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Be Careful of Online Dating Scams

Don’t get ripped off by an online scammer

online scams

Okay, we’re going to diverge from online dating just for a day here.

I want to warn you guys of an internet scam I ran across today…

and I’ve seen similar to this on online dating sites.

There are a lot of scammers out there, and they’re getting more and more sophisticated.

It used to be that the only thing you needed to question was some email asking you to wire money to some poor girl in Africa who wanted a plane ticket to come see you.

And.. these “girls” were rampant on online dating sites. I haven’t seen as many lately, but I run across them once in awhile even now.

BUT, the scam I want to warn you about here wasn’t from a dating site.

It came from a friend of mine who I met in Korea. Someone hacked BOTH her yahoo and gmail accounts and sent messages to all her contacts asking for money.

I almost fell for it.

email
Thanks to Sean MacEntee at flickr for letting me use this picture!

Take a look here as I break it down for you…

First, I got the same message twice in a row from her (which was a little suspicious) with the subject line: Trouble.

I didn’t open it because I’m always a bit worried about getting spam or a virus… and some of those f*ing spammers can tell if you’ve opened an email so even if you delete it right away, they know it gets to a live person and they keep sending it.

So… I wrote her this message:

Subject: Hey Katie, you send this?

Good Morning, Beautiful!

Got a message this morning addressed from you, subject line is Trouble. is it spam, or real? i worry because that’s not like you to send a subject like that, and i don’t need any viruses on my computer.

hugs… and miss you.  John

In about two minutes “Katie” emailed back with this message:

John,

Thanks for your mail. Please can you help me with a loan? I have a bill of $2550 to pay, I have gotten about $1100 and I need about $1450 to balance up. Please i know its kind of urgent but whatever you can raise will be helpful. Can you send via western union?

Regards

Katie Xxyxx

At this point I was almost convinced, so I went back and read the first email… it said:

Subject: Trouble
Hi,

I hope you take no offense in my sudden approach. I took a trip this weekend to London, England and was robbed luckily they didn’t really hurt me. My belongings including my cash, credit card and cell phones were all stolen. I’ve made contact with my bank but the best they can do is to mail me a new card which will takes about 5 working days to arrive here, while am currently concluding my documentation at the embassy so i can fly out. Please I need you to lend me some funds to settle some bills.

Please let me know if you can assist me in anyway.

Waiting for your mail.

Thanks Katie

Sounds ALMOST  legit, huh? Except as I write this, I know something you don’t know yet.

Whoever sent this email spelled Katie’s last name wrong. Oops. And why would she write you her whole name after I wrote “Good morning Beautiful”?
It should be obvious that we’re too familiar to use last names…

And the “Western Union” thing was a tip off. Western Union is great, but you have to be sure you know who you’re sending the money to.

So, here’s me thinking I’m so smart and want to prove that I know it’s a scam write back:

I don’t believe it. Tell me where we met, what city… and when we first kissed.

Believe it or not… even though my first email a minute before this was answered in 2 minutes, it’s been 4 hours and I STILL haven’t got a reply back. Go figure.

But, if I was half as smart as I thought I was, I would’ve pretended to want to send her money and then tried to get the cops to the Western Union Station in London to get whoever it was pretending to be Katie.

Next time.

So guys, beware, because the scam artists are getting better and better. And if you haven’t run into a scam yet with your online dating, you probably will eventually. The most common one I get is someone in the Middle East of Africa asking for help with an emergency. Be Careful!