Scam Alert - Online Dating in Nigeria...yeah right...

Monkeypoo · Post by **Monkeypoo** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:02 am

I fucking HATE this.... Fuck. I hate the drama shit in my life from my family. This is real stuff, so listen up. It could happen to you too...or to a family member.

My brother is in Afghanistan in the military....in the US ARMY. You all know this. Many of you (and my friends at Burning Man) sent him Christmas gifts and candy and cards... David met a girl (Sandra Sarah Williams) online 3 months ago...in a freaking chat room of all places.

I/we can only imagine that being in Afghanistan/Iraq is fucked up. All they can think about is coming home. They watch suicide bombers reak havok on innocent towns....and my brother and his gang are out there to HELP these fucking idiots. Here's my brothers' story to me. He met Sandra online.... Her email addy is [email protected]

She says she is in Nigeria working for Unicef and the UN. (I checked that out -- she does NOT work for Unicef or the UN.) I am NOT stupid and should have been a freaking private investigator.

He called my mom and me right before New Year's Eve asking us if she could come to the United States and stay with us. A stranger staying with us? He has not met her (imagine that), but is of course - in his own mind -- very much in love with her and wants to marry her and bring her to the States.

He wanted us to front $3000 for her to come here.

Well, lemme tell you -- I'm no fucking dummy. My brother has his money tied up in a money market account and can't get it out until he gets back here to the States, so Mom offered to loan him $3000 for her airfare, but I said, "Mom! Are you freakig nuts??!!!" I made my Mom not do it. My brother said that Sandra needed to fly out on KLM Airlines Flight KLO588 on precisely January 2nd or the 4th.

After doing some research, I discovered that the flight would go from Lagos Nigeria to Amsterdam (which further searching informed me that Amsterdam is the "Lagos of Europe") and then to Detroit, Michigan and then to Charlotte, North Carolina where we were to meet her. She was to stay at my Mom's home for a month until my brother came home from Afghanistan a month later in mid-February.

I researched other airlines and found cheaper flights and became suspicious.

He has told me that she says her parents are dead, that she is divorced, and was born in the UK on 1-3-1969 (possibly 1965). I did research. NO SUCH PERSON in the UK Census or Brith Records!!!!! There is something more that is suspicious...she was going to fly from Nigeria without even going back to her home in England to clear out her flat or say goodbye to her friends....???

Today she told my brother that she was unable to get her last paycheck from the company that employs her in Nigeria and she is broke. Furthermore, my brother told my Mom that while in Nigeria she was mugged and in the hospital for a few days.

(Refer to her profiled website on yahoo at www.profiles.yahoo.com/Sandra_NIDS_atention for a photo. This photo is NOT of a 37 year old woman. It is more like a 20-ish year old. It looks like a "model shot" stolen from from some website.)

I know that my brother - once he gets out of Afghanistan -- has in excess of $25, 000.00 and I fear that he will have spent a half-year putting his life at risk and he will give away to this freaking scam artist all of his money.

I am so pissed...and I hate it that I am so powerless right now, but my brother is DEMENTED and thinking out of his DICK instead of his brain.

I confronted this woman with questions, and Sandra has refused to respond to me and she forwarded my POLITE email to my brother and now he is irate with me and will not speak to me. My mom can't have David know that she too is investigating this for fear she too will lose ALL contact with David. However, I know (and Mom knows) in our hearts and souls this has to be a scam and Sandra is only after money. (If in fact she is EVEN a woman that he is corresponding with)

After me and mom sent my brother many gifts (and many other gifts came from burner friends of mine), David sent two money orders to my Mom to offset the cost. One bounced and was sent back on her bank. IT BOUNCED. I'm wondering if perhaps he got this money order from Sandra after sending her funds in cash??

I have no correspondence from Sandra because she refuses to correspond, all the information I am giving you is via phone from my brother (and phone calls to me and Mom from my brother) and rude emails he has sent to me (which I have a file on).

This is soooooooooooo messed up. I want to kick this woman's ass so bad. Even more -- I wanna slap my brother upside his stupid head.

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:35 am

If you suspect that she's not who she says she is, physically, your brother could always ask for her to take a specific picture, like holding a sign that says she misses him or something. I know it might be difficult to get him to do now that you're not talking and because he's become so defensive.

Want me to pretend to be a girl, flirt with him and see if I can get some money out of him?

At least by the time he's out of money he'll get some of it back.

Post by **AntiM** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:56 am

Your brother is in the military, they have folks who deal with this kind of crap. It IS NOT selling him out, although me may feel this way, but please report this to his command, or the military base (his branch of service of course) in your area, or even the police or FBI. Being angry with your brother isn't going to stop this person, at this point, some type of law enforcement may be more than helpful. Do IT! You may be saving other families heartache too.

Post by **mdmf007** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:21 am

Thats screwed up. and there are so many levels on which her story is screwed up.

Your brother is going to be pissed becase he fell for her scam - hell its probably a guy or ring of scam artists. Theres a good chance hes talking to many different people working shifts.

High end scammers can certainly have a database of previously sent emails to review cuickly anda ton of pics to dump on horny, home sick soldiers.

Tell your brother to just look into her story - if shes legit you'll accept her with open arms.

If shes full of shit - you will never mention it again in any sort of "told you so fashion"

As far as going to his command I diubt there is much they can do as it looks like no crime has been committed, and it is unenforceable if there was. I would suggest dropping a note or two to unit members you know. They are the family he lives with now and have the most influence over him.

later and good luck

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:54 pm

I say that you should try the above approachs, since it seems like you have nothing to lose. Hopefully one of them will work. (Although, I do worry about the photograph one backfiring if the scam artist is good at Photoshop... maybe a variety of pictures? That would be harder to pull off.)

Unfortunately, like many successful scams, a person's pride get tied up in the affair, and they feel like they have too much invested to be wrong. This makes it very hard to pry the person away from the scam artist.

Good luck!

B.

Post by **AntiM** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:21 pm

even though there hasn't been a crime as yet, the military does look after their people, trust me. They'd take an interest.

Silver 2 · Post by **Silver 2** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:08 pm

I must chime in with Antim; I was never active duty but grew up in a military family and as a pre-teen watched my father take action when a young man in his unit was being scammed (France 1962). Granted my father was harder to ignore than an civ sister but you should be able to contact his unit commander (if he is enlisted NOT his platoon lieutenant but his company commander), or failing that the IG of his branch, I would only go to the FBI if the first two don't work out.

s

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:42 am

Silver 2 wrote:I must chime in with Antim;
s

And I'll chime in with AntiM and Sil2 both... from a former inside perspective.

Get hold of his CO. Do it now. That's part of what they are there for - and they really do take it seriously - to keep their "kids" out of harms way, be their parent of sorts, and to keep their troops focused on the mission. He or she *will* be able to help, but only if he (or she) knows...

Even if your bro isn't aware how scammed he is, and he is about as deep into this scam as he can get, and he needs some powerful intervention right fucking now to save his career, his future, and possibly his ass. Otherwise, the implications are serious - he could not only get a BCD for this if it gets deeper, he could do time at Ft Lev. And if they find out through a 3rd channel (and they will, that's why they have SI's and contractors out there watching for just this kind of mondo security breach) rather than from him or his family then it'll go fucking WAY harder on him. Won't go into what can happen to him if he keeps playing with these scum from the scumball end...

The other 1/2 of the story? His "sweetie" (which is a shift worker for a "boss" running this particular scam, prolly male and looks like Idi Amin's cousin's ugly bodyguard, at a computer terminal in an office near Lagos) is a front. The money (which they prolly now have) is used for anything from drugs to sending nastys across the border to padding the guys pockets. Maybe even financing the the gun that's aimed at him by those who ean to do him harm. The Plane Ticket?? Fuck. That little gem (with his name on it) will probably be used by some slimeball or even a (I hate using this word) terrorist. How bad can it get? Look at the penalties for Aiding and Abetting during wartime, and Treason. Fuck... *I'm* scared 3 ways from Sunday for him, and I don't know him... just because of the mess he's gotten himself into.

And don't ask me how I know about this stuff, but please, please, please trust me, I'm not off the mark on this. Contact his unit commander, his CO, fuck, even the local recruiter (if you have to) to find out, even the FBI or Secret Service. Someone. I really don't wanna see him take a hit - especially the one he's setting hisself up for.

Hugz..
Sus (bb)

EvilDustBooger · Post by **EvilDustBooger** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:49 am

email CID at [email protected].

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 7:17 am

Oh boy...this shit IS spreading way to fast!!!!!!!!
My mother, who typically a very smart bussiness woman, Got desperate on trying to rent out one of her apartments. As it was slow renting season apparently. Here's a even bigger scam!!!!!!

Get a email hit on craigs list for the apartment from a "college girl" in Nigeria, she says she has american sponsership and would like to rent the apartment. She tells my mom the american sponser will send her 4700.00 the first last deposite plus the extra that she can send back to her so she can send herself and belonging to Reno. The Money orders arrive, and my mom being smart, deposites them and waits for them to clear her account for 10 days, they show up as cleared so my mom send the 1700. money order to this "college girl". Only to get notified the very next day that the money orders are conterfiet. WTF!!!! So These scam agents are GOOD REALLLLLLLL GOOD, they know that the wait time for a money order will pass most all testing for the first 10 days going through the banking system. And only after someone has let thier gaurd down do they get intercepted by deeper banking security!

PLEASE, DONT DO any Money exchanges of anykind! My mom ended up eating that CRAP! Not to mention held the damn apartment for her instead of renting it to someone locally.
Bad lesson, but a lesson learned!!!

Hard part is that one of her best friends family PURCHASED a young girl in Thailand 19 yrs ago, sent her to college, and their son married her so she could stay in the usa. This was a good situation, cause they took her out of being pimped by her family, and she has been PART of their family in earnest for all these years. The son and her live together as man and wife most of the time, so its not a out and out lie. But unfortunately this is the only true good ending to a story of this type Ive EVER heard of!!!

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 7:51 am

^Similar scam happened to a co-worked of mine, years ago. It was all in the U.S. too. She was selling a horse trailer and was sent a $10,000 money order, and asked to return the "change". She also is fairly smart when it comes to these things and asked the bank if it could be a scam of any sort. The teller told her that the money order was as good as cash, so she sent the change back. And we all know the end to this story. Though I bet if she got in writing that "the money order is as good as cash" the bank would be ultimately held accountable for the counterfeit.

EvilDustBooger · Post by **EvilDustBooger** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 9:59 am

Here`s an article I found. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8704213/
.... all have the common goal of getting you to send money overseas.

Monkeypoo · Post by **Monkeypoo** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:34 am

I want to thank you all for the overwhelming response and help. It blows me and my mom away. Everybody in the world can see what is happening except for my brother. He has now disowned me and everyone else. He won't even listen to his friends, not even his old time sheriff friend that he has been friends with for ages. All he wants is Sandra, who has now deleted her account.

I received further proof from UNICEF in the UK. Sandra does not work for them. Duh. Not surprised. I sent my bro the emails and his response was, "Go ahead and keep sending stuff, Sis. We're still going ahead with our plans and there is nothing you can do about it."

I'm informing his commanding officers and doing all that was suggested, but after that I am done. It's been exhausting. I feel powerless. I feel beat up. And the only thing holding back my tears right now is that I am at work and have to maintain myself and be tough. My heart inside, however, is just bawling and aching.

Thanks for all your response and love and hugs. xoxo

Bin Noddin · Post by **Bin Noddin** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:36 am

I hope the tough love wakes him up and brings him back to you. He needed a kick in the pants. He's in a tough place and needs his head together to survive and return home.

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:24 pm

I really do wish the best for you, your family and your brother, Monkeypoo.

Good luck,

B.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 2:18 pm

Don't forget, this doesn't have to be overseas. It can be your new "online friend", even a "burner" who suddenly gets "stuck" and needs lots of your cash.

Help out others in need, but don't be a sap.

thisisthatwhichis · Post by **thisisthatwhichis** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:30 pm

Monkeypoo, I think you've done all you can do, and you should feel some solace in that. He must now learn on his own. One day he will sheepishly say yea, you were right....

Hopefully the lesson will not cost him too much, but it seems like it's one he needs to learn.......

Thoughts and prayers......

Monkeypoo · Post by **Monkeypoo** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:42 pm

Hey!!! Ya know what??!!! Oh hell...Monkeypoo is NOT feeling any pain right now and maybe I need to go to the Bar. Pinot Grigio and Mr. Chardonnay and me and YOU ALL are really fucking helping me feel BETTER tonight and I cannot thank you enough!!!!!!!!!!!! Fucking-A ....WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Life is good. I did my best and fucking whatever from here on out. I have given praise to my Dalai Lama today...rubbed the big Buddha belly and penis and all...all day and all night...and have given love and thanks to my burner universe and all my burner friends...and I have listened to my soothing fire poi music and spun glow poi...and my cats are fed...and I ate chinese food and and still drinking wine, soooooooooooo.......everybody in my house is content...and everything in my world is good. I am going to be soooo fucking hung over tomorrow, but that's OK.

I feel GOOD tonight.

Good luck, Bro.... whatever.......be happy........ xoxoxoxooxoxoxoxo

Post by **mdmf007** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:58 pm

Monkey Poo -
Good luck, either way your brother will be cool with you.

If its a scam - and I hope he only gets burned for the airfare, and realizes when no one gets off the plane. He will make a few calls, send emails and be concerned shes not there. He will then realize you were right, be mad at himself and get over it

If it works out and she's legit - you'll all laugh about how you thought it was a scam, and get past that as well.

God Bless
Later

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:27 am

Fraud is a crime.

Make sure Yahoo knows about this.
Although, has anyone ever had yahoo respond to anything?

Keep fighting.

Monkeypoo · Post by **Monkeypoo** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:41 pm

Yahoo is run by a bunch of yahoos. That answers that question. I contacted them before NYE letting them know I thought this was a scam and who to contact. I never rec'd a response. It's all OK, though. Things will get taken care of by those that have the power now. Or at least I hope. It's wine-thirty again. Woot! xoxoxox

EvilDustBooger · Post by **EvilDustBooger** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 6:13 am

He`s a lucky man to have someone like you covering his ass.
I`m sure he`ll realize that - once his chubby recedes.
You did a good thing MonkeyBabe.

EvilDustBooger · Post by **EvilDustBooger** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:09 pm

Beware of vans bearing gifts...

and a nice Scam resource site...

http://www.scamshield.com/Feature.asp?id=1

Monkeypoo · Post by **Monkeypoo** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:51 am

Beware of contests saying you won a huge prize too. Can't remember the site where I heard this, but there was this guy that was a writer. He had lost his original "real" job and his wife was pregnant. They have a wonderful home in NY and with exception to his latest misfortune of losing his job, everything was great in his life. He wrote his first book, submitted a story out of it to some online company. He then got a letter in the mail afterwards that stated they loved his story so much that he had won a $10,000 prize. He started receiving money orders in the mail -- about 5 in all. He figured money orders were better than checks, so he deposited them in their bank account. The man and his wife bought baby furniture, paid off some bills, etc. Needless to say, the money orders were fake. Banks don't care about your misfortunes...especially if it's from a scammer. If you bounce a money order from a scam, that's just too bad -- they just want their money back. Period. The bank was hammering after this guy to give them their money back for a long time.

If something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 8:32 am

EvilDustBooger wrote:Beware of vans bearing gifts...

and a nice Scam resource site...

http://www.scamshield.com/Feature.asp?id=1

Apparently someone I (kind of) knew got burned by the "van scam" years ago. The story sounded pretty much the same: delivery driver claiming he had some extra, high end speakers he couldn't return to the warehouse with and was willing to sell to the guy for cheap. In this case none of us were surprised the guy was taken in by the scam-- he had a real reputation for that sort of thing. (He claimed that he knew the speakers weren't stolen because he had asked the driver if they were stolen and "they have to tell you if they are stolen if you ask".) He swore up and down how good the speakers were, because they were so heavy. Years later, when he was moving, the cover came off one of the speakers and the source of the weight was a block of metal in the bottom of the cabinet, and the speaker itself was incredibly tiny.

Or so I heard, anyway. He was a fraternity brother of a friend of mine, and the friend was who I heard the story through.

This was in Madison, Wisconsin, which is one of the sites mentioned for where the scam is known to be going on. Its been going on for a while-- the incident I heard about was from the early to mid 1990s.

B.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:36 am

I hope your news is good monkey.

Sold car audio at one time and people often thought our stuff was hot because we had good prices.
It was bizarre.
We gave out cards.
People still thought we were selling hot goods and would 'conspire' with us.

I got a lottery notice recently.
I turned this up.

http://lottery.merseyworld.com/Info/Scam_Funny.html

Dustdevil · Post by **Dustdevil** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 6:19 pm

Hello MP,

Let me finish the story for you. After the ticket money for airfare gets sent your brother will get a huge thank you and an itenerary. He may actually go to the airport or have a friend there to meet this woman (maybe a woman). When she fails to get off the plane he will go back online and find out what happened. " My passport was not in order and I was arrested. Please, the jails here are deplorable I need bail money and quickly." I have a friend who (I thought) was street wise. He grew up near me in West Oakland and survived. He waited at the Oakland airport and needles to say, she was a no show. The letters must be really convincing. My friend is employed, intelligent and nice looking. He has never had a problem getting dates or a girlfriends, yet he took this hook line and sinker. As soon as he told me Nigeria, I thought he was kidding and I couldn't contain my laughter. He was crushed. I am not certain he didn't send bail money. PT Barnum was right.

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:14 am

BAS wrote:Apparently someone I (kind of) knew got burned by the "van scam" years ago. The story sounded pretty much the same: delivery driver claiming he had some extra, high end speakers he couldn't return to the warehouse with and was willing to sell to the guy for cheap. In this case none of us were surprised the guy was taken in by the scam-- he had a real reputation for that sort of thing. (He claimed that he knew the speakers weren't stolen because he had asked the driver if they were stolen and "they have to tell you if they are stolen if you ask".) He swore up and down how good the speakers were, because they were so heavy. Years later, when he was moving, the cover came off one of the speakers and the source of the weight was a block of metal in the bottom of the cabinet, and the speaker itself was incredibly tiny.

I have seen "knockoff" speakers moved this way in Philadelphia, Baltimore and here in Miami. Always a nice "name brand" with various stories trying to push the sale. I have heard everything from college students trying to get scholarships, extra stock the boss wants moved, extra stock delivered that you can get cheap since the boss doesn't know, etc etc. I also knew someone dumb enough to buy a set and they found the same thing out.. cheap garbage in a pretty case with a weight in the case. Moral of the story is.. don't buy crap off the street.

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:24 am

Once a group of us were getting some fast food, when a guy came out of a white van and said, "Hey man" to my friend. He replied, "No I don't want any speakers". The guy turned around disappointed. It was a good laugh.

Barbie · Post by **Barbie** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:35 pm

I've got an ad for a roomate up right now on craigs list- and you would not believe how many of these people have contacted me with various GOOD stories of who and where they are with the same theme at the end...There gonna send me a caishers check I should cash it and send back money.