mathew_freckly_ SCAMMER

Monday 30 April 2018

And the third and final scammer for today is

Well this guy befriended me yesterday evening and it didn't take me long to get him sussed out and blocked and reported.  I really couldn't be bothered with his obvious rubbish and lack of knowledge.

He said he comes from Australia but couldn't spell it (astrulla, astrualle  were his goes) until I asked him if he meant Australia. Bad move Mr Scammer Guy - minimum is knowing how to spell the country you say you live in!!! Usual questions were asked and not answered by him. He said he is a marine engineer: a plausible occupation until you dig a bit deeper.  My partner is a marine engineer by trade so I have insider knowledge.  I asked about his work pattern - he answered 4 on; a valid answer. I asked about the type of ship he was on - didn't answer this at all; clearly he had no idea.  Then he said he was about to start a contract in the Norway sea but couldn't say what the name of the ship was or where it would be sailing. At this point I decided I had had enough.  Blocked and reported on Instagram.

dicksonjames123 SCAMMER

Monday 30 April 2018

The second one for today is this person

This guy was really full of himself and very annoying.  I had the feeling that he was a bit more experience in this activity.  Here is his backstory:

• He is 38 years old
• From Strausstown, Pennsylvania, USA
• Has been single 3 years
• Has a daughter who lives with his sister in the US
• He is a Sergeant in the US army and in Istanbul on a peacekeeping mission
• Wanted to talk on Kik, but went on WhatsApp instead

This guy was immediately flattering and polite and was falling in love with me within a few messages (lucky me!). First thing I noticed when we got messaging on WhatsApp was that the country code of his phone number was Nigeria which made me wonder immediately.  He, however, had a reason for this and said that it had been set up whilst posted there. Err, possibly not. This guy was very persistent on WhatsApp and kept wanting to call and when I did speak to him, let's say he didn't sound like he was American. He tried to explain his accent was because he was raised in Brazil - no it didn't sound like he spoke Portuguese or was Brazilian. Oh the other give away was the use of the words omo aye which translates as roughly good child in various African languages.

His first written opener on WhatsApp was the exact same spiel I had seen used by the user Inkeed Griffin.  Not unusual at all and sets off the sirens that this is not genuine.  A lot of the stuff was too huge to have been written in the time so must've been copied and pasted. He asked all the usual really nosey questions of age, single, child, job, income, house status but never answered any of mine about him, they rarely do. He sent me these pictures of him

Said these were his daughter and sister

When I asked him about the dog in the above picture he really couldn't answer the questions.  I know fine well that the dog is a smooth haired dachshund.  He answered that it was Mable and that she was an Australia Dog.  

He has now been blocked on all platforms and reported on Instagram.

mellarjoh SCAMMER

Monday 30 April 2018

Today the delightful scammer is this one

I didn't really get to know a lot of this one's backstory. To be honest with you, it was late in the day and may patience was wearing a touch thin by this stage.  This is what I know:

• His name is Miller Johns
• He is from Kansas City in the USA
• His wife died in a car accident
• He has one son of 16 who lives in the States with his Grandma
• He said he was in the US army but non specific

This was where his story really fell apart, not that it hadn't already.  When I asked him what he did in the US army and where he did it. I was so impatient with this guy and his stupid, vague answers. I asked him if he was a soldier, a cook, a doctor, a mechanic,  what? His answers were rude and he accused me of not understanding him - the cheek!! I asked him where he did his work for the army. Syria? Afghanistan? Based in Germany? He then remembered he was a doctor (lol) but based in the states.   

At this point I accused him of being a faker because he didn't seem to know what he did for a job or where he did it and that his English was very poor which he blamed on being brought up in Mexico. Well perhaps it was but who knows.  Blocked and reported on Instagram.

ETA here are some screenshots of his conversation with me.  They are interesting to read so you can familiarise yourself with the language and sound of a scammer.

garythomas9241 SCAMMER

Saturday 28 April 2018

Today's scammer is this delightful individual

I have seen this guy knocking around on Instagram for a while but until yesterday he had never messaged me. Boy is he a quick mover but so was I.  Within a couple of introductory messages on DM on Instagram he had wanted to move onto hangouts.  I duly obliged and we carried on our conversation there.  Here is his backstory:

• He claims to be an engineer, a building and road constructor
• He lives in Texas city 
• Has 2 kids - woman and man (his words)

I am afraid with this guy my alarm bells were ringing straightaway and sure enough within about half an hour he had been blocked on all platforms and reported to Instagram.  These are my reasons:

• Very dodgy use of English both grammatically and with spellings
• He wanted pics of me immediately and only sent one of him (see below)
• Asked a lot of questions with no information coming back about him
• Did not know what he was talking about  - wanted to know which state I live in in the UK and then said he lived in Texas city
• Declared love immediately and wanted children with me which I took him to task for but, bless him, he said he would still marry me and love me
• Sent generic, cut and paste sentimental comments that could not be from him - they were spelt correctly and made sense
• The use of the words omope and alaye which both seem to be words used in African languages

Avoid, avoid, avoid because he will eventually ask you for money or iTunes cards - we didn't get that far before I lost my patience with him but he did to someone else I know on Instagram.

inkeedgriffin SCAMMER

Friday 27 April 2018

Two for the price of one today.  Here is another to watch out for

Well what do I know about this guy? Here goes

• His name is James Josh Griffin, age 46 but has told someone else he is 36
• He is a Sergeant in the US Army, 173rd battalion, posted in Afghanistan
• He is widowed and his wife died from breast cancer
• He has a son who he claimed at first was 8 and then later told me was 17!!
• He is from Newhaven Connecticut, USA

My first instincts told me he was a scammer but this one turned out not to be for money or iTunes cards.    Quite quickly he wanted to move the conversation off Instagram and onto Kik but we ended up chatting on hangouts instead.  He would post long, rambling messages that did not always make complete grammatical sense and were typed so quickly (too quickly) that they must have been cut and pasted into the conversation. This happened a lot with this guy and always looks dodgy to me like they are working from a script. This guy would also come onto Instagram or hangouts and say hello and then disappear for a long time, could be hours, could be days.  I think they do this to keep you interested but more likely to make you think they really are in a war zone with a really shaky and unpredictable internet connection.  Eventually he brought the conversation around to sex and he wanted me to share, as he described them, sexy pics.  When I said I wouldn't he asked for nudes instead. I said no and that was it, no more communication from him. What a pity.  Images he sent me are below.

Here my instincts kicked in quite quickly.  I couldn't find his images he sent me elsewhere as someone else's.  But it was quite obvious he was tattooed so I asked him about the significance of what he had chosen and why he had chosen it.  He really did not give a great answer - it was clear that he had no real idea and was just looking at the pictures. The way he wrote just didn't sound like an American would and there were times where it just didn't make sense and it felt like the words were lost in translation - probably Google translate!! I also researched the 173rd battalion in the US Army. It does exist but is a support battalion based in Germany, certainly not currently in Afghanistan.  If you are at all in doubt and you are given a hard fact about the scammer, use Google to your advantage and do your research like I did.

maxmichael1891 SCAMMER

Friday 27 April 2018

Today's scammer is this one

This guy is not a particularly pleasant guy at all.  I had the misfortune to be messaged by him yesterday evening and he came across as rude, rather obnoxious and antagonistic which is rather unusual for a scammer. I mean they usually try to charm you with all the sweet talk to make you fall in love with them and send them cash etc. But no, this guy was not nice at all.

What he told me was this:

• From Miami, Florida
• His wife died leaving him a single father to a son of 12 called Alex

This was all I got to know about this backstory.  However he asked me a lot of personal questions, demanded selfies taken there and then.  I sent some taken earlier that day and he was rude and cheeky and claimed to not believe he was talking to me as they were already on my Instagram feed.  This guy would not send me a picture of him.  A couple of selfies taken then and there satisfied his curiosity but he then moved on to wanting a picture of my daughter.  As if!! I mean I find that rather weird and creepy to be honest and I am sure that no guy who was genuine would expect to see a picture of your child until a real on, face to face relationship was in progress. And even that would take time.  What a jerk he was.  But he could not and would not take no for an answer so I ended up getting rather testy with him and he said I was insulting him!! Cheeky!!  Blocked and reported on Instagram immediately.

The clues that he was a scammer are quite clear: widowed, single father to a son who still needs a mother figure; use of English was not very good, didn't always understand my turn of phrase;  no photos of him forthcoming; very evasive when asked a question back, often they choose not to answer or give very simple one or two word answers.  The other major clue was found in a comment underneath a photo of 'him' on his Instagram page.  There were comments from another lady about him being a scammer.  Always check out comments on their photos - they can be revealing.

burkdarren SCAMMER

Thursday 26 April 2018

Today's scammer is this one.

He is called burkdarren on Instagram and is currently posted with the US Military in Afghanistan peacekeeping - well that's what he told me, lol. He befriended me last night and by 3.30pm this afternoon he had been blocked and reported on Instagram and blocked on hangouts too.  He claims to be widowed, with one daughter called Samantha who is 11.  He professes undying love very quickly with minimal input required - always dodgy but I decided to play along.  Sure enough he jumped on my comment about going shopping after collecting my daughter from school tomorrow and asked me to buy him an iTunes card to the value of $200 so he could update his device. I think not!! 

The next 3 pics are images he sent to me of himself.  Please note these are almost definitely not him and lifted from somewhere on the net like Facebook, Twitter or even Instagram itself; although it has to be said here that I could not find them at all anywhere.

Now the next couple of screenshots are of the conversation asking for the iTunes card.

He went on to ask me for $200 and he told me how he could use the card: scratch off to reveal the serial number, photo it and send it.  To be used either by him or sold on for cash. Believe me when I say that the conversation ended rather promptly and not very politely on my front.  He has been blocked on hangouts, reported and blocked on Instagram.

If he approaches you tread with caution. He may change his name or his story a little but they don't veer off the script too far.  Be  careful of him.

InstaScammers

I have started this blog because I like to use Instagram both for business and social reasons but I am getting sick and tired of getting messages from men (probably but who knows). Some are obvious fakes but the ones who have been doing it for a while are a bit more clever.  So I have decided to start this blog to record the guys who message, claim undying love within 5 minutes, and then ask for money or something of value.  Check them out here; I will be adding to this collection often.

These are key things to spot when trying to identify a scammer:

• Using flattering language to soften you up and make you more receptive to their "charms"
• Often are widowed; their wife usually died in really tragic circumstances
• If not widowed then they will be at the least divorced or separated
• They often have at least one or two children
• They are often in the US Military, posted in Afghanistan, Syria and I have seen Libya used too
• If they are not in the military they may well be assigned to it in a different profession eg doctor
• If not in the military, the oil and petroleum business is popular - I have had an oil rig worker, constructors of oil grids etc - all seem very dubious when you ask them what their job really entails
• They could pose as an engineer of some kind - I have had oil industry, construction, road building and computer (with this one I did wonder if engineer was another term for scammer!)
• Within a very short space of time when messaging you they will want you to leave Instagram and contact them on Hangouts, Kik, WhatsApp, wherever they can make direct messages, phone calls or video calls
• They will soon be falling in love with you and asking you to send pictures of yourself which they then continue to compliment in an increasingly flattering way
• They will quite quickly ask you to wire them money usually via Western Union or by buying iTunes gift cards (you scratch off the voucher number, photo it, send it and they either spend it or sell it on for cash in their currency)
• Use of the word 'alaye' - this word appears in similar forms and uses in several different African languages.  It seems to mean information and is often dropped into a conversation to mean good information, ok, good to know. This is a clear indicator to me that I am being messaged by a scammer.  One particular one forgot himself about 3 messages into the conversation and got himself blocked and reported very early doors indeed.
• Offer minimal answers to the same questions asked
• Often answer with one or two word answers - to keep the conversation with you going whilst having the same conversations with other people they are trying to scam. It gets difficult maintaining a lot of conversations at the same time so they will answer minimally, say they have something to do like go on patrol, or say the connection is weak.

If your gut instinct is telling you the person is a fake then trust your gut. Get them blocked and reported on Instagram or whichever platform you are communicating with them on.  Never send any intimate or revealing photos of yourself because the person may well use them to blackmail you in the future, sell them on or pass them on to who knows who, who knows where.  Once sent, in good faith, they will be out there on the internet accessible by anyone, at anytime and from any place.