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As a continuation of my previous articles about scammers, I will write about who romantic scammers really are, how to recognize them and what “interest” you can gain from communicating with them.
Who are they really?
Most of them are Africans from English-speaking countries, such as Nigeria and South Africa.
For example, since the early 80s of the 20th century, the well-known organized criminal network “Nigerian Scammers” has existed and operated almost all over the world, which deals in financial fraud. Probably everyone already knows the notorious “Nigerian letters” about an inheritance of millions of dollars or winning a non-existent lottery via email address.
They create new fake profiles on social networks and dating sites with stolen photos of white people from open Internet resources. They position themselves, as a rule, as a widower/widow or single father/mother of 35-55 years old from an attractive developed country - the USA or Great Britain (sometimes Spain, Italy, Germany), almost immediately send you “their” photo with the child whom soon they begin to call it “our common.”
Since their English is not perfect, they, as a rule, “trade” in countries where English is not the official language - Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa.
In correspondence, bots can be used that send general phrases, love quatrains from famous songs and poems.
As a rule, in the profiles of scammers on social networks, access to friends is closed, but you can see the “geography” by the likes of the “friends” who have already captured their attention under the scammer’s photos. If this is a man, then his friends are mostly middle-aged women; if he is a woman, his friends are mostly men. A fellow scammer can be added for variety.
Their main goal is to quickly interest you, make you fall in love with them, and, under various pretexts, take your money. What are the prepositions:
- he sent you an expensive gift by courier, but you need to pay the duty for it (he himself can’t do this), transferring the money to the account he specified, and also informs you that he invested this money in your parcel and you will not be at a loss,
- a sudden and life-threatening illness of an imaginary beloved (almost your common) child or dear mother, you urgently need money for treatment/operation,
- he/she was robbed, beaten, he is in the hospital, but there is no money to pay for treatment,
- he traveled from the USA to Nigeria, Ghana, Malaysia or South Africa (for example) to enter into an expensive contract (to ensure your future happy life together), but he is not allowed out of the customs zone in Cape Town, since he needs to pay additional money,
- he is in a hot spot with a peacekeeping mission (for example, in Syria), but he can no longer look at this cruelty and misses you very much, so he breaks the contract, but to get to you, he needs money, because... breaking the contract does not provide for payment,
- you need money for a ticket to see your loved one, etc.
Recently, scammers have become more sophisticated and are looking for “mule” online. Who is this "mule"? This is a victim who unwittingly helps the scammer (sends stolen goods to him, cashes checks for him). Such mules work for Nigerians all over the world, especially in low-income countries, often without understanding what they are doing.
For example, a scammer can tell you that his passport was stolen in damned criminal Africa and now he cannot receive the Western Union money that his employer sent him, and he desperately needs it, he must pay workers wages with this money, otherwise people will be left without salaries. Since you are the most precious person in the world, whom he trusts, can you get this money for him and then send it to the accountant?
There is no need to say that the “employer” is his other victim, to whom for some reason he cannot tell that he is in Africa, otherwise he will not receive the money, and the “accountant” is himself. you will serve as a “bridge” between the victim and the scammer, or simply the mule. Lots of options!!
All the money he asks for, he promises to return with your “interest” in the near future, when he receives it for the contract, as a payment upon retirement/retirement, etc.
Their goals may also include free sex with you (or while talking to you) on the phone.
So, what are the markers of romantic scamming? How to recognize them?
In this case, find a translator and have him present during your conversation, he will immediately recognize the African (and other) accent, slang and how strong your interlocutor is in English.
How can you benefit from this phenomenon?
And, in conclusion, I want to say that communication with a scammer and its consequences can be called psychological trauma, especially if the victim really believed in the authenticity and depth of the relationship.
The rupture of such virtual relationships is experienced as acutely as the loss of real relationships. And there is one more “aggravating circumstance” - the victim may be in shock from the fact that he could not separate reality and virtuality, and begins to doubt whether he can now trust his feelings. The consequences of such a scammer affair are reminiscent of the consequences of gaslighting.
And here, of course, psychotherapy is needed.
The article uses materials from the Internet.
(c) https://www.b17.ru/article/287437/
Who are they really?
Most of them are Africans from English-speaking countries, such as Nigeria and South Africa.
For example, since the early 80s of the 20th century, the well-known organized criminal network “Nigerian Scammers” has existed and operated almost all over the world, which deals in financial fraud. Probably everyone already knows the notorious “Nigerian letters” about an inheritance of millions of dollars or winning a non-existent lottery via email address.
They create new fake profiles on social networks and dating sites with stolen photos of white people from open Internet resources. They position themselves, as a rule, as a widower/widow or single father/mother of 35-55 years old from an attractive developed country - the USA or Great Britain (sometimes Spain, Italy, Germany), almost immediately send you “their” photo with the child whom soon they begin to call it “our common.”
Since their English is not perfect, they, as a rule, “trade” in countries where English is not the official language - Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa.
In correspondence, bots can be used that send general phrases, love quatrains from famous songs and poems.
As a rule, in the profiles of scammers on social networks, access to friends is closed, but you can see the “geography” by the likes of the “friends” who have already captured their attention under the scammer’s photos. If this is a man, then his friends are mostly middle-aged women; if he is a woman, his friends are mostly men. A fellow scammer can be added for variety.
Their main goal is to quickly interest you, make you fall in love with them, and, under various pretexts, take your money. What are the prepositions:
- he sent you an expensive gift by courier, but you need to pay the duty for it (he himself can’t do this), transferring the money to the account he specified, and also informs you that he invested this money in your parcel and you will not be at a loss,
- a sudden and life-threatening illness of an imaginary beloved (almost your common) child or dear mother, you urgently need money for treatment/operation,
- he/she was robbed, beaten, he is in the hospital, but there is no money to pay for treatment,
- he traveled from the USA to Nigeria, Ghana, Malaysia or South Africa (for example) to enter into an expensive contract (to ensure your future happy life together), but he is not allowed out of the customs zone in Cape Town, since he needs to pay additional money,
- he is in a hot spot with a peacekeeping mission (for example, in Syria), but he can no longer look at this cruelty and misses you very much, so he breaks the contract, but to get to you, he needs money, because... breaking the contract does not provide for payment,
- you need money for a ticket to see your loved one, etc.
Recently, scammers have become more sophisticated and are looking for “mule” online. Who is this "mule"? This is a victim who unwittingly helps the scammer (sends stolen goods to him, cashes checks for him). Such mules work for Nigerians all over the world, especially in low-income countries, often without understanding what they are doing.
For example, a scammer can tell you that his passport was stolen in damned criminal Africa and now he cannot receive the Western Union money that his employer sent him, and he desperately needs it, he must pay workers wages with this money, otherwise people will be left without salaries. Since you are the most precious person in the world, whom he trusts, can you get this money for him and then send it to the accountant?
There is no need to say that the “employer” is his other victim, to whom for some reason he cannot tell that he is in Africa, otherwise he will not receive the money, and the “accountant” is himself. you will serve as a “bridge” between the victim and the scammer, or simply the mule. Lots of options!!
All the money he asks for, he promises to return with your “interest” in the near future, when he receives it for the contract, as a payment upon retirement/retirement, etc.
Their goals may also include free sex with you (or while talking to you) on the phone.
So, what are the markers of romantic scamming? How to recognize them?
- The profile on social networks is new, the list of friends is closed for viewing, or there are few of them and these are women/men from different countries of the second and third world.
- Most scammers are black, this may be indicated by information in the profile - sports, music, films, etc. will reflect the tastes of a black person.
- If you are in the mood for a serious relationship , immediately call him on a video call. The scammer will most likely refuse or delay in every possible way. If he does go on a video call, check if it is a recording - ask him to say his name, smile, etc. – correspondence of verbal communication to a visual picture. If he is wearing headphones, this is also a signal: he is not alone and does not want others to hear your conversation.
- If you know English well, you can recognize African slang and bad English, for example: am instead of I am, John by name, instead of my name is John or I'm John, a pseudo-American can use many British variations of famous words: check instead of check , airplane instead of airplane, neighbor instead of neighbor.
In this case, find a translator and have him present during your conversation, he will immediately recognize the African (and other) accent, slang and how strong your interlocutor is in English.
- You may almost immediately be asked to go to another space , email or messenger, where you can use bots and maintain greater privacy. It is better not to do this with unverified individuals, since both emails and instant messengers are often associated with a person’s personal data. A phone number linked to a bank account, for example.
- The expressions “I know it's destiny”, “I believe in faith”, “I feel maybe you are my true love”, “who knows, maybe you'll be my wife soon”, “believe me/ you must believe me” are very common ".
- There is very little information about yourself, answers are monosyllabic or questions are ignored, since the legends are often not worked out. However, they may ask in detail about the potential victim, feigning sincere interest. But, most often, communication is only about feelings: I love you, etc.
- The time of communication he offers indicates his irregular employment or lack of work at all, for example, once every 3 days. They often get in touch from Internet cafes.
- They begin to get nervous if the victim points out a discrepancy between what the scammer says now and what he said a little earlier: “how can you not believe me, I love you so much,” “if you don’t trust me, we’d better end this.” this immediately, but my heart will be broken."
- Do a photo check. Save a copy of the photo he posted on his profile. Use Google Image Search for example and check the results. Maybe he has already been marked as a fraudster, or this photo has appeared on the Internet and on other sites, but under a different name.
- Check his/her cell phone number: the mobile operator number must match the corresponding region, country - this information is available on the Internet. However, even if your online friend really calls you from the USA, Spain or Italy, and if he asks you for money, then he is definitely a scammer who is temporarily staying or has moved to a more prosperous country.
How can you benefit from this phenomenon?
- If you have time, desire and inspiration, you can improve your English for free with them.
- You can also chat with his/her “friends” from different countries (you can find them online by their likes under his profile photo) and learn a lot of interesting things. For example, that someone had already prepared money to send him, but your information opened his eyes and prevented a significant financial loss. So add a plus to your karma J and grateful friends from other countries of the world.
- Just remember that your correspondence confirms the activity of your account and your address can be included in the appropriate lists and subsequently used, if not by “Nigerians,” then by phishers or distributors of banking Trojans.
And, in conclusion, I want to say that communication with a scammer and its consequences can be called psychological trauma, especially if the victim really believed in the authenticity and depth of the relationship.
The rupture of such virtual relationships is experienced as acutely as the loss of real relationships. And there is one more “aggravating circumstance” - the victim may be in shock from the fact that he could not separate reality and virtuality, and begins to doubt whether he can now trust his feelings. The consequences of such a scammer affair are reminiscent of the consequences of gaslighting.
And here, of course, psychotherapy is needed.
The article uses materials from the Internet.
(c) https://www.b17.ru/article/287437/
