Jul 15, 2012
www.romancescams.org/
http://www.romancescams.org/RedFlags.html
While reading the following, if you answer "YES" to three (3) or more, you are involved and in contact with a scammer.
When Contact is First Made
They immediately want to get off the web site and onto Yahoo IM or MSN IM
Their profile seems to disappear off the web site immediately after conversation begins
They claim it was destiny or fate and you are meant to be together
They immediately ask for your picture and they send you a picture of themselves
They immediately want your address so as to send you flowers, candy, and teddy bears, often purchased with stolen credit cards
They claim to love you either immediately or within 24-48 hours
They immediately start using pet names with you: hon/hun baby/babe sweety/sweetie
They claim God brought you to him/her
They typically claim to be from the US (or your local region) but they are overseas, or going overseas mainly to Nigeria, sometimes the UK for business or family matters
Communication Skills
Their spelling is atrocious
Their grammar is not consistent with how Americans speak, French speak etc.
They appear uneducated with their speaking/writing skills
They over-use emotions
They are notorious for using BUZZ
They are notorious for using “i” instead of “I”
They consistently use web speak or abbreviations; u r ur cos pls/plz ma sry brb div
They often mix up their phrases: “i” will like to heer from you soonest, I am kool, Do you have any man you care to meet, Do you have any man you planning to meet, Looking for someone to love and care for in life, Am cheerfull in life, I will like to meet someone that is careing and loveing for real in life, “i” am too young for my age if you don’t know, Ok so how will you feel if i says i dont mind you, i will like you to be my best friend, You are so pretty for my likeness
They misunderstand our slang or comparisons such as night owl/early bird, poker face
Their Habits
They are not usually around on the weekends to IM
They IM at unusual hours for your time zone
There are times they are gone from the conversation for a length of time and will sometimes come back at you with a different name, they’re usually conversing with more than one person at a time
If you ask them a question they don’t know they will usually be offline for a length of time so they can go look up the answer on the internet always claiming they had a phone call or had to go to the bathroom etc.
They like to send you poems or love letters, most of which can be traced back to lovingyou.com. Sometimes they even forget to change the name in the poem or letter to match your name
They send you flowers, teddy bears, and candy within the first few weeks of talking
They typically ask you to get on your web cam yet they never seem to have a web cam of their own
They ask for your phone number but when they call you can barely understand a word they say because of their accent and back ground noise
They may give you a phone number but it’s typically a calling card or a call center, you can rarely get them on the phone
They do not like to answer personal questions about themselves and tend to ignore questions
They often do not know the correct time difference between where you are and where they claim to be
They often claim to have one parent that is of African descent
A majority of them claim to have lost a spouse/child/parent in a horrific traffic accident or airplane accident or any of the above are sick or in the hospital
They have no close family or friend or business associates to turn to, even the US embassy, instead they can only rely on a stranger they picked off the internet
To them love equals financial assistance…if you do not send them money or help them out with what they ask, you do not love them
If you deny them or question them they become verbally abusive and will resort to threats
They will insist you keep the relationship a secret until “they” come to you live with you
Above all, if you call them a scammer they are highly offended and some will start throwing words at you in their native language
Their Inconsistencies
The details they give you on IM are often different that what was stated on their profiles, one of the more common ones they give different answers to is their birth date, height/weight, and age etc.
If you catch them on an inconsistency they will claim a friend or relative must’ve been using their id to chat with you, they will always try to come up with a cover-up and of course, you are always wrong or mistaken
They often misspell the cities/towns they claim they are from and are unfamiliar with any of the local landmarks and attractions
They do not know common questions that every US citizen would know the answer to