The 419 Scam is the No1 online dating scam, also called a Nigerian scam, but it comes in many forms and not only from Nigeria.
We have all heard about the “please cash my money order or cheque for x millions and you get 10%” letters and emails, well that is a 419 scam.
You may not fall for the big pay day scams but are you savvy enough to avoid the more subtle Nigerian scams?
419 scams are now so prevelent on the internet that a cyber sport has been developed around it, called scambaiting, which involves people tracking and communicating with scammers to frustrate their efforts.
Ways in which a Nigerian or 419 scam works on internet dating sites:
1. Registering Their Profile on a Dating Site
The first hurdle for a scammer is getting a profile registered with an online dating site.
Go to any of the big free dating sites and you will soon spot a scammers profile, it will be in bad English, have a username ending in something like 4u or 4luv and be gushing about love, marriage, having children and finding soulmates.
These are the new recruits but the experienced scammers are far more savvy.
Also they don’t only join free sites, as this scam example shows, trusted sites like Match also have their share of scammers and these will be the better ones as they are making enough money to join the paid sites.
2. Hooking a Victim
Their first message to you will usually be very complimentary, stating the many things you have in common (just about everything) and supplying their email or chat address.
They want to get you off the website and chatting privately as quickly as possible.
Love will be declared very quickly and soon talk of visiting you and marriage will begin.
They will spend building your trust until they are sure they think you are mentally planning a future together.
Often they will begin to refer to you as their husband or wife, long before you have ever even met (not that you are going to meet but the promises will keep coming).
3. Request for Money
Then it starts and can come in a million forms. The requests for money may start small but will grow with time. Here are some of the more common requests:
- Money to buy a phone card so they can call you (the exchange rate is worth the trouble).
- Enough to buy a webcam so you can see them while you talk.
- A family member is in hospital/trouble and they need to quickly borrow money. They will seem embarrassed to have to ask and make gushing assurances about paying it back.
- Flight, visa or translation fee money (all backed up with a travel agents letter setting out the costs and reasons for requiring cash not direct payment). This is so they can come to be with you .. of course at the last moment there is always a reason they can’t actually travel.
- A request to cash a living allowance cheque and send the cash by Western Union .. gosh their employers screwed up again and they can’t cash it at a local bank.
- Cash to get a works project off the ground, they have the job but can’t afford to buy/hire/transport the equipment and the profits from the job will be huge .. of course they’ll pay you back with interest.
- They have been working abroad and the company went bust/fired them/employer attacked them/etc and they need to get home to UK/US/Germany or wherever.
4. A Reason for Everthing
If you become at all suspicious they will have a reason for everything and because you want them to be genuine it will be easy to fall for their explanations.
You will also they find that if they ask for 850 pounds or dollars and you say you can only let them have 400 they will suddenly find a reason that 400 is just enough to cover or they will get the rest from someone else .. even though two days ago you were the only person in the world that could help them.
Don’t think for a moment that only the gullible fall for the Nigerian scam, we discussed this in the post about what an online dating scam is and there are many examples on the net of ordinary intelligent people falling for these dating scams.
If you think you may be chatting to a scammer and want some support then head on over to Romance Scams forum. They have a database of known scammers, their current email addresses and photos of innocent people the scammers use from the internet.
In my next post I will tell you how to investigate and find out if you are chatting on an online dating site to a 419 or Nigerian scammer.
July 19th, 2010 at 5:58 am
Hi Stephanie
Yes Travelers Funds are the same as BTA.
He is using a typical scam and if you sent money for BTA then he would have an accident or be mugged on the way to the airport and need money to pay the hospital or replace his ticket and passport. This would go on for as long as you are prepared to send money.
Please send him a message simply saying you are aware he is a scammer, you have kept records of every conversation and email between you and if he attempts to contact you again you will report him to the FBI or Scotland Yard or wherever is relevent to your home country. Say nothing more than this.
Set up a new Yahoo account and only give the username to people you trust. On FB simply don’t accept any new friends, for a while, until he gets bored of trying. Don’t answer any phone calls from him, if he calls your home and you hear his voice just hang up.
It can take a few weeks before they get bored and move on to their next potential victim, particularly in your case as they have put so much time into “grooming” you, but they will give up when they see no reaction at all from you.
Remember all he needs is you to try to express your anger on the phone or by email/chat and he will see it as an opportunity to convince you of how sincere he is … it’s all lies and they are VERY good at telling you what you want to hear.
Thank God you only lost £300, learn a lesson about how these people operate and move on to find a real man who will give you the love you deserve.
July 20th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Hi Sally,
Thank you for the advice. I have done all of it but he is not stopping as you said would happen. What is different about this is that we did not meet on a dating site…I have never been on one. He randomly requested me on Face Book. That is how we started talking. He recently took down his Fb page and made a new one switching his first and middle names…he goes by Anthony Smith Omini. When I went to his new site I couldn’t believe in his bio he wrote that I was the love of his life and actually wrote my first and last name on there. It really kind of scared me.
Also at one point he begged me to come there. He said I would need about three thousand dollars though. What would have happened if I did go? The thought terrifies me!
He has also been leaving messages…of course he is mad that I didn’t send him the money and I am the one stopping us from being together but he says he will find the money and call me from the airport to pick him up. Then I will see he has never lied to me…
Is this kind of behavior in line with what others have experienced? I am so nervous…please assure me he really won’t show up…it is manipulation…right?
Thanks so much!
Stephanie
July 20th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Hi Stephanie
It’s only been 24 hours, just keep ignoring him and he’ll get bored. You’re sounding rather worried so I am writing directly to your email address and we will work this out ok.
July 25th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
all this is sounding familiar to me too. money to buy a present for his sons birthday, money to replace a stolen phone, then he not have enough money for flights. needs me to send money, etc,etc. fortunately i have only sent £120. it was FCO who made me aware. i will start ignoring the man who is pestering me now.
July 25th, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Hi Teresa
Did you find something on the FCO website about BTA? I have looked on the Home Office site and found nothing about his problem, which is disgraceful really.