Romance Scammers
@capirani (2700)
United States
October 24, 2011 1:24am CST
Has anyone of you had experience with the current problem of the Nigerian romance scammers using the online dating websites and social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Tagged? I am curious about what kinds of experiences you have had being contacted in this way. Also the Nigerian 419 scams that come through our email regularly are also a problem that we deal with. Have you had experience with these?
3 responses
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
24 Oct 11
I saw a program on television called 419 and it was about Nigerian Internet dating scams. It showed a number of ladies that had lost very much money from the Nigerian criminals. They actually fell in love with their Internet friend. One even met up with her Nigerian love in Cape Town. The criminal shows a tempting photo of someone else and has interesting tales to tell in the messages. They say many lies in order to get money. The person should say that they are unable to send money internationally. The two people should meet to see if they are genuine. Many scam emails come from Nigerians and are best avoided.
@capirani (2700)
• United States
24 Oct 11
Yes this is true. It's always important to be able to meet in person someone you might have a growing interest in online. If the other person always has some excuse not to meet, there is something wrong. It's best to meet people locally when looking for love online.
@capirani (2700)
• United States
24 Oct 11
Also, the instant they ask for money it's time to block them.
@enelym001 (8322)
• Philippines
24 Oct 11
If I were you I would have ignored such emails and messages. They aren't worth your time ^^ I have had experienced communicating with one of that who have contacted my bf through his social network account. I pretended to be my bf who was communicating with "her" as I am not sure whether he is a she or she is a he...
It's really funny how this people tried to get your bank account number when in fact I was trying to tell her I'd send her a plane ticket if she would give me her address so that I can help her ^^ hahahaha in the end "she" was the one who stopped responding.
@capirani (2700)
• United States
24 Oct 11
Yes ignoring and blocking such emails and contacts is the best option.
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
21 Aug 12
I often get emails from romance scammers and some of them are from women who are looking for a partner, I guess they don't realize that they are writing to another woman 
They claim to be women, but they might as well be men. Many of those emails are written the same way and they use many of the same expressions ("Remember the distance and color even age, does not matter..." etc) and they are easy to spot. I have never responded to any of those messages, I just delete them straight away, but I know that there are people who have been scammed that way. They thought that they had found the love of their love, but unfortunately their partner was only in love with their wallet... Some of the victims have lost a lot of money, and it must be very painful for them to discover the truth about their "lover".
They claim to be women, but they might as well be men. Many of those emails are written the same way and they use many of the same expressions ("Remember the distance and color even age, does not matter..." etc) and they are easy to spot. I have never responded to any of those messages, I just delete them straight away, but I know that there are people who have been scammed that way. They thought that they had found the love of their love, but unfortunately their partner was only in love with their wallet... Some of the victims have lost a lot of money, and it must be very painful for them to discover the truth about their "lover".