Lovers Beware

We have all heard about scammers but we never really think about these things ever happening to us right? Much less on a dating web site as well known as Match.com. Well I have a friend who was lured in with thoughts of soul mates and true love only to be asked to send $5400 dollars to another country over western union.

This story is all kinds of crazy and I knew there was something fishy about it the moment she told me about it but I didn't really know what would happen. My friend is a middle aged women and she explores of several dating websites, meeting people to talk with and get to know. She is a women who wears her heart on her sleeve. Her daughter all grown up and out of the house she is enjoying the dating scene for the first time and so meeting men on these dating web sites has become a little hobby for her.

Well she met this one man on Match.com and they quickly learned to enjoy talking to each other. He said he was in the military over sea's in Afghanistan. He told her stories of working with a orphanage and planning to adopt a little girl there. He even sent candid pictures of himself (a typical 50 something white male) tale gating and even with the girl he was thinking of adopting. He told her so many wonderful things about how he loved her and he called honey all the time. He was constantly on the computer waiting to talk to her. As a women on a dating web site, who wouldn't enjoy this attention?

She wanted to send him a care package cause after all he is a military man over sea's. He told her that the best way to get the package to him is through a personal delivery man who would personally deliver the package to him since the postal mail was slow and unreliable. He also requested a teddy bear to give the the girl he was going to adopt. She had to pay a fee of $50 in order to get the package to him but it all seemed to go very smoothly.

He then mentioned that he felt like he could trust her and wanted to send her a package to take care of while he was over sea's. In this package was over a million dollars, a necklace and a ring. He said that once he was back home he would come and get the package from her but that he didn't trust keeping it over with him. He said he got the money while over sea's for house sitting for a man who works in diamonds.

This is where the story got a bit sketchy for me when she told me. I wasn't sure what was going to happen with this package but I was thinking it was going to be something very illegal. So many things came to mind, like the package was going to arrive and she was going to be killed for it. Or that it was going to be filled with drugs. Or the FBI was tracking it and once it was in her possession she would be arrested. I told her flat out I thought this was sketchy but I think by this point she semi-trusted him and kinda wanted to see how the whole thing would play out. She even told me she planned to take out the money and count it when it arrived for fun.

The package was sent and she was continuing to talk to this man mostly over instant messaging but he would also send her e-mails that were beautiful and loving.

"Hello Honey,
         I know there's an ocean between us,and I wish that it weren't true,for every day when I arise,I yearn to be with you.Though a lot of distance lies between us,you'll always be in my mind and my heart,And every night beneath the stars,I pray for the day we'll never be part.Every day I will be thinking about you."

Well the day after the package was sent and she gets an e-mail from the delivery guy "Mr. Justice" That he had been detained, leaving the country, for money laundering. He said he wasn't aware of what was in the package. He said that he was being held and needed her to contact him via email to be able to figure out what they were going to do.

"MADAM,I HAVE BEEN STUCK HERE FOR SOME FEW PROBLEM AND I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP..I HAVE BEEN STUCKED HERE FOR A MONEY LAUNDERING AND ALSO NOT HAVING PAPER WORK FOR THE JEWELS,I NEED YOUR HELP SINCE I HAVE BEEN GIVEN PENALTY TO COME UP WITH

WILLIAM DIDN'T NOT INFORM ME ABOUT THE MONEY IN THE PACKAGE AND NOW THE COMPUTER HAS DETECT THE BACK AND AM NOW AT THE CUSTOM OFFICE,I CAN'T PASS THROUGH WITHOUT THE PAPER WORK,SO PLEASE GET BACK TO ME AND LET SEE WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO."

She talked to Mr military man about the situation and found out that Mr Justice needed $5400 sent western union to him in order to get the package released. He used lot of guilt trips on her:

"honey this is getting so hard on him now.."
"Honey do you want him to be jailed or what.??"
" Honey if you know me very well..My Friends are who i work with and i lost my only best friend when we were in Iraq i haven't told you about it before.."
"Honey you do all you can to get Mr Justice the money so that he can be released ok.."
"as soon as he deliver the box to you then you take the money out and pay it back ok.."

Luckily my friend knew by now that this was all a ploy and that there wasn't really a package and that it was all a scam. She did want to see just how far this scammer would go however, so she continued to talk to him and even called him out. I had googled just a line of one of him e-mails and ended up finding the exact e-mail line for line on this scammers web site: Pig Busters. He used more guilt on her when she did this asking her if she didn't trust him and if she was calling him a liar.

It amazes me the lengths that these scammers will go to get their money. The scammer continued to talk with my friend for over a week longer. They would talk about regular day to day things but he would always continue to bring up Mr. Justice and ask my friend how she was coming up with the money.

Seeing this scam play out the entire way through really made me think of all the poor lonely women who might have fallen victim to such a scam. The scammers have chosen a place like Match.com to target the lonely people of the world and it sickens me. I knew I just had to write a blog about this so that other people would know about this particular scam and hopefully be able to recognize it if it happens to them or someone they know.