visas and snapshots of young Russian women, a new crop of online swindlers is luring Western victims into confidence games. Each is an escalating flirtation between an unsuspecting man and a Russian grifter masquerading as a young woman. It typically ends when the victim wires money to Russia to pay for visas and airfare for a consummation of the affair. Then the beloved disappears.