Why is he still doing it? Why can´t he be caught?

[FrumpyBB]

People, if you find yourself asking this question then you still need to fully understand what was actually happening during your chats and basically, how Nigerian scams actually work:

The "man" you were talking to was a well-crafted made-up piece of imagination by Nigerian gangs. All "his" details and the family and the job were made up, as the money request stories are. Also his associate characters.

Even worse, it´s not one anonymous but still human money stealer behind each fake pic: Scams work like an abstract brutally organized massmail writing and profile registering (and I assume, from a site runner´s point of view, profile closing) industry that originates from several large and specific areas on the planet.

It has never been a "he" as in "one Nigerian scammer and always the same behind these pictures" - it´s been different anonymous Nigerian gangs, who over the years just happen(ed) to use this man´s picture gallery (and those of a few hundred others, of either gender).

In a way, a "team" of more or less organized gangs. Anonymous college-aged males in West-Africa and Malaysia.

One bum opens hundreds of profiles. Another one writes the initial contact massmails. And they sell victims who have replied and are interested to the one doing the phone jobs, the fake sites, the "educated" talking, and continue to register and brainlessly send massmails, day and night.

Means, "he" cannot be caught since "he" doesn´t exist.

And "he" will continue to appear on dozens of sites to come and when "his" pictures become useless for scammers due to too many scam reports on "him", which is a good thing, because people can find the truth this way, they gangs have billions of other internet portraits to create a new yet unlisted "he".

Scams will likely not stop so easily since they bring hundreds of millions of dollars every year (maybe every month) but unless you understand who "he" (your email writer) was, as a starting point to understand that Nigerian love scams exist and how they work, it might happen again when "he" comes back because you still seem to believe in "him".

Who was a creation of scamming gangs.

l don´t quite understand why people could assume that a Nigerian gang that does lying for a job would stick to one picture gallery only, over years, and never change it. Maybe the FAQ are too long and cellphone surfers aren´t really willing to learn how, technically, scams work. It´s too abstract, and possibly also humiliating (there is absolutely no reason to be ashamed, these email writers are criminals!), so former victims might prefer to stick to the imagination of "that man" rather than understanding "it´s been a gang of Nigerian college boys who need new phones that´s why they do this".

I´m just trying to understand this typical victims´ behaviour, even after months people say "this man is still doing it", with the variation "why can´t this man be caught?".

Because Nigerian romance scams do not work like that. It is a corrupt industry to make a comfortable living by lying and stealing and the gangs pass on profiles, scripted letters, stolen poetry and the pictures. A swarm of unrelated individual criminals. No "he". A gang that in one night after some dancing at the club opens 200 profiles with the general´s pictures and chats up every female profile on the sites.

[sweet Trinigirl]

I know that victims continue to think that their scammer is a person. I used to think this too until I read a thousand articles on this site. My scammer sent me photos of a very attractive gentleman. When we chatted online, I would look at his pictures and solidified a connection in my mind that this was who I was talking to. I was sent outdoor, indoor and family pictures so it was easy to place my scammer in any situation. If he mentioned he was at a tennis match, I had a photo I would look at of him in sports clothes and I would feel that he was being truthful.
This is why it was so hard for me to believe that my scammer was not a handsome white guy but an African teenager. This is probably the hardest truth I have had to accept. I could accept that I lost money, I could accept that I was fooled but I can't accept that the guy I spoke to for months, laughed with, played scrabble with, argued with, fell in love with did not exist.

[Pinky]

Sometimes I get so absorbed by my anger for these heartless criminals, that I tend to overlook their humanity. They are people. Evil people, but they do have the capacity to think, act and react. I still won't go so far as to say they feel, because I do believe they are sociopaths, void of compassion and human emotion.

I still remember the scammer that helped my son with his algebra homework. I showed him the problems and he explained the solutions and solved the problems like a math teacher. The scammer was really quite intelligent. What a waste.

[angelofdeath]

I know that victims continue to think that their scammer is a person. I used to think this too until I read a thousand articles on this site. My scammer sent me photos of a very attractive gentleman. When we chatted online, I would look at his pictures and solidified a connection in my mind that this was who I was talking to. I was sent outdoor, indoor and family pictures so it was easy to place my scammer in any situation. If he mentioned he was at a tennis match, I had a photo I would look at of him in sports clothes and I would feel that he was being truthful.
This is why it was so hard for me to believe that my scammer was not a handsome white guy but an African teenager. This is probably the hardest truth I have had to accept. I could accept that I lost money, I could accept that I was fooled but I can't accept that the guy I spoke to for months, laughed with, played scrabble with, argued with, fell in love with did not exist.

Exactly! A very cruel joke! will not even wish it to anyone, even my worst enemy!

[Mygia]

I feel for all of you who were scammed by these heartless people. I know now that I will not take any mans word for it on who he is again without always thinking in the back of my mind .. is this another scammer ??... This is cruel and heartless to do to anyone . My advice to you all is that you do as I do ... I will copy and paste a profile of a person on an online dating site that makes contact with me to see if the profile is copied ( but the again , more people do it often) secondly, I take their picture and do a reverse search look up on Tineye.com a free site and see what comes up, even if nothing comes up I will still take it one step further and copy the picture and do an image search on Bing,com ( images) as well as Google.com ( images) , it is so very sad that one has to resort to this , because I do feel that there are real men out there looking to find true love , as we all are, but have learned the hard way, as most of you have as well, that you cannot ever be too careful . Thanks also to this site I am more aware what to look for and will continue to use caution and hopefully the man of my dreams will come into my life and this is my hope for all of you as well ...

[ERR2]

it is so very sad that one has to resort to this , because I do feel that there are real men out there looking to find true love

Really true I met many real people through the internet. Only if you know and have the knowledge of how and what to look for, then you will find real people.Real people don't send you waves of poetry. No baby, no honey. They talk just like real people do.They look just like those people you meet on the streets, malls or on your office. Good looking, not so good looking, fat. thin, lots of hair, bald etc. etc. The good thing of meeting real people is, they don't ask you for money or favor.
Keep on looking Megia, someone out there is the man of your dreams.

[romance123]

No baby, no honey

Hi ERR2,
Come to think of it - my scammer always call me "babe". He likes to copy paste my full name and at one time he copy paste the wrong name. He doesn't remember my calling name apart from "babe".

[Igulinka]

Thank you FrumpyBB for quite insight aka eye opener. I was also scammed by Nigerian student in Malaysia. I seen his picture from graduation day and feel like his "sugar mama" who paid for the school. He used a mule to collect money from WU and she also willingly gave her bank account. I also found this mule who is Asian young woman and has tens of pictures in his arms on her Facebook page. Well ...he has none with her on his page Sounds to me like strict business and eventually she will the one who may end up convicted.

Dear * romnce123* :
They always call their victim pet names simply because they are unable to remember so many names of people they defraud daily. If you ask them questions they take time to answer and it means that they stepping away from computer and go ask the one who seem to be bit smarter.....if threre is no one smarter they blame on Wi-Fi and disconnect themselves... I always say take the script away of their sight and you will see they are as stupid ask can be !!!!
I do not worry much about right punishment ....Karma will take the turn sooner or later and they will be serve what they deserve.....

Igulinka

[maikaefer22]

Ich kann euch so gut verstehen und kann es selbst nicht realisieren. ..diese unzähligen emails...er war immer so interessiert und hat mir immer das Gefühl gegeben, er liebt mich wirklich. Ich habe mich in seine Art zu schreiben verliebt und in die Fotos, seine Sprachnachrichten...er schrieb mir jeden Tag über Monate...bis jetzt. Erst heute habe ich davon erfahren und es zieht mir den Boden unter den Füßen weg.Es tut so weh, weil ich wirklich geglaubt habe, ich sei seine Traumfrau.Ich wollte diesen Mann unbedingt treffen und er sprach ständig davon, wie es wird, wenn wir uns begegnen und sprach von einem gemeinsamen Leben. Ich bin unendlich traurig und enttäuscht.


I can understand you so well and can not even realize it. ..diese countless emails ... he was always so interested and has always given me the feeling that he really loves me. I have to write me in his way of love and in the photos, his voice messages ... he wrote to me every day for months ... until now. Just today, I know about it and it pulls me to the ground under the feet weg.Es hurts so much, because I really believed that I was his Traumfrau.Ich wanted to meet this man and he constantly spoke of how it is when we meet and spoke of a common life. I am very sad and disappointed.

[toohappy]

I communicated with a scammer for a few weeks... I thought his profile seemed fishy his poor English was a dead give away. I used a lot of slang and he didn't understand. I tripped him up he said he was from Texas and I asked him so what's the weather like in New York today.. and he didn't realize I caught him in a lie. They think Americans are so naive. I confronted him... (I now realize that I shouldn't have) He admitted to everything, he said he did it for money and he would stop if I sent him some. I just couldn't quite believe him.

[Igulinka]

No , please do not confront them any more. It just serves the wrong purpose because idiots educate themselves and will move with new advanced steps into next scam.

Please post all info you have about scammers so others can be saved also

[Pinky]

And NEVER think sending them a little money won't hurt. These are not poor, homeless, starving victims. Scammers are nearly always young, upper middle class and fairly well educated. Look at the pictures in our Scammers4real forum. They dress well, are often sitting in comfortable homes or in front of nice cars. They wear a lot of jewelry and often pose drinking and smoking. Does that sound like poverty to you??

Imagine in your own country . . . would you call someone who has learned a second language well enough to converse freely on many subjects, who owns or has access to a computer at all times day or night and skillfully operates that computer, a person incapable of earning a living???

These scammers are liars, thieves and lazy a$$ criminals who have no conscience and don't care about anyone but themselves. Once you know you're dealing with a scammer, don't waste another keystroke on the bastard. Tell him to go F* himself up the rear with a rusty shovel and dump him. Any further conversation with the little maggot only serves to teach them new skills.

[coolden90]

....Karma will take the turn sooner or later and they will be serve what they deserve.....

Igulinka

TRUE!!!

I too have really fallen inlove with the person in the photo and with the emails that the scammers sent to me. I never really thought that I was being tricked into something. But good thing, I discovered it before things get to worst. Now, I am still recuperating with my feelings, hoping that it will heal at the right time.

[Violett]

Ich kann euch so gut verstehen ...

Mir ging es genauso, wie dir! Alles genauso abgelaufen:( Und jetzt kämpfe ich um sich selbst, um meine Selbstachtung wieder zurück zu erlangen. Auch wenn ich von vorn herein gesagt habe, dass es keine Zukunft gibt, denn ich bin verheiratet, tat es mir doch gut, so umschwärmt zu werden. Und dann muss man feststellen, dass alles, aber auch alles nur eine Abzocke ist! Es ist einfach grausam.


I felt the same as you! Everything just expired And now I'm fighting for themselves in order to regain my self-esteem back. Even if I have said from the outset that there is no future, because I'm married, it did me good, so swarmed to be. and then we have to admit that everything, absolutely everything is just a rip off! It's just cruel.

[Monika79]

How to report a scammer and where? I just realise my "love" is not real. After 2 weeks chatting on yahoo messenger he ask me that if i can help him , with money of course how stupid he think I am ?