Just wanted to do a short post about the sudden epidemic of people in a coma in Nigeria.
For regular readers of this blog you will know that I offer a free help and support service to victims of online dating scams, so I tend to notice patterns in scammers stories.
Until recently it has been soldier scams for months but with the amount of publicity that scam has had it appears to be dying down a little now.
The new worrying trend is of coma patients in Nigeria. Whether the coma is brought on by a car accident, mugging or illness it always results in a doctor (yeah right) calling the victim to say he is in a coma in Nigeria and she needs to pay for his medical bills because he doesn’t have medical insurance or any one else they can call.
Of course the victim is only paying the balance because he paid what he can but then ran out of money … cue the request for flight money and BTA to get back home.
I have personally dealt with four victims in the past week who’s “online husband” has been in a coma this month in Nigeria.
In the worst case this involved flying him home to the UK (even though he is a US citizen) and flying an expert in from another country, to treat him in a private hospital in London … the hospital simply doesn’t exist, neither does the expert. The requests for money came through the expert doctor, on her yahoo account. Anything sounding a bit fishy here?!
Now it’s easy to scoff and say you would never fall for such a story but when you are involved with a scammer and hear these terrible pleas for help any good hearted person can be tricked into thinking they are doing the right thing and helping someone they love.
Please people read up on my tips to spot a Nigerian dating scammer and learn about the behaviour patterns of scammers.
Also learn that google, not diamonds, are a girls best friend. Don’t just call the doctors number you are given … it could be anyone on the other end of the phone … google the hospital and call their general enquiries number, then ask to speak to that doctor (if the hospital even exists).
Please note that just because a telephone number has +44 in front of it DOES NOT mean it is in the UK. Scammers use a call forwarding service, originally designed for business people who want their calls to follow them when they travel bu now the perfect way for scammers to suggest they are in the Uk when oin fact they are basking in glorious Nigerian sunshine.
Which genuine hospital in the world doesn’t have a bank account? If you are paying a genuine hospital bill then you can simply transfer the money from your account to the hospitals account … HOSPITALS DO NOT USE WESTERN UNION TO RECEIVE PAYMENT FOR MEDICAL BILLS.
Also, step back and look at the bigger picture.
He went to Nigeria for a work contract but either his employers or he only bought a one ticket … sound realistic? No.
They also didn’t buy medical insurance to go to work in Africa … sound real? No.
After a serious car accident rsulting in a coma, mugging that left him in a coma or finding him dying in the street resulting in a coma of course the Nigerian authorities choose not to call his Embassy/Consulate or his family (because they might worry .. is the usual story) but instead call you because your number was in his text messages and they could see how much you love him. Sound like the real world? No.
If they promise to send you money back they are either
a) Lying
b) Getting another victim to send you money (of course you need to keep some and send the rest to them)
c) Using fraudulent money orders which can land you in trouble with the police and your bank when they recall the money after you have transferred it to the scammer, leaving you responsible for the debt to the bank.
There is only one golden rule when dating someone online … if they ask you for financial help THEY ARE SCAMMING YOU.
May 30th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
I got on the dating site called oasis active, and met a man called Donald Liddycoat. He said he was american/italian, which i believed for a while, but when he sent various photos of supposidly of himself, i just had the gut feeling that they were not of himself.When i asked for him to get on the web cam he always had an excuse why he couldnt get on, either no time to fix it or there was bad contact. Talk about being nieve. I have been so taken in by him, like they say , love is blind. The emails he sent were so beautiful, love, marriage, and such a god believing man, who wouldnt be taken in. He was coming over to me to meet me and my family, and then i was to go back to the states with him to meet his family,m But excuse after excuse with the delays of travel, seemed more and more. Then after being in contact for two and half months, he had to go to Cyprus with work and said that when he had a job , he stayed on till it was complete, another delay. Then the best part, he was sending me one million dollars worth of diamonds, which i was to hold onto till he came to me, suppose to be 3 weeks. Where was i going to put one million dollars of diamonds, but they were going to come with a diplomat (courier) and there would be no problems. How could he trust me with that amount of diamonds. But he said he trusted me with his life as i was to be his wife and he loved me, etc etc. The crunch came when this diplomat got caught in Ghuana by customs, and he needed $2,ooo.00 to give to the authorities to release the diamonds. Now things started to get weird. He asked if i would give him the money till he got here. when i said i didnt have the money, he went very quiet. I couldnt believe it was a scam till my daughter said it. I have since emailed donald many times, but have not had reply. Yes i believe its a scam and i will be very careful in future. I just wish i knew who the man in the photo is, because he looks such a lovely man, the email donald used was either, donaldycoat@yahoo.com or liddycoatdonald@yahoo.com.
He also gave me the addresses in myrtle beach, south carolina, also in lakeview , oregon, and anothe in cambridge uk.
I would love to know if anyone else has had anything from this donald liddycoat. his phone number is 0011447045789016.
May 30th, 2011 at 2:44 pm
Hi Ann
Well done to your daughter. So sorry you got hooked by a scammer … as this is indeed a scam. In the cold light of day it is obvious a man who travels the world working would not need to rely on an online wife/girlfriend he has never met for money.
Wanting to know who the real person in the photo is is quite natural, you are emotionally drawn to that person because of the love and affection you believe you received from him but the odds are he is married and mowing his lawn in some far flung place, totally oblivious of what his pics are being used for … and better if he stays that way.
You will feel an empty space in your heart now that you need to fill with something else, it’s just like a bereavement .. as the person you loved is suddenly ripped out of your life. It takes time but you will get there and be, as we all do, a little older and a lot wiser.
Take care.
July 5th, 2011 at 4:57 am
Hi Ann;
I had something similiar happen to me. Did you try looking up his IP address or reverse search on his cell phone number? I did one for you on his cell number and it comes from London, UK near Edenburgh.
To find his IP address right click on a e-mail from him and pick source it will give a line of numbers that is his IP address. Try this website out to track the IP address to see where he is actually located:
http://aruljohn.com
I hope this helps a little. On this site it also tells you where you can go to file a complaint. Loralynne
July 5th, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Hi Loralynne
There is something with that information, London and Edinburgh are at opposite ends of the country.
You can’t really trust much these days, you can get a free online account which gives you a UK phone number (+44) but you can be anywhere in the world and the scammer may be using a proxy server … check every email ip (from the header), they usually bounce around the world because the proxy simply picks an available ip.
July 17th, 2011 at 4:35 am
I met some guy say his wife died 8 yrs ago in a car accident in ca. He told me he live in the city. His dad got sick and he and his son needed to go to Nigeria. I asked about his dog.. He said no problem the vet will watch him…. He called me when he got there, then al of a sudden his dad took a turn for the worse… Then the guy ran out of money. I said what a bout a credit card….The lies just kept building up.
I did check the ip address, little things just started adding up. He never got money from me though……I was un-employed at the time.
July 17th, 2011 at 10:58 am
Hi Annie
Yes that is one of the keys, watching how the story (lies) keep twisting and turning toward “I need money”. Well done for not falling for it.
June 19th, 2011 at 8:57 am
Have you a photo of this man..as your story sounds vey similar to my so called online romance that appears to be heading in the same direction scam!
June 23rd, 2011 at 3:14 am
Sally,
I have been corresponding with a man who claims to live in the US but has been working in England for the past month. He has sent me 7-8 photos of him also. His ip address comes back as being in the UK and two from the Ukraine. He has called me using an international number from England. What do you think?
July 1st, 2011 at 4:40 pm
Hi Janie
OK why would his ip come back twice as being in the Ukraine? Did he travel there for work?
Don’t give me the full telephone number but just the first 6 digits and let’s see if it’s a real UK number or use the Ask A Dating Question link at the top of the blog and send me the whole number and I’ll check it out.
June 23rd, 2011 at 3:17 am
Also he has never mentioned money to me. Could he be legit? Or am I being used?
July 1st, 2011 at 4:42 pm
Janie it’s impossible to say on the scant information you have provided but I know of scammers who have not mentioned money for up to 9 months. Simple rule … the moment he asks for money he’s a scammer so dump him.
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:20 am
Is there a way to check out someone on a dating site to see if he is who he says he is? I think I am getting scammed. I have a picture of him, but when I spoke to him on web cam he did not quite look like the same person. He is currently living in Dubai and wants to move to the states. He has dual citzenship British/USA. Any help in ways to check him out would help, a google seach has not come up with any info on him. Thanks for your help.
July 4th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Hi Loralynne
Difficult one to answer without teaching scammers how to scam people. Let’s start with the basics and find out if he is really where he says he is.
First of all you can’t trust any documents he sends you .. could be stolen or faked. You also can’t trust phone numbers, I could have a +44 number (meaning UK) but be calling you from Shanghai … one of the difficulties of modern technology.
Now if I asked you to prove you are who you say you are how would you do it? What could you send me to prove you are you and you live where you say you do?
Personally I would start by asking you, in chat, a number of pre prepared questions about the place you say you live. So if you say you live in Clapham, London and work in the city of London I would ask how long it takes to travel to work … already having looked up the answer (you can go to forums and ask people from that city if you can’t find the answer on google). Now I would time how long it takes you to answer. Everyone knows how long it takes to travel to their work so if it takes 1 minute to answer then you can bet he is googling like mad.
Have caught many a scammer out this way .. like the British guy that feeds his dog on food that is only sold in the USA … wow that’s one pampered pooch!!
Remember if he’s a scammer he is constantly learning about you and trying to please you .. so if you love cats then he has a cat at home, if you love baseball then you both love baseball, etc but they get all their info from internet search engines and it takes time to look stuff up and they can rarely tell which are American and which are British websites.
Dubai would be really easy, think laterally, what can you find out about that he wouldn’t know unless he is living there (without looking it up of course). If you can’t think of anything I will email you some ideas.
This isn’t going to give you proof of his ID but it should let you know if his story is ringing true. Then go on to ask questions about his life in the US and UK (by the way most scammers say they have dual nationality for USA and UK … so watch out for that one).
July 4th, 2011 at 8:28 pm
How would i share the photo of this guy with anna sharky…i want to know if its the same guy
July 4th, 2011 at 10:01 pm
If Anna agrees I can swap your email addresses between you or I can sent photos on … just for privacy reasons
July 5th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
My guys ip address is in Ireland?? even though he’s in Nigeria?? what does this mean. His cell phone area code is also in Nigeria ….How can i search his photographs??
July 6th, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Hi Lauren, he is probably using a proxy server, to not show his real ip address.
Search what photo’s?
July 17th, 2011 at 11:17 am
Right it turns out this guy calling himself Johnny or John Peterson is a scammer. After 4 months of communication with him via facebook chat, msn messenger (jpeterson58@live.com and johnpeterson147@yahoo.co.uk) and phone calls and him trying to get me to help pay hospital fees for his sick son Donald.. I have found out he has also been trying the same tactic with another lady of which i have warned her.
background history of this guy;
Says lives in California phone number area code checked out.014408066472
Started 8 week contract job for KenolKobil (company exsists) in Delta Nigeria (ALARM BELLS STARTED RINGING) phone number area code checked out.02347030886897
Talks with acsent says he is Italian born in Rome, dob 22/05/66??
Said his son is in Dinesh Foundation Hospital (no such hosp in Nigeria that i can find) To sum up no money was handed over to this guy even though i was taken in with all his sweet talking…
July 17th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Excellent info Lauren, thank you.
July 17th, 2011 at 5:40 pm
Informed facebook they have now deleted him…but be wary he may crop up else where ….
August 1st, 2011 at 1:49 am
mark burritt lapine oregan says to have daughter ally.has anyone heard of him.
August 1st, 2011 at 10:54 pm
Hi,
I have very recently been scammed by a “Singer Marcello”….and have googled to find many others have had the same story told to them. Unfortunately I cottoned on far too late and parted with £1700. they are still trying to get more money out of me now, claiming he is in a coma and needs healthcare funding….
He has profiles on Badoo, facebook. my space…..and I am receiving text messages and phone calls from the so called doctor at the hospital every few hours ….
August 5th, 2011 at 12:29 am
Hi Claire
Total scam I’m afraid. Please cease all contact and if possible simply change your mobile number. You also need to report the profiles to the websites he is on.
August 5th, 2011 at 12:37 am
Anyone had any contact with someone named Albert Donato? Age 51, in HoustonTexas? Working in England?
August 6th, 2011 at 7:24 am
I was in contact with a man who says he lived in London, his wife died in a car accident 6 years ago, he has a son aged 8 named Kevan, he works for Skanska construction in Nigeria. Company is real of course. He gave me two phone numbers: one in London and one in Nigeria, and I only found out yesterday that they are both on 419 scam sites. I went digging after he was on his way to visit me (supposedly), and he ended up in a car accident in Abuja, Nigeria, with a head injury. The doctor called to tell me he needed money to secure the bed to operate. I tried to find his family but couldn’t. I tried to contact his employer but ran into time zone difficulties (I’m not awake when they are open…) I finally said yeah right, I’m not giving you any money – call the British Embassy. Last email I got was that they contacted the Embassy, and successfully operated. I now don’t believe any of it was real. No doctor, no accident, no coma, no kid. Probably some Nigerian native trying to get easy money.
August 7th, 2011 at 7:56 am
Sally, I have been emailing and talking on the phone to the mentioned guy for about a month. Last week he sent me flowers (with 5 roses). Supposedly ordered while he is in England working. Now he has sent me an email showing airline reservations from England coming to my local airport to see me. He is then going on home to Houston Texas the next day. Problem is the ticket reservation doesn’t mention anything about flight plans going on to Houston. Am I right to be suspicious? My “local” airport is like a 3 hour drive to get too.
I seriously need your help. I know scammers will buy flowers and sometimes book airplane tickets then cancel at the last minute. Do you think there is a possibility that is what he is up too?
I am not sure how to handle this. What do you think?
August 8th, 2011 at 12:11 am
Hi Janie
I have seen so many “airline reservation tickets” which have been photoshopped (KLM seems to be the favourite but other airlines too). Be very suspicious in my opinion. I can book a flight online now, not pay a penny, print off the reservation and send it to you … it doesn’t mean I have any intention of getting on the flight or that I have actually even booked the flight.
If he sent the reservation ticket as an image let me know and you can send it to me to check out.