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Image of cupid and heartNot everyone using online dating sites is looking for love. Scammers create fake online profiles using photos of other people — even stolen pictures of real military personnel. They profess their love quickly. And they tug at your heartstrings with made-up stories about how they need money — for emergencies, hospital bills, or travel. Why all of the tricks? They’re looking to steal your money.

As if all that isn’t bad enough, romance scammers are now involving their victims in online bank fraud. Here’s how it works: The scammers set up dating profiles to meet potential victims. After they form a “relationship,” they come up with reasons to ask their love interest to set up a new bank account. The scammers transfer stolen money into the new account, and then tell their victims to wire the money out of the country. Victims think they’re just helping out their soulmate, never realizing they’re aiding and abetting a crime.  

Here are some warning signs that an online love interest might be a fake. They ask you to:

  • chat off of the dating site immediately, using personal email, text, or phone
  • wire money using Western Union or Money Gram
  • set up a new bank account

Did you know you can do an image search of your love interest’s photo in your favorite search engine? If you do an image search and the person’s photo appears under several different names, you’re probably dealing with a scammer. And if the person’s online profile disappears a few days after they meet you, that’s another tip-off.

Here’s the real deal: Don’t send money to someone you met online — for any reason. If your online sweetheart asks for money, you can expect it’s a scam.

Unfortunately, online dating scams are all too common. There may be tens of thousands of victims, and only a small fraction report it to the FTC. If this happens to you, please report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

A woman looking at a dating site on her computer.

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The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

lc
March 29, 2016
Has anyone met a man named Wesley John? Lived in California for years and wife left him and he moved to Maidenhead UK.. He contacted me through Facebook and only has 1 picture and no other friends He is a civil engineer and has no friends except his lawyer We have been talking for months and he just recently got a job building a road in Benin Africa. He is very affectionate and says all the right things His voice has an accent and he says he's from Scotland originally. No kids . Just asked me for $1250 for a permit for noise ordnance . He has $4000 towards the $5250 permit. Harassed me all day for the money says he loves me and if I cared for him I would send him the money . Anyone know this guy.
judybug65
March 30, 2016
Anyone that befriends you on facebook and you do not know them before even accepting do some research. What they do if they can get someone to accept them then they get the friends list from that person and so on. So you get a friend request and then you see the person has a mutual friend of yours must be okay right WRONG !!! That is how they get to you. You think since your friend is friends with the person he must be okay. Wrong. Another way you can see if they are a scammer is see if there is all woman on there friends list. If they have their friends list blocked go to their time line and see if they have any likes. Hover over the likes count and you can see the names of the persons who liked their picture. If you see all girls they are a fake are up to no good. Now what they are doing since that idea caught on they are now picking out a man on a friends list. Like this one profile had all woman but had a reveren and a nurse that was a man. So you look at that and see what scammer would have a priest on their facebook. Well that got that priests or reveren's are preacher off of someone's friends list. You need to do a google search to for their profile image. Hover over the picture they have on their timeline they say that is them. Now right click a drop down menu should appear. then scroll down where it says scroll google for this image then click on that. It will take you to google images. It will have that persons picture at top and say no other images but don't take their word. go back to their facebook time line and see if they have anymore pictures of them. Do a google image search on that one to. Another way to check to see if they are a scammer is go to the romance scams link and they have a search bar you can enter their name and it will search their romance or scammer data base. You cannot tell at the very beginning you see I was sorta scammed twice.Once was an army guy and another time was a you have won the lottery. Both guys befriended me on facebook. I must admit the first guy almost had me. I have been single for about 10 years and when a guy comes along and woo's you it like meeting the man of your dreams. Tell's you everything you want to hear and more then when they got that hook right up to you mouth they jerk.To make a long story short think about it out of the clear blue sky you get a friend request from a good looking guy because non of them are ugly are they . They usually have army gear on are they are dressed up in a suit. What?? did the scammer think. Well I am gonnna go do some friend requests on facebook today I better get dressed up in a suite to do it. Also now they are putting children on their timeline. Image google the kids I had this one guy to put a picture of his little girl on his timeline cover. I thought what father would put his 4 year old's picture out there. So beware they are putting children and telling you one of the kids got sick. Another one is they are on their way to see you and a guy calls claiming to be representing the port authority the representative tells you the guy didn't have the correct paper work are something like that I cannot remember the exact nature but the representative claiming to be a customs officer and you need to send x amount to get your so called friend out of their custody. And now the last one that they tried on me is You have won the facebook lottery. They even set up a picture of a facebook employee who friend request you and that is the only reason I accepted this one because I thought facebook was contacting me about a group I have on facebook the scammer told me that I had won the facebook lotto of 600,000 dollars. After them trying to scam me before I had already read about that scam. they are always coming up with new ways to scam. when one way wan't work then the scammer will try another way. What I think personally is the best way to avoid these scammers is to not accept any friend request until you check them out. Even if you do not find anything may mean they are new to the game. In one day alone I had 6 friend requests from those scammers. That one that try to say I won the facebook lottery is sending them, Because when I seen his timeline and all the different post likes were all woman's likes I was ready for this scammer. I teased and taunted him would you believe me if I told you he left my office, Please if it acts like a duck, smells like a duck and walks like a duck odds are it is a big scamming duck. THEY ARE OUT THERE LOOKING FOR US TO SCAM. DON'T BE FOOLED. CHECK THEM OUT REALLY GOOD. And the best way we can get a fear to them is to report them and write a warning on our timeline to our friends and the public. Make a difference.
Scout1
March 31, 2016
My scammer keeps telling me he didn't scam me. Well with what has gone on this now goesvto FBI and Interpol.
Unlucky
April 03, 2016
I've been in a relationship for 6 weeks with a guy stationed in Kabul his name is Scott Graves and is retiring in may...I've never skyped never talked to him on the phone.. Says he's not allowed... Is this true?? He has sent me 15 pictures of him and his family, I'm torn because idk if he's real or fake.. Please help
FTC Staff
April 04, 2016

In reply to by Unlucky

Scammers use many different tricks to try to make people believe them. If you have never met a person, seen him or talked to him, you have no way of knowing that he is really the person in the pictures.

The US Army has sent warnings about scammers who pretend to be soldiers. The Army says:

  • Be suspicious if you never actually talk to the person by phone, or if he says you he can't write letters or get letters.
  • Military members have an email address that end in ".mil." If the person can't send an email where ".mil" is the LAST part of the address and nothing comes after it, the person probably isn't in the military.
  • A scammer might say his unit doesn't have phones or that he isn't allowed to make calls. That's not true.
surfingfool456
January 14, 2017

In reply to by Unlucky

trust me he is scamming you. Ive been taken for a lot of money by a scammer who gave me the same line not allowed... to video chat, talk on phone, etc. gave me a sob story about needing money for "safe communication", plane ticket, travel card, and replacement solider. requested money be sent to a third party via money order/moneygram/western union. the person went by name Col. Brenda Alice. botton line your being scammed. save your money dont look back
NotTheOne
January 23, 2017

In reply to by Unlucky

I met the same guy named David Graves, widower, K9 Director in military. It's not him. If he can text, he could talk. Military is not prison.
Anonymous
April 04, 2016
The names are all mixed up on this website and you women are falling for their nonsense with backward names. You never ask a thing, and it's obviously not real names at all.
played along
April 06, 2016

I met a guy on blackchristiandatingforfree        . He started talking right off the back that he loved me and I was like how can you love me so quick when we only just saw me on this website. He is listed as Hotsmile72 handsome I said to myself to good to be true keep one eye open on this one. I even called him a scammer at the beginning of our messaging. I told him that when things are to good to be true then they normally are not true. I told him that I don't have any money to give him so give it up.

He said that he was valedictorian of his class after making numerous miss spelling in his writing. I didn't say anything I wanted to see how far this would go. His profile said that he lived in Laurel, MD but when he text me he said that he lives in Tampa, Fl. I ask him what he did for a living and he said that he once had his own business but know lay those things on the roofs of homes. He immediately ask me to email so I did at            I then went to text him at a 813 area code # to which I said hey he' Fl and not MD even though we today can live anywhere without that Ph# being in that area.

Today was thee day. I text him thinking about you with a picture of a kiss and a couple of hearts. He text me back saying that he was thinking about me as well. About an hour later he sent me a message asking me if he can trust me with his money and Im like what do you mean, I don't understand. 20 minutes later he text me saying that he has a check coming in from a company that owe him some money. Im like ok keep going, he says its just $1,650 Im like help you how he stalls I ask again help you how please explain he was like sorry babe I was on the ph.....help me ash the check. They will mail it to yousweetie..I want u to help me....

No I have only known this guy for almost 2 months....he proceeds to ask me for my mailing address. I was like Naw that ok I don't cash no checks for anyone. I then say text to him you sound just like the scammers I was talking about when we first met at the beginning of our emails before we switched to text. I also say that I guess that I guess you didn't have that wife who died from cancer....first email. I then say to him that you are a scammer stop texting me. IM DONE, NOT INTERESTED goodbye. He replys what do you mean bab3.. I say cashing a check...come on now seriously GOODBye. he then says okay babe. I have blocked him out of texting me on my phone and I know have to report him. He says that his real name is Desmond Williams and that he is originally from St. Kitts carribean Island.

Shadow
April 06, 2016
I HAVE BEEN MAJORLY SCAMMED BY A MAN CLAIMS TO BE NELSON SETH..ASKING FOR HELP TO PAY TOWARDS SHIPPING MONEY BOX FEES, CLAIMS HE IS A WIDOW AND HAS A SON IN THE STATES.CLAIMS HE WORKS OVER SEAS AS ENGINEER.
Mamma Bear
April 07, 2016
My friend had 2 people try to scame her in a two week period. One called himself Silano Anthony said he was business man in London tryed to get her to put money in her account she told him she didn't have one.he told her he was going to be gone and company in diffent co so he had no way to get it thankfully she didn't do it then he tried to say it was for her. Then him and his 8 year old daughter went to Nigeria for business and got in car deck said oh I have no money won't treat unless I pay up front. I told her it was bull hockey my husband called and when he talked to him he didn't have and Brush accent and when asked for info he hung up on him.Then he got nasty when she called British conseallet(spelling?).Said he didn't like the way she handled it.She told him it wasnt her job to Handel it he should had mad sure he had money to take care of HIS daughter then she blocked him went on scammer sight.Then military guy got in touch found out pic was stolen he used name James Dann McGee The military don't post pic anymore due to sucurty reasons. They steal pic of deceased pic of our fallen hero's and use it to steal an disgrace. Watch for these two names Silano Anthony and James Dann McGee.
LadySheepdog
April 08, 2016
Just a few ways to tell a scammer (especially one claiming to be in the military) 1) Falls madly in love with you within a couple of emails, texts, or phone calls 2) Wants you almost immediately to give them your personal email or phone number instead of communicating on the dating site IM or email...claims the site is not secure and makes them nervous about chatting online there 3) ASKS YOU FOR MONEY OR BANK ACCOUNT INFO OR PERSONAL INFO....A HUGE GIGANTIC BIG RED FLAG 4) Never meets you in person...always has an excuse as to why they can't 5) Asks you for sexy pics either by text or email 6) Are "widowed" (most military scammers use this} 7) Has a child or children living in another country being cared for by a friend while they are deployed 8) Military photos usually which ONLY show their name tag and no rank. Alot of "group pics" where you can't identify them. The scammers often use the last name of the soldier mistakenly as their first name 9) Needs money for equipment, leave papers, flights home on leave, medical care, food...you name it, they need to buy it or they conveniently have a list of "care package" items they would like to have sent to them 10) Most claim to be senior enlisted (E6-E9), senior ranking officers (major to four star general), chief warrant officers (CWO)or the big one....SPECIAL FORCES 11) Run a reverse look up of the ISP address on their email...most likely it will be from an area near a military base in the USA....never overseas 12) Ask them their MOS (military occupational specialty). Once they give it to you...Google it for accuracy and see if it even applies to their branch of the military. Ask them some questions about what they do...check it against the Googled info 13) They text, email, or IM at the oddest hours and during times that make them seem if they "are at work" 14) Claim they do not have a cell phone, but are talking/texting on military secured lines or on secured laptops/PC's 15) Call you "baby", "sweetheart", "love", "hun" but rarely use your first name unless you make them mad and they feel threatened in some way. Say "I Love You" or "143" way too much 16) Constantly and consistently use horrible grammar, never capitalizes "i" but does capitalize random words, can't spell, often uses the wrong word (for example: "there" instead of "their"). Writes as if they are not used to speaking, writing, or reading English 17) Claim they are retiring soon and will move wherever you are to live and have no where to live once they get back to the USA 18) Claim they do not have a vehicle...that you will need to drive on a date...eventually asks you to help them buy a car 19) Will not give you enough info so you can run a background check...but wants you to supply enough so they can about you 20) High ranking officers and senior NCO's uses pics in dress uniforms with medals and awards or CWO/Pilots in flight gear....NOT...the military frowns strongly on the use of these images on social media. Probably is a photo shop or copied internet image 21) Suddenly likes to do EVERYTHING you like to 22) When you text, it takes several minutes for a response from them. Almost like they are talking to multiple people or Googling a response. Also, from time to time their answers to your texts or emails make no sense. Again, it seems as if they are texting or emailing multiple people at one time 23) Stay away from KIK, Gmail (you can't look up their ISP addresses) and Facebook 24) The worse sites for scams are POF, Match, Military Cupid, OkCupid, Zoosk and ANYTHING TOTALLY FREE 25) If they do call you and claim to be an American....and have a strong foreign accent...you are being scammed 26) Simply run a Google search on them...see if anything at all comes back on them...almost all of us have something on the internet nowadays...nothing at all = SCAMMER 27) FINALLY....IF IT IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE....IT IS....I HAVE BEEN SCAMMED TWICE....NO THIRD TIME THE CHARM HERE!!!
TONI
April 08, 2016
THERES A SCAMMER THAT USE DIFFERENT NAMES "YUN FAN LU" "SHERRY LU" SHE ASK FOR MONEY AND WILL CALL YOU WITH "UNKNOWN NUMBERS" OR "BLOCKED NUMBERS"
Tim J
April 11, 2016
A man called me from (803) 305-7378 trying to scam me too
DarkArchangel
April 09, 2016
Has anyone had contact with a man using the ID "8675309me1968" on POF? He claims to be from Denver, lives in Seattle, is a bone cancer survivor, and is a state trooper named Jayathon Short? I think he is scamming someone I know. He has asked her to send money via Western Union to help him ship goods back to Denver because of health reasons. Has never met her face-to-face, always has an excuse why he cannot. He claims to love her and wants her to move to Colorado with him. Say he is very wealthy, has pics of multiple "boy toys" and claims to be a triplet. He has sent her multiple love sayings/images and even made her a video....
STARFOX
October 26, 2016

In reply to by DarkArchangel

I have spoken with Jayathon He told me he expanded his company of vehicle lift kits into Canada.I recieved a message a while ago that his cancet returned, His son messaged me on July 11 2016 that ue had passed away. I have seen the oictures your friend talks about, he calimed to be weakthy with me as well. Also mention being a triplet but his brother was the CO state trooper. Never asked me for money but boy does ye enjoy killing peiple off to not meet someone. He had told me his father, aunt and steo mom all passed away at doffrent times so he could avoid meeting me ohhhhh yes then he killed himself off. Hahahaha he is a clown.
Newfgirl
April 09, 2020

In reply to by STARFOX

Hi similar story told to me, was he only after money, I have the feeling he’s after more than that, but not sure what yet.
perplexed
January 23, 2017

In reply to by DarkArchangel

I did talk and meet this person who goes by the ID from POF "8675309me1968". He claims to be from Denver but moved to Seattle for his job as a WA State Trooper. He claimed to be a bone cancer survivor. We talked for a short before his cancer returned, he seemed to have alot of issues. His father, brother and son were texting me claiming he was very close to death had weeks to live but interesting enough he always pulled thru. He said his grandmother had died. He indicated he was a triplet and his brothers live in Kentucky he lived in a rather large house in CO. I too received many sayings/images stating he cared for me in such a short time. I did contact the WA State Trooper no such person works for this agency. I did indicate to Jayathon I was aware of this, thought he was a scammer. He told so many lies and stories he couldn't keep them straight. It's been a few months since I last spoke with him.
Newfgirl
April 09, 2020

In reply to by perplexed

Sadly he is still at it, although he hasn’t asked me for money yet, I’m wondering what else he could be after?
Newfgirl
April 09, 2020

In reply to by DarkArchangel

I think he is still alive and well and reaching out to others like me. Very similar story to yours, so far his aunt and father have passed..... was his only agenda financial?
Worried
April 10, 2016
My mother in law is being scammed and sending money to a jerk who says he is from CA. He says he is broke, working 22 jobs,going to college, has no food. She says she is so in love with him. Fits the profile of a scammer to a "T". She will not listen to any of her family. She defends him, of course. What can we do?
FTC Staff
April 12, 2016

In reply to by Worried

Ask your mom to talk about her experience with this person. Ask her if she noticed any of the warning signs listed in the blog. For example, did  he ask her to:

  • set up a bank account or transfer money because he has can't get an account, or has no one else to help, or has health issues
  • chat off of the dating site and use her personal email, text, or phone number
  • send him money using Western Union or Money Gram

Scammers create fake profiles online. They use photos of other people. Sometimes they steal pictures of real military personnel. They say they love you, and say you're special, and then they ask for money. They have all kinds of made-up stories about needing money for emergencies or documents or to buy a ticket to some see you. They have one purpose: to steal your money.

To be safe, don't send money to someone you never met. Read more about online dating scams in this other blog.

howcouldibesostupid
April 10, 2016
So I just fell for some guy "finding" me on face book, he went by Christopher Purucker. It took me two weeks of doubting, and still getting sucked in, and finally I googled his image from facebook and he popped up on a scam alert. So I unfriended, and yes, I had texted on my cell (stupid stupid stupid), and deleted, and reported him to facebook. ARGH - whatever happened to human decency!
Roxie
April 12, 2016
Sent to Bridgett
FTC Staff
April 14, 2016

In reply to by Roxie

If you think someone is breaking the law, please report it to the FTC at FTC.gov/complaint. The information you give will go into a database that law enforcement uses for investigations.

The information you put here in blog comments doesn't go into the law enforcement database.

Lola
April 15, 2016
I have been taking with this guy that says he is James Stuart. He says he is a General that works for the UN in Syria. He is been there for one year and his contract expires in August. He seems extremely nice but is going a little fast in the romance. How can I investigate he is real?
Lionqueen
April 16, 2016
Has anyone heard of Augustine Urge Edeh? He's got his hooks in my friend.
ridinghood7
April 16, 2016
Well my story, is about the same, I never send any money, just my heart. It was a learning experience. I have small group of family and friends that I talk to on Facebook. Don't or ever accept friend requests, I don't still why I did this time. He seemed really sincere, this I is how it started. April 11, 2018 I'm Albert Larry and i am originally from United Kingdom,currently living in manchester city, united kingdom . i am single now cause my wife died 6 years ago in a car accident leaving me with two kids, . i love my kids so much because they are all that i have got left in this world they studies in a boarding school in London. i enrolled both of them there because of my kind of Job, i travel allot and i don't want a stranger taking care of my kids. i work as an Engineer, i studied civil engineering in the field of constructing oil drilling rigs, me and my team we also do exporting and importing of crude oils with big cargo ship. presently we are on a shipping contract to the port of spain Trinidad and Tobago. its a two month contract and we have been here on the ship for a month now. i love traveling, i love cooking and walking down the park, i love eating home made meals, i am passionate about candle lights dinner. ok let me stop here now please tell me more about you please. The last message I received, was Thursday afternoon after he ask me to marry him, I told him too fast, slow down don't know you, been married twice already, then nothing more. I was at a moment where I needed a push, as fake as it was, I learned a valuable lesson. My daughter when threw the same thing sometime ago, took her heart and money, she worried me when I told her I was talking to a man on Facebook, she a I discuss, that it was scram, without her, maybe worst, off for me. I was sad, feeling rejected,alone old, unloved. I'm sharing my story fearing that this man will again try this again with someone more lone, rejected, unloved. I'm loved by my children and grandchildren, not alone as I thought I was. I found this in my reads yesterday silly I know but it will leave a lasting impression: Dr. Seuss: 'Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.'
bcsims
December 07, 2018

In reply to by ridinghood7

Thanks for the Dr Seuss quote, I needed that right now. Being scammed, and have not sent $ thankfully. However the disappointment at realizing that he's not real is pretty rough. I so enjoyed talking w/him, and I'll miss it.
MajorGoodFriend
April 17, 2016
My good friend, a beautiful, intelligent and successful girl, has been "dating" a scammer she met from God-knows-which-site. I tricked her into sending me his pics and info. Being an ex-officer I thought I'd seen it all until I came across more than 3 dozen FB profiles with this guy's face. All under the last name PORTER Army Sgt. 3 dozen different first names. All profiles fake. I dug around and found the man she thought she was talking to. I know this humiliated her and I never meant to hurt her, only protect her. She swears it's he that has been catfished. She says he never asked for money but I don't believe her. Ladies beware!!! You're better than online love affairs. They aren't real.
spot
April 19, 2016
I met a Nigerian male and he scammed me too. I have not been able to talk about this because I still can not believe it happen. He was already married in his country, married me without saying he was married. When I found out I left him and he decided to report abuse to the state and create a false paper trail to get his paperwork. It looks like if you say you were abused you can go around US laws. Just met another Nigerian and first he said he was a citizen and then said he was not and needed to get married. I just don't get this, why do these male want to be in this country so bad that they think they can scam you?
Scout1
April 21, 2016
Keep watching out for any FB profile with Harrison Clem, Johnny Clem. Harrison Clem just set up a new FB page the end of March after scamming me. They are Nigerian scammers!! I have reported to all agencies.
Matchhair76
April 21, 2016
A person named "Thomas Grizzman" on facebook scammed me out of money. He claimed to be a Marine Engineer. He sweet talked me into sending the cash via money gram. He also wanted me to open a bank account. I guess i am naive, but my family finally convinced me to stop the madness and come to my senses. I am out some money, but it could of been a lot worse !
Marie
April 22, 2016

After reading these stories I am scared as well. I have been ready to give my heart because of a man that sounds so very sweet. Claims to be from London as a Civil Engineer. Sent lots of pictures and a picture of his daughter that is supposedly here in the states. Says he is a widower. Sent pictures of his home that is not big or overly classy, just normal.

Claims he wants to give me the world. Wants to fly me to London in July. He just won a contract in India- supposedly. Now his $5000 short for one of the containers. I lied about not being able to pull the money together and he says he will find another way. He still talks to me all day, every day and all night.

He sent me copies of his wire transfer to the company in China that provides his supplies and sold his BMW, got a note on his home to raise the funds because supposedly the contract said until 60% of the work was done, he would receive nothing. Said he has been doing this for years as a self employed engineer.

What is the recognition website I can go to to see if he is for real? He talks a great INTELLIGENT talk about engineering. He is India now, his original phone line is in London- (still has it for the Whatsap, supposedly so we can talk and not have a huge phone bill)

When he got to India he got a sim card for Iphone with an Indian number. Talks Bible, even before he knew I was a Christian. I will get over the heartbreak easily enough, will feel like a fool longer.

FTC Staff
April 22, 2016

In reply to by Marie

Think about your experience with this person, and these warning signs that an online love interest might be a fake:

He wants you to:

  • get off of the dating site immediately and chat with personal email, text, or phone
  • wire money to him using Western Union or Money Gram, or
  • set up a new bank account to help him transfer funds

You can do an image search of a person's photo with your  search engine. If you do an image search and the person’s photo appears with different names, he is probably a scammer.

Don’t send money to someone you met online — for any reason. If your online sweetheart asks for money, you can expect it’s a scam.

Lonelylady56
January 06, 2017

In reply to by FTC Staff

How do you do a image search of a person's photo? With just the name they gave you? I have been messaging with a man named Steve Vig. I found him on FaceBook, and see only two pictures of him on there that he has sent me also while messaging. I can not locate information on him on Google or any of the other pictures he has sent me. Thank you.
Marie
April 27, 2016

In reply to by Marie

Thank you - I have avoided the snare- your site and others like it helped me.
Marie
April 27, 2016
I left a comment earlier on the 22nd. I told a friend about this who created a fake email to lure him in. It worked. I busted him big time. He tried to lie out of it, but I knew the whole thing was off. Too attached too quickly, his pictures were too handsome, I am ok looking but not beautiful, would not call me by name but always honey, baby, princess, etc. I asked him why and he said his mother taught him it was a show of disrespect. Bull. His English was bad and claimed to be an engineer studied at Oxford. I called him on that and he claimed American's English was wrong. He still wouldn't let up.$5000 and our lives would be secure, you don't have to work, I will build a house in Central London, I can't work at this job site until I get this. I blocked him on FB and Whatsap. He has nothing else on me, but my friend took it one step farther and sent him an email through the email I created to talk to him only and told him I had died. Maybe now he will stop!
Brainiswashed
April 28, 2016
My sister in law is knee deep in a scam but will not listen. She has likely sent over 5k to them. They use viber and christian dating sites and quickly reel victims in, using "our son needs help" "we will soon be married" . This scammer claims to be "UNDERCOVER" fighting terrorism for USA GOV. Has homes in Hawaii and Florida. Money being sent to woman in Florida(the supposed nanny). She is taking money from her only retirement and lost it, now turning her back on every family member and continuing to believe she is loved by a texter, never met them, never will. What can I do to put an end to this, I am not the victim, but I know its a scam because fake pictures of Darren Salkeld are being used, lamborghini driving get rich quick guy. Its obvious and undercover USA terrorist fighter with a 30k sq ft mansion and a lambo, uh ok. How can my siter in law BE THIS STUPID?
dumbfounded
April 28, 2016
Do real army soldiers use .mil emails or possibly yahoo.com?]
FTC Staff
May 02, 2016

In reply to by dumbfounded

A person in the US military has an email address that ends in ".mil," with no letters after the ".mil"

If the person you are talking to won't send you even one email from a ".mil" address, the person is probably not in the US military.

Tindel
May 03, 2016
Hi. I recently met a guy form an online dating services. I was very carefully , still am. He started calling me all the sweet names. I was like is this guy desperate or what. After a few weeks have passed, his stories have been consistent. So I thought, why not give in a little. He wanted to meet badly and he was going to do so during a business trip which he has to buy some equipment for a contract which he won. He even emailed me copies of his flight details. But what was off was that it was all one way. After a few days of landing in the country where he is having his business trip in, he is telling me that he is short of cash to proceed with the purchase of the equipment and he recently lost his wallet. He also cited that US bank regulations is strict and he needs to be present to preform any banking transactions.
Don't use your…
July 01, 2020

In reply to by Tindel

This sounds EXACTLY like the story I got!!! Did yours fly to Turkey?
jaan
May 03, 2016
I have similar problem with a scammer, his name is Anthony Miller, claims he is from Denmark, but he has very poor English. Keeps asking me for money and to open a bank account. First he was stuck in Nigeria and needed money, now he says he is back in US, but cant meet me because he is Canada trying to get some money he has and needs a bank account to transfer that money.He gets very upset if I ask him for pictures. Mostly he is gone in the weekend and will not respond to any messages. Every single conversation we have, he is asking me for money. I refuse him and he gets very angry. Sadly I did fall for this very handsome man, but I am getting stronger to let go, otherwise he will end up taking a lot more from me.
Ron
May 06, 2016
i met a girl on Tinder named Michelle Besalda from Samar Philippines but currently residing in Manila. She's a total scammer so beware of her in case you meet her on Tinder or other dating site. She has many account in different dating sites so easy for her to meet many guys in different countries. i flew last March to the Philippines to meet her. At first she's very sweet and jolly and we got a long very well. when i returned to Cali after a week she started asking money, she likes to build a business because she's living in her own and this is the best season to build a hair salon in her Country. i sent her $10,500.00 to franchise a business.. then just last week she asked me again to send her $1500 because she needs to buy some products for the salon. i was about to send her again but my friend told me to check if the salon is really exist. i did some investigation and ask people in the area and i found out that the salon was old and been operating for a few years now by the help of some foreign men she met on dating site. Meaning, it's not only me, there were many foreign men sending her money and she's using that business to get money from foreigners she met and dated. Now i have learned my lesson. Do not trust a person easily and send money without a second thought. Not all people on dating sites are looking for love, most of them look for financial source. so beware of MICHELLE BESALDA she's really good in talking. Terr
GOALdigger
October 05, 2016

In reply to by Ron

hello ron i just wanna ask is this the same girl that you are talking about? because apparently she tried to scam my friend who is a foreigner here in the Philippines 

this one is her linked in account good thing my friend asked me first about the business and we got to meet with her.according to skywalker's description of her she is very confident but this Micehelle Besalda that i met was a bit shy and cannot speak english that well maybe that is one of her tactics to get me and my friend to believe her, so i just wanna ask if it is the same girl because we can file a suit against her as fraud if we can prove that us 3, you and the skywalker guy had the same girl

FTC Staff
October 05, 2016

In reply to by GOALdigger

We edited the comment and removed a link to a commercial website. If you think a scammer is using a dating or other social website, you can report it to the website.

John b
October 05, 2016

In reply to by GOALdigger

Hi, I met ths girl for few months, on and off, I also gave money to her for the salon, She took me to the salon called michelle and dk. Also she started a new salon up the road, it not there now, I went there after I gave her 2k for her air cond unit...anyone else know about her....now she has a short hair, and her face had some old pimple scars...please tell me more, thanks
Geoff
October 08, 2016

In reply to by GOALdigger

I had the same with her...she is scammer and dangerous.....stay away from her....she trucks you, and it's not true love...she had 4 guys on the go at the same time with me. Geoff, Australia