Dr Emre Ilhan

Today I would like you to meet a Turkish doctor called Dr Emre Ilhan. He is used incessantly by online romance and finance scammers as a front for their fake accounts. 

As you can see he is a very well respected surgeon who specialises in rhinoplasty operations.  He is definitely NOT messaging men and women on Instagram looking to form a relationship.  You can also see that the real man is based in Turkey and is not abroad working with soldiers, any military or the UN in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, or Nigeria.

As you can also see below the real doctor is verified on Instagram.  This is helpful when reporting any fake accounts because it means you can report the accounts for being inappropriate and then choosing impersonation.  Usually, Instagram removes such accounts quite quickly.

When I add fake accounts to my Instagram page that use this doctor, I add them like this - #dremreilhanfake

Your comments

 I really do need to say a big thank you to each and every single one of you who posts and leaves comments.  I have finally had enough time to spend here on the blog today to catch up with them and reply to as many as I can.

Looking at the comments - there have been those that have been left on a specific real guy that I have posted about telling us all about the names they are using on online platforms to approach us all.  This is helpful thank you so please keep adding what you find.  I do moderate them eventually so they may not appear immediately but I do try and do it with some regularity - I do aim for weekly.

Some of you have been so candid about your experiences too.  There have been really emotional tales of how you or another relative have been tricked by these awful scammers.  I am so sorry that you have been so badly hurt and this is why I spend time on this blog and on my Instagram account.  We need to keep educating everyone far and wide about who scammers are and how they operate so we can keep each other safe online. So thank you for taking the time out to write about your experiences even if you are ashamed, embarrassed, or angry about what has happened.  Your experiences can really help to stop it from happening to others.

Please do keep on commenting and I will post your comments and reply as soon as I can!!

Dr Norman Blanco

My Instagram followers have recently been sending me a lot of fake accounts using the images of Dr Norman Blanco.  These are some images of the real man that the scammers are stealing and using to make their fake accounts on all online platforms.

Dr Blanco is a plastic surgeon based in Barranquilla, Colombia. If you are being messaged by an account that uses this man's images then you can be absolutely 100% certain that you are being approached by a scammer.  The real man is not approaching women on Instagram or other online platforms to make friends, to chat, to fall in love.  He is a well-respected and well-established plastic surgeon and a very busy man.  If you are being messaged by anyone using these images please report and block immediately.

When you go to report and block you will have to do so as spam on Instagram.  Dr Blanco, at the time of writing this post, is not verified so has to be reported as spam. Firstly, report as spam.  Then go and block the account too.  I have found that, even though an account is meant to be blocked as soon as you report it as spam, it doesn't work that way and you need to do it separately.

When I add fakes using Dr Blanco's images I use #drnormanblancofake

Christmas in July

One of the ways to check whether an account is genuine or not is to take note of the pictures being posted, their content and the date they have been uploaded.  Today I am going to show you a fake account that I was sent on Instagram a couple of days ago.

OK.   Well, I don't know who the real guy is here sadly but there are other clues that this is a fake account.

He has added 4 posts only, one of which is one of those yucky schmaltzy flowers ones - I mean what guy would really post something like this?  The genuine male accounts I follow just don't add posts like this.

The numbers of followers and following make me suspect fake - only 16 followers and he's following 161, many of which are middle-aged and older women.

His name - Williams Andy.  It's the wrong way round and I am sure should he have messaged me he would have said his Christian name is Williams.  Who has ever heard of Andy as a surname/family name?

I am going to add another screenshot here which is the biggest clue that this is a fake account operated by a scammer.

Take a good look at the photo and what do you see?  The man wearing a Santa Claus hat in front of a Christmas tree.  The photo says it was added 4 hours ago - when you hear that I took the screenshot at 8.03pm on 26 July and I am based in the UK you can work out that this account was added to Instagram at approximately 4pm on Sunday 26 July (UK time).  So it is 5 months until Christmas this year and 7 months since Christmas 2019 - why on earth would anyone add this now unless it had a comment explaining a reason behind posting it.  It doesn't.  The comment showing is from a follower.

I think this is the biggest red flag that this account is fake.  No real person tends to add Christmas images onto a new Instagram account created in July.  A scammer would, however.  They think that adding a Christmas shot makes it seem like the account has been around longer than it has which, in turn, makes it seem more genuine.  But it doesn't.  It's a big red flag for me and I hope that it will be for you too.

Fake scam recovery emails/messages

An interesting email dropped into my spam folder this last week and I discovered it when I went to clear the folder out.  I had been sent a fake email from Antonio Gutteres - the Secretary General of the United Nations no less!!  I mean that was my first clue - why on earth would this important man be messaging me via email?

Well I read the email and soon discovered a rather poorly executed email saying that victims of scams online including package scams and contractors bidding for non-existent work amongst others could email to receive compensation.

OK so take a look at the email address that is supposed to be that of the UN Secretary-General.  What do you notice?  Well, I hope you can see that the email address is incorrect.  It is not a genuine email address affiliated to the UN.  You can see that from the misspelling of unitednations with two i's.

So we now move onto the main body of the email.  I shall look at it paragraph by paragraph.

1.  The first paragraph is one single very huge and poorly constructed sentence.  It does not make sense because they are trying to make it appear authoritative and they don't have the skill in English to do so correctly.  There are mistakes with the grammatical structure and the use of punctuation.  This email would never have been sent out with Secretary General of the UN's name on it.  It is frankly appalling.

Paragraph two is full of the same nonsense.  It has spelling mistakes, punctuation errors, and is grammatically poor - this email would never have been sent out this badly constructed - what an image to send out of this World organisation.

Paragraph 2 moves onto the next screenshot and again just sounds wrong.  Where on earth is this compensation to the tune of 1.5 billion dollars coming from?? Also notice that the remit of the email is changing and the scams that can be compensated.

Paragraph 3 brings it onto me and why I've received this email. It is very flowery language constructed to make it look official.  In fact it doe the opposite with me and makes me skeptical and frankly amused.

Ok so paragraph 4 moves onto this screenshot.  Cheeky aren't they?  Saying that if you don't make a claim via telephone or email they will requisition your money for helping the displaced in Darfur and tsunami victims in Asia.  Well carry on as there is no money coming to anyone - me included.

Again, there are spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and punctuation is used poorly.  I cannot stress enough that this just would be 100% unacceptable for any business to send an email out with these mistakes but one claiming to be from the UN Secretary-General is appalling.

So onto the next paragraph - the person to contact. And isn't this interesting she has a Nigerian phone number. Given that the Secretary-General is based in the UN HQ in New York City, you would think that she would be too, wouldn't you?  So why a Nigerian phone number?  Your email is from a Nigerian scam group. Please note that the email is rubbish as well - she would have a proper UN email address as discussed above, not one that looks like this.

OK so right at the end of the email you have who it is from.  There is also a blue hyperlink underneath to take you to an online resource to see who it is you are talking to - just in case you are a little unsure at this point. Note that it uses http not https. Do not follow any links sent to you like this at all ever.  They could contain malware and viruses that can wreck your device and phish for you secure information like passwords and bank account details leaving you vulnerable to being hacked or having accounts set up in your name.

Finally the last paragraph about receiving the email in error.  What a joke!! But it too is badly written with grammatical mistakes.

So, now we have walked through the email what do you think?  Genuine or fake??

The answer is clearly fake because of these reasons:

1.  It went to my spam folder for a reason.  My email provider detected that it was a fake.

2.  The emails used by the author and the phone number included for the contact are massive red flags.  They are incorrect and the contact number is in Nigeria.  

3.  The poorly written email.  The whole message is badly written with poor English,  spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and punctuation that is used incorrectly.  I cannot stress enough that the Secretary-General would NEVER send out an email as poorly written as this one.

So what is the scam?  Suppose you decide to call the number or respond to the email?  You will be expected to provide them with a load of information about you.  Your personal details including your bank account details so they can send you your 'compensation'.  They get all this information about you that they can use to hack your accounts.  Will you receive any money?  Probably not.  They will likely ask you to pay an administration fee.  However, there is a chance that you may well receive cash.  Some will be for you to keep and a bigger chunk will be for you to pass onto someone else.  This is money laundering and a way that the scammers can legitimise their earnings from their scams.  Do not ever do this as you can serve actual prison time for laundering money like this.

The best thing to do with emails you receive like this is to add them to your spam folder.  This means that your email provider will do the same for any other emails you receive like this one from the same address. 

Whatever you do please do not respond to an email like this at all ever.  Just delete it or add it to your spam folder.

Dr Bradley Schaeffer

I thought today is the right time to introduce you to another Dr that is used a lot by scammers as their face for their fake accounts.  I have reported a huge amount of fake accounts using this man lately.  Please meet Dr Bradley Schaffer.

The real man is a doctor of podiatry, that is, he specialises in issues with the feet.  He is also a TV doctor and has appeared in a programme on American channel TLC called 'My Feet are Killing Me'.  I can also tell you with 100% certainty that if you are being messaged by someone anywhere at all that is using images of this man, then you are being messaged by a scammer.  The real man is not finding women or men to chat to on Instagram with a view to forming a relationship.  Neither is this man wanting money from you for any reason at all.  

If you find a fake account on Instagram using the doctor's pictures or one begins to message you then please report the account as inappropriate (not as spam).  Dr Schaeffer is verified so you can follow the inappropriate route to report for impersonation and add the account he is impersonating.  Reporting this way will speed up the removal process.

I also add many fakes of the real guy regularly on Instagram using #drbradleyschaefferfake

Fake Promotion Profiles

Today another of my followers sent me this fake account.

So, the question is, why is this account fake?

The answer simply is that there is no such promotion run by Samsung on Instagram.  So now you are asking what is the scam?  Well, you will be sent a message claiming that you have won a monetary sum or perhaps even a new piece of Samsung tech.  They will ask you for either:

1.  An administration fee in order to send you your prize.  Think about it.  You have won a prize.  They should cover the fee to send you your prize, not you.

2.  For bank account details to send you your winnings if it is a cash sum.  They want these for phishing and for operating other scams and perhaps to hack your account to have access to your money.

3.  They may ask for your home address and other personal details that could be used to generate fake accounts, apply for financial products such as loans, etc. 

In their communication with you, they may ask for all these things from you or just one of them.  Any account like this that has a person message you claiming you have won a promotion is fake.  Please remember that if it seems too good to be true then it is.

Leading on from this, you will also see on Instagram a lot of accounts that claim to be run by lottery winners from different countries.  These are all scams.  Think about it logically.  If you were to win a huge sum in your country's lottery would you set up an Instagram page and message random strangers from around the world and say that you are going to give them X amount of cash just because you want to get rid of it? No, I wouldn't and I am sure that you wouldn't either.  So you may well be asking, where is the scam here?  And the answer is the same as the promotion shown in the picture.  They will ask for personal details of yours, supposedly to send you the money, but really they are wanting those details to use for nefarious means.  They also may ask you to pay and administration fee.  If you pay it what happens?  Well, the scammers get richer, you get poorer and you don't receive what you are expecting to receive.  What you may get are more and more requests for money from the scammer plus threats to be sent. 

The easiest way to deal with these kinds of accounts when you come across them or if they want to follow you or message you, is to report them and block them immediately and just have no contact whatsoever.