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Being scammed and catfished | Forum

Topic location: Forum home » General » Scam
deli326
deli326 May 4 '16
I was recently involved with a scammer. Disappointments about love really hurts. Who else has been through something like this. It's hard to trust again. 
billyHill Moderator
billyHill May 5 '16
I think a majority of us on this site have had the eye opening experience of dealing with a scammer, deli.

The money or other material goods you may have lost are small and insignificant compared to the hole left on your insides by these low life scum sucking bottom feeder criminals.... ( can you tell I hate romance scammers?)

while all situations are different, the crux is generally the same. You probably have a very worthy quality about yourself called trust. The criminal you were involved with knew how to exploit that wonderful quality for his benefit, then just like pushing a chair out from under you while the noose was around your neck you found out he was a criminal.

It takes some time to heal. But the good news is if you want to heal, then you can. Chances are also good that you needed to learn a lesson (even though the wound might still be too fresh for you to realize that, i can't say). But you will come out more experienced and a better person when you get to the downhill side. I can assure you of that.
gagandeep155
gagandeep155 May 6 '16
I really liked what billyHill and deli326 have shared. Please do share how people entice others and extort them financially or emotionally. The world has become more connected but only through gadgets. I beleive that it has to be a one world someday. That is why they are forming blocks first, for example ASEAN, EURO ZONE, SAARC, MERCOSUR and so on. That stage will arrive slowly with advancement of technology and with gradual maturity of human beings as a species. I advice everyone to intermingle with a caution and also advice me about this. Suggestions are welcome.
deli326
deli326 May 6 '16
Thank u Billy. I didn't realize that others could understand the emotional devastation from this. You hit it on the head and make me feel much better . It's a hard way to learn a lesson. I don't want to believe that most people can't be trusted. I guess I have to learn that trust and love have to be earned and not given freely. 
billyHill Moderator
billyHill May 6 '16
as far as your last statement goes Deli, that is the ultimate truth. Trust is earned, not given. Without trying to be religious here, most people that believe in a higher power ( regardless of the name of that higher power) are taught to have faith and trust in that power no matter what. We can not do the same with humans (or little else for that matter), and this goes moreso for someone we have not met in person.
liliant
liliant May 14 '16
I just can't understand how was manipulated and brainwashed without me knowing it. I'm usually very tight on money and I just don't give it away just like that, but these scammers are using fake check that even bank would not know if it's fake or not. They use all tools they Have for you to believe. It was too late for me to realize that I was a victim and I can't do nothing about it but told to the police. These criminals are very good with what they do. They are professionals. Beware!
billyHill Moderator
billyHill May 14 '16
yes indeed, liliant, they are professional thieves, con men, criminals.... what ever word you want to put there. They do nothing but scam all day long, every day. After they get some experience, they are very good at what they do.

That makes us victims, not willing participants. But it sure doesn't feel like that right after you realize you've been scammed.
liliant
liliant May 14 '16
Thanks Billy, surprisingly he contacted me again when I signed up at Christian mingle he thought I won't recognize him. I want my money back. What do you think I should do?
billyHill Moderator
billyHill May 14 '16
I'm not surprised one bit he contacted you again. If he got something from you the first time, he expects to get it again. Also he has friends he has passed your information onto that are now going to try and scam you too, so you have to be extra careful from now on.

Stop all contact. Just block him on email, if the site offers a block feature then use that as well. You will never get your money back, it is gone forever sorry to say. International laws and jurisdictional issues make it so that unless it was amount in the 5 or 6 digit figures, there is little to nothing that will be done about it by law enforcement.

Furthermore, if your think you can out-scam the scammer, you are wrong. He has every bit of real information on you, and you have nothing but fake information on him. that puts you in a very real danger. He doesn't want to hurt you, but if you mess with his income he might try to hurt you. Chances are good he knows people in your area that can at the very least scare the crap out of you if he wants to. Bottom line is let law enforcement handle it, they are the professionals.

You can try to report the scam to your local police (be aware they don't always take reports), and the RCMP here : https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index.shtm

it would also be wise for you to post the information you have about him on our sister site https://www.romancescam.com/
it is free to join, just like this site. Just read the rules of posting and then put all of his information up there online so that others doing internet searches might be able to be warned of him.

Do not report him on the site(s) as a scammer, he will simply change identities in a few minutes, then any warnings posted elsewhere on the internet are useless.
The Forum post is edited by billyHill May 14 '16
liliant
liliant May 14 '16
Thank Billy, you were right. Sometimes reporting to the police doesn't help at all. The scammer who pretends to be a deplomatic agent contacted me. He said, he has the parcel to deliver to me and I need to meet him at the airport. I contacted the police and I told them about this diplomatic agent. The police told me that he is a scammer and will only give me black money. I told to police that if he was a scammer, then it's the right time to arrest this person at the airport when I meet him but the police responded that they don't do such things. Police is not a reality movie where they go and meet criminal that way. Now, that I report the black money and scam, they want all the places where I met him in order to get his picture on the surveillance. If they just responded to my request, they could have arrested one of the many criminals out there.
billyHill Moderator
billyHill May 15 '16
posting all of his contact info over at https://www.romancescam.com/ is likely the best effort you can put forth to try and warn others of this criminal. It may not be a lot, but every bit helps.

unfortunately law enforcement (LE) has a much higher set of standards to work by than what we see on TV. They have "rules of evidence" which includes rules of behavior while gathering evidence, and a host of crap that really doesn't make good sense to you and me.

But the fact is since the accused is "innocent until proven guilty", and must be "proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt" there are standards that LE must uphold for themselves. You and I don't have to apply those standards because we aren't LE.
The Forum post is edited by billyHill May 15 '16
deli326
deli326 May 15 '16
When I was scammed I asked for my money back from the dating website website and they refused. I contacted the better business bureau and they couldn't do anything. When I contacted my credit card company they credited my payment immediately. 
billyHill Moderator
billyHill May 15 '16
Deli, the difference being that you got your money back  from the website because of credit card protection. ( Smart move on your part).

Liliant was talking about money she lost to her scammer ( I assumed). Not a legitimate business, a criminal.
liliant
liliant May 18 '16
Deli thank you for the information. I will try to contact my visa and I hope I have the same policy.
liliant
liliant May 18 '16
I only have life insurance coverage but not credit protection insurance.
deli326
deli326 May 18 '16
Glad I could help. U don't need any coverage. They should do it for u as a customer. 



liliant
liliant May 20 '16
Hi deli,
I called my visa company and they just refer me to transunion. I don't think they feel responsible.
Thank you,
Lilian
spectrumAU Moderator
spectrumAU May 21 '16
If someone asks you for money and you send it you can't hold a third party responsible, certainly not a credit card company if you gave them the instruction to send.  


Most credit cards have some sort of protection, if they suggested you speak to transunion then do so. But unfortunately (speaking from experience) most victims make the transfer by Western Union, as requested by the scammer, and never see their money again.

liliant
liliant May 21 '16
Hi to all,
I've heard that the person whom I'm instructed by my scammer to deposit the money to is now identified and being questioned by the police. The fraud investigation from the bank told me that the person already spent the money. The investigator is assuming that she or they already divided the money among themselves. I don't know what will happen next. The police is not informing about the sitution. They're handling things on their own. I hope these scammers will get what they deserve at end. I strongly believe that God is watching over me.
billyHill Moderator
billyHill May 21 '16
liliant, police / law enforcement do not give out that type of information, especially to a victim. I really can't see fraud investigators at the bank telling you that, either. they will take a person into custody, than ask you to identify him if anything. If they had a warrant for his computer, they will have the proof they need there and not need to contact you again until it is time to prosecute the criminal. All of this must happen in your own country, unless the country where the criminal resides is going to get you to that country and keep you as a witness ( flights tend to be expensive, as are hotels, eating, etc). Those are the main reasons most of these lower dollar amount crimes are never prosecuted. the jurisdictional issues, along with cost of prosecution just makes it so they are spending $10 to get back ten cents. It makes zero sense in that respect.

 I believe you are now in the process of being involved in a "recovery scam". That is where the scammer (impersonating law enforcement or a private detective or similar) tries to convince you that for a fee, they will get the money back you lost.

How did you learn of this "scammer is identified and being questioned...." ?  was it in an email?? if so, what is the email address and complete header of the email. Go here to find a complete header if you don't know how to reveal it on your email program.  https://www.ip-adress.com/faq/view_email_header/

Example Email Header Shown Below:

Received: from yahoo.com (yahoo.com [69.147.76.15])
by outgoing2.yahoo.com (Postfix) with QMQP
id 7E9971460C9; Sat, 21 May 2016 17:56:30 +0000 (UTC)
Mailing-List: contact forensics-help@yahoo.com; run by ezmlm
Precedence: bulk
List-Id: <forensics.list-id.yahoo.com>
List-Post: <mailto:forensics@yahoo.com>
List-Help: <mailto:forensics-help@yahoo.com>
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:forensics-unsubscribe@yahoo.com>
List-Subscribe: <mailto:forensics-subscribe@yahoo.com>
Delivered-To: mailing list forensics@yahoo.com
Delivered-To: moderator for forensics@yahoo.com
Received: (qmail 20564 invoked from network); 21 May 2016 17:56:30 +0000
From: Test <test@ymail.com>
To: forensics@yahoo.com
Subject: New Tool : Unhide
User-Agent: KMail/1.9
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Disposition: inline
Date: Sat, 21 May 2016 17:56:30 +0000
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Message-Id: <200601051641.31830.test@ymail.com>
X-HE-Spam-Level: /
X-HE-Spam-Score: 0.0
X-HE-Virus-Scanned: yes
Status: RO
Content-Length: 586
Lines: 26


The Forum post is edited by billyHill May 21 '16
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