romance-scam-o-rama

[romance-scam-o-rama]

I was pretty excited to be contacted by someone calling himself “David Trump”, and the way he kept calling me “my lady” just made my heart melt... or my bile rise... or something! 

Click the image above (or the link just below the image for some users) for the full chat transcript.

Read my first post here

[romance-scam-o-rama]

Dear “William Jeffrey”, I wasn’t feeling up to playing the game this time so I exposed you straight away. You didn’t like it much. 

Click the image above (or the link just below the image for some users) for the full chat transcript.

Read my first post here

[romance-scam-o-rama]

“Anthony Anderson”, our connection was so brief! I challenged you and you ran for cover immediately. 

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[romance-scam-o-rama]

Ah, my dear Riyad - so much potential left unrealised! You made some bold promises about what our future together could be, but it was all for naught because - alas! your facebook profile has disappeared.

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Read my first post here

[romance-scam-o-rama]

The oddly named “Wilson Mark’s” also gets points for persistence. However, I had to give up and block him in the end because he just did not seem to get that I was making fun of him. 

All typos in the transcript are his. 

Click the image above (or the link just below the image for some users) for the full chat transcript.

Read my first post here

[romance-scam-o-rama]

A much higher degree of difficulty with “Paul Austin” here. Or “Christoph reneilt” (sic) which is apparently his “German name”. (is that even a thing?)

He said he was German so I called his bluff and pretended that I could speak German too. (I actually do have some German heritage but I don’t speak the language). 

It amused me no end to imagine how we were probably both sitting there running every message through Google Translate as we went along.  

Click the image above (or the link just below the image for some users) for the full chat transcript.

Read my first post here 

[romance-scam-o-rama]

This "Harry C. Adam" bloke wasn’t even trying so I exposed him straight away.  He wasted no time in turning on me - which was all the funnier for his poor, yet very angry vocabulary. 

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Read my first post here

[romance-scam-o-rama]

“Edward James” here deserves points for persistence. We got bogged down about where he supposedly studied for his Engineering degree and he did not give up. Note we also had a mutual friend (someone who barely uses Facebook and who no doubt accepted the request by accident). 

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Read my first post here

[romance-scam-o-rama]

"Michael Larry" - we were doing so well until Facebook removed your account! Now we’ll never know how things could have worked out for us…

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[romance-scam-o-rama]

This so-called "Marthins Brawn" fellow here suddenly dropped me like a hot potato despite his initial declarations of love and devotion at first sight!

Lucky I have thick skin!

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Read my first post here

[romance-scam-o-rama]

Here we have the improbably-named “Michael Tuna Alex” who has appropriated the photo of an Australian member of the Victorian Country Fire Service. Note also that he hasn’t bothered to make his Facebook profile link name match his persona. 

Click the image above (or the link just below the image for some users) for the full chat transcript. 

Read my first post here

[romance-scam-o-rama]

Fun with Romance Scammers

Like a lot of people these days, I regularly receive friend requests on Facebook and other social media platforms from random overseas strangers who are looking to make a connection and chat with a view, no doubt, to eventually take me for every cent I have. 

Despite the light-hearted title above, the situation is no laughing matter; I have read some horror stories about people being taken in by these kinds of so-called “Romance Scams”, losing not only a whole lot of money but also their dignity when others then question how they could be taken into the scam in the first place. 

However, we all want to be loved, and we have all had times of feeling particularly isolated, unloved or misunderstood for whatever myriad of reasons these feelings occur. If the connection request happens to come when someone is right in the middle of such a headspace, they become perfect targets for these scams. This new stranger then seems to have come at just the right moment, saying all the right things and wanting to know everything about you. Also, because these connections are usually text-based, it is possible to continuously review the conversations which can have the effect of intensifying the feelings. You let your guard down and they get into your head - which is the ultimate aim. 

Love is blind, as the saying goes, and people in love do tend to overlook flaws and red flags that someone else not invested in the relationship would see as obvious.  In the case of the scammers these flaws usually include poor use of language and improbable stories.

These scammers have various M.O.s. Some use other people’s profile pictures, some use their own. They gain the victim’s trust over a period of time then eventually ask for some sort of assistance due to some problem they have.  It usually starts with a small request which then grows. If the victim finally suspects they’re being scammed it is not uncommon for the scammer to then turn around and use any personal material the victim sent earlier in good faith as a blackmail tool.

It appears that these scams are often a co-ordinated effort involving multiple people. Scripts are written and followed. Victims’ details are shared with others.

There are plenty of articles which can elaborate on this issue in more detail – just google Romance Scam or Yahoo Boys as a starting point and you’ll see what I mean.  

Inspired in part by the work of comedian James Veitch, I have taken to sometimes accepting and engaging with these scammers.  I’m not alone in doing this – there are people around that call themselves “scam-baiters” who are motivated by the idea that if the scammer engages, they’re occupied with a dead end instead of another victim. I’m not sure how effective this is as a deterrent to the scammers, but I have to say that, for whatever reason, my twisted sense of humour finds my scam-baiting chats very amusing. 

I approach it like a game and consider it a win if the scammer ends up blocking me.  I figure also that publishing the chat transcripts here can provide information and awareness to others about the romance scam issue.  Plus… they’re pretty funny.

You will no doubt notice obvious red flags right at the start of these transcripts. However, I believe in a lot of cases a potential victim (someone in the headspace I mention above) would not tend to challenge the scammer with questions like I do.  If the scammer can succeed in coaxing the victim to open up and talk about themselves, their own inconsistent stories and poor language may not be so apparent.  All they need to do is express sympathy and concern, to give compliments and ask the victim to tell them more.  After all, we all want to feel heard and understood.