im glad you posted this thread...there are alot of people out there who get sucked into this madness one way or another. many out there who want to believe the good in people. desperate? maybe...also maybe just genuine good hearted peopel who want to help and get taken advantage of. knocking someone for posting this thread is pretty petty if you ask me....

First of all I want to say that I have not encountered any scammers on this site.

However, confidence is High that some are on other dating sites where scammers troll for victims. So here are some pointers for Identifying scammers.

NOTE: The folks are very organized and DANGEROUS. The picture you see is NOT the person/persons you are talking with!! You are dealing with a very organized people whose goal is to take emotional and financial advantage of you.

1) The have had a recent tragedy in their lives - parent died (often in a tragic way) in the last 1 - 3 years.
2) Parents are divorced and they have gone looking for their "lost" parent.
3) They caught their best friend with their boyfriend/girlfriend in bed together or some such varient.
4) They have recently been robbed or in a car accident.
5) The are currently living or working in West Africa - Nigeria or Ghana.
6) They are stranded in a foreign country and need help getting money they are owed or just flat out ask for money with a promise of repaying it when they are back in the US.
7) If you talk with them on YM or receive e-mails from them their spelling and grammer is very poor.
8) In an the first e-mail you recieve you get a "life story".
9) Your profile is the best they have ever seen and they know you are the "soul mate". (Had one that immediately said she wanted to move in with me in her first e-mail!!!!)
10) The want to know all about you and say little about themselves - other then what is on the script they are using.
11) Pictures they send are often small and only of them. Look at the pictures for signs that don't match their story. (Had one claiming she was in a refugee camp and her pictures were from a resort in Jamacia. DUH!!!!)
12) They give a hard luck story about something that has recently happened and they need you to send money via Western Union.
13) Ask you if you have a web cam so they can see you. (They won't have one.)
14) Ask you for your phone number so they can call you or ask you to send money so they can buy a phone card to call you.
15) Their YM ID is something like - "honestsoulxx"

IF YOU SUSPECT YOU ARE TALKING WITH A SCAMMER WHAT DO YOU DO?

1) Get the IP off the header of any e-mail and use dnsstuff.com to track it.
2) Check out focushawaii.com to see if their picture is there. It is one of the many sites used by scammers to steal pictures form.
3) google their name.
4) google internet love scams and check out the sites that post known scammers. There are a number of sites dedicated to busting and posting scammers. They are probably on one or more of those sites.

ONCE CONFIRMED AS A SCAMMER

CUT OFF ALL COMMUNICATION IMMEDIATELY!!!!! ADD THEM TO THE IGNORE LIST ON YM OR MS MESSENGER.

DO NOT - REPEAT DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BAIT OR PLAY WITH THEM!!!!!!! This is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. Internet Love Scams are a Multi-Million dollar industry. You are dealing with Organized Crime. And they are "Masters of the Mind Game".

If you have been scammed. Their are sites available for support.

pretty well........he was clearly south american.....which to me was not an issue but why lie about it???

I was just wondering how you can tell what country someone's ancestors came from just by looking at a picture. South American and Mexican are two different things. I can't tell that you are Canadian by looking at your photo.

ok since you want to argue.......there is white, black, hispanic asian listed........you pick!!

i apologize for calling hikerchic an idiot. and i did not read the whole thread......my angle is simply this, if one is weak,they will invite the scammer. not everyone needs to be told what to do,they have learned from their own expiriences. i like to accept people for who they are until they give me a reason to think other wise. i would hate to walk this earth in fear or in doubt of everyone. yes.....there are plenty of bad people out there,we know this.....but there are some who make a difference in each others lives and help one another. i dont like to be schooled on other peoples personal expiriences. we are all individuals and have our own way of taking care of ourselves. if i offended anyone with my views.....then i apologize for that sincerely.

Ok hiker........Im really black.........I identify with them soooooo much, therefore I am!!

The FBI has a great website with information about internet scams and a method for individuals to research and report.

http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/internetschemes.htm

Ok you are not getting what I am saying. Peace.

yes I am but you just dont want to see where I am standing on this........do you want me to show you his photo???

I can't tell what country a person was born in by looking at a photo, sorry. And I would never label everyone who looks vaguely Hispanic as "Mexican".

It's just rude.

I agree. Everyone of my students is aware that racial comments will not be tolerated in my classroom.

One of the keys in IDing a scammer is not so much their picture, rather it is how they use the English language and the questions they ask. For example when talking to a person who is clearly a US resident, "im form missurie, us. do u knew were that is?"

That's exactly it, Stan - they use weird syntax. There are many people who have not had the advantage of higher education but even with misspellings, lack of punctuation and bad grammar, you can tell that what education they do have was received in the United States, or at least in the Western World.

But people who have not been educated in the Western World sometime use English words in an awkward and stilted way. They will say things like "Please to tell me many things about the city state where you are living at now time"

No one educated here would say it like that.

i apologize for calling hikerchic an idiot. and i did not read the whole thread......my angle is simply this, if one is weak,they will invite the scammer. not everyone needs to be told what to do,they have learned from their own expiriences. i like to accept people for who they are until they give me a reason to think other wise. i would hate to walk this earth in fear or in doubt of everyone. yes.....there are plenty of bad people out there,we know this.....but there are some who make a difference in each others lives and help one another. i dont like to be schooled on other peoples personal expiriences. we are all individuals and have our own way of taking care of ourselves. if i offended anyone with my views.....then i apologize for that sincerely.

Thank you, Redshirt.

I started on-line dating about 10 months ago. I had never heard of scammers until somebody told me about them.

I have had a few "characters" email me this week. I just love it when a 19 y/o blue box from India wants to chat on Yahoo.

Winx check you mail hx...that was me.