ScamVictimsUnited.com

I have had many of these offers that sounded weird, simply because they were from Nigeria. Also, all of them are world-class models who are in a hurry to move in! Thank God these scam artists are, by and large, foolish in painting unrealistically positive pictures of themselves. Let's hope they stay that way.

Yeah but people still fall for the stories that they give, sometimes the money can look better than the common sense that someone ( a stranger ) wants to hand you thousands of dollars.

The key is to get the word out about these scams so that people cannot say they havent been told about them. Use every means possible to advertise the dirty deeds of the scammers and warn the public against dealing with anyone of the sort for any reason.

Thanks for all the people who post on this website, a similar situation is happening to me right now on roommates.com, I was just trying to look for an extra roomate, and i am still looking as of now. And a Bristish archeologist emailed me and said that she needed a place to stay because she is working in Africa and will be coming to the states. She also mentioned that someone in the states will be sending me a money order in the amount of $4000. I was suspicious, and knew something was up when a Bristish archeologist has grammar errors on every email that she have sent to me. She told me that the money order have been sent, but I still haven't recieve it and it has been 2 weeks now. So I decided to look up roommate scams on google and this came up. Everyone on here are good people because if this wasn't a scam they would send the remaining money back, I would do the same thing. So watchout for those people on roomates.com and don't do any international businesses. These criminals has grammar problems so becareful if someone can't spell their own name right. Now I will email this fucker back and I'll be scaming him. hehe

Yep, I have recieved the same types of emails from these people. They lure you away from the roomates.com board saying there account is no longer active. Then they say they are going to move in but are out of the country or from another coutry but will have the funds mailed to you in advance. The check will be made out in excess of what the actual amount is. They want you to send them the extra money back before you actually get the check or money order. They will provide some crazy story to get you to believe them. Watch out~~!

me my girlfriend and hundreds or perhaps thousands around the country are being scammed by a website called roomates.com! ( it could be a terrorist or money laundering operation) pretending their coming to the states to rent a room of you and then tell you there company (in this case BT FINANCIAL) will be mailing me money for the rent and his or hers expenses for their client coming to live here! They UPS a US treasury check that always clears at the bank then they ask you mail it to them so get up here, or in my case he wanted me to take out 2 months rent in advance then mail the rest to a car dealer in the Netherlands so he can have a car delivered here when he arrives!! well 7 days later the check comes back counterfeit and now my girlfriend is out 3000.00 of her savings and now owes the bank $19.000 in 2 cashed checks that were fraud! We are innocent victims because of this over sees scam, not to mention I seen hundreds of testimonials about this happening to people all over the country! we are fighting this every step of the way so she don't have to pay the bank, and also to get her savings back! the bank made her sign an AFFIDAVIT stating she had nothing to do with this! i think the bank has ins fraud , besides they were the ones who cleared it! .. I told them it came from over sea's and to MAKE SURE IT CLEARED! SO I SAY THEY ARE AT FAULT ALSO!!The man wanted the money sent to London England, and days after the terrorist attack happened, I think this needs to be investigated by you, you are the best and I know you are looking out for me and the world! ROOMATES.COM WILL NOT RESPOND TO ME ABOUT THIS!! I want to prevent this happening to countless others! My girlfriend is having a nervous breakdown, can't eat, sleep, has been crying herself to sleep every night she HAD! Perfect credit, never has been convicted of anything and now she might have to claim bankruptcy, might be prosecuted, etc., her name is CHRISTINE COSTA BERKELEY Ma, 02779 xxxxxxxx( to protect the victim phone number was removed from this post)........ PLEASE CONTACT HER SO SHE CAN TELL YOU THE WHOLE STORY, THERE A LOT MORE TO THIS THAN MEETS THE EYE! The lady at moneygram said this was a HUGE SCAM! SEAN L

user please know that scammers also spy in and out of these boards to see what we know posting phone number is really a bad idea, your poor girlfriend has enough to deal with , she certainly doesnt want scammers calling her cell number. I have retained the information that you posted and will be calling her tomorrow to see what can be done to help her.

Just to clarify a couple things, roomates.com is not the scammer, they are a posting portal on the internet for ads, scammers lurk on those sites to pick and choose prey. They are like vultures and will stalk and strike anywhere they please .

Has the bank threatened prosecution? this is very important to know at this point. There is a vast difference in how this has to be handled dependant upon if prosecution has been threatened or not.

Tell your girlfriend to relax, though that may seem impossible, but she needs to do so for her own good and for her health. She is not going to sort this all out and make logical and needed right choices if she is exhausted and in the midst of a meltdown. I speak from bitter experience on this , it is a must.

There are good people willing to help her to the best of our abilities, she needs to be totally honest and upfront about what happened and be willing to listen and act upon advice given. Can she do this? furthermore she needs YOU right now, she needs your comfort and your help sorting things out , she should not go this alone, can you help us to help your girlfriend?

Sean, I have to agree with above post. It may seem like the end of the world right now to your girlfriend but it won't be. Helping her to calm down will take you calming down your anger first. I know all about the wanting to go after these people and the devastation it causes in your life. Just remember that it is the scammer you are angry with and try not to blame the innocents in this case. Roommates.com is a legitimate organization being used by some nasty people to commit crimes. Your girlfriend probably blames herself in all of this when she is not to blame for anything other then her belief in mankind. This kind of thing puts an end to that. Tell her please,that here we understand her pain as most of us have been in her position.

This JUST happened to me. I'm finding a pattern. It's always someone from the UK telling you to send money to Canada. This is what happened to me:

I went on roomates.com and placed an ad for a roomate. I didn't think anything of it because no one was responding until I recieved an e-mail from a Heather Wards that lives in London, supposedly. I am a Christian and I asked to hear her testimony with God and I shared a lot of information about my life. She always would say that's nice, and I think we will get along great, but she'd never answer my questions. First red flag. She'd always write back and have the worst grammer I've ever seen in my life. At first I was thinking maybe people in England aren't as smart or something, but now, looking back, it's funny. That was my second red flag but I ignored it.

She told me after a couple phone calls that she wanted to move in and that her company is moving in from London. She said she worked as an investor. Third red flag, someone who has worse grammer than a third grader could never be an investor. I sent her tons of pictures of my house and my friends and bascially told her my life story. "That's nice, I think we'll get along great."

Fourth red flag, she said she'd move in so quickly without telling me about herself that something wasn't right in my spirit. I was going to tell her no then because I started sensing some weirdness. But again, I ignored it. She said she'd pay me the deposit in a check in the mail. I was expecting 100 dollars, but instead it was 9,520 dollars. In fact it was a United States Treasury check. I started freaking out!!! Fifth red flag!!! Who sends a perfect stranger that much money. My nieghbor wouldn't even do that!

I called her and her number is by the way 011-44-207-060-1820 for those of you that run into the same number. It is a London telephone number, but I researched it after the mess was over, and learned you can buy any telephone number and have it transfered to any other telephone number you want in the world. Her e-mail is heatherwards@yahoo.co.uk. I tested out how easy it would be to get an foreign yahoo account, and I did. All you need is a postcode from England. I just ripped one off from a UK site.
Easy!!!

Anyways, back to the story:

I called her and asked her why it was so much and she was just like I told you in an e-mail. I NEVER recieved any e-mail about it because I watch my mail like a hawk. Sixth red flag. Ignored it once again. She explained that she wanted to pay the first months rent and deposit and then I'd wire the money to her moving company called Alliance in Canada. So I deposited the check and the next day she wanted me to wire the moeny to SANTOS MARKUS 180 ELGIN ST. OTTAWA, ON K2 2B0 CANADA. Well I took out 4700 because the service fee for Western Union is 200 bucks and she wanted 4500 sent to this guy. Why in Canada!!! She's moving to Colorado and her moving compnay is in Canada? I looked up Alliance movers on the net and I couldn't find anything in Canada! But once again I ignored my 7th red flag. The Western Union people called me after I made the transfer and said that they wouldn't allow me to send this money because they believed that it was fraud. I kinda argued with the lady because I felt really bad for Heather. 8th red flag. Western Union denied me for 30 days and said I couldn't make a payment through them to anyone. So that made me feel good because I had an excuse not to send it to her. I didn't want to send it to her now after that phone call.

She wrote me the next day and asked me to send it to two different people in two different amounts to:

SANTOS MARKUS AND RAHU MINTO
180 ELGIN ST. OTTAWA, ON K2 2B0 CANADA

I told her I couldn't because I was going on vacation for a week(and I really was) and the bank wouldn't be opened until I got back. This was on a Saturday night. That day my mom convinced me to go to the cops and ask them about it. They warned me not to do anything until I knew the check was cleared completely.

After vacation I called my bank and the foriegn policy part of my bank and they told me that it was cleared. Well I still didn't feel right about it.

Heather at this time has never spoken a word about herself or sent a picture or anything. She then tells me, to send the moeny to
the National bank of Greece Canada with all the following information,

4559 Hurontario street missassauga, ON L4Z 3L9
TRANSIT# : 00092
INSTITUTION # : 286
ACCOUNT# : 09943251301
BENEFICIARY NAME & ADDRESS: Michael Anthony Williams,
160-2 county court blvd. Brampton, ON L6W 4V1

9th red flag!! I started getting kinda angry and this is how our e-mails started going:

Hey Heather,

I left my cell phone charging at home so I can’t call and I wanted to talk about this over the phone. However I have been thinking this whole situation over, and I’ve decided that I can’t forward the money to you until I know that check has cleared. I did receive a copy of the initial check and there is no phone number on it that I can call to verify it through the bank from which it was sent. If you could give me the number for the bank who sent it or BT financial that would be awesome. I just can’t have a 9520 dollar liability on my head. I know this has inconvienced both of us, but I I’m going to wait until I know for sure that check has cleared. When you get here I’d like to personally give it to you. Every time I try to send it something happens where I can’t and this whole time I haven’t felt right about it. I hope you understand my decision. You still are very welcome to come stay with me.

In the meantime if you could send a picture of yourself and maybe about where you live and what you do would be awesome! Call me later at 6:30 my time which is probably 12 or 1 your time? Have a good day.

Annie


Hello, I understand your feelings about this and I am sorry for any inconvenient on your side. The check has taken 2 to 3 weeks in your account and if it is a bad check by now the bank would have called you to let you know. I know for sure the money is out of the account where the check was send from, so you don't have to worry or you can call this number below and someone should be able to answer your questions

I am coming in next week and I really do need the money for my preparation. I want to talk to you too and I will try to call you at your work number but if you send the so the wire I will really appreciate it because now I am really worried and confussed on what to do next. Kindly reply back as soon as you get this email

Thank you Annie and sorry for any inconvenient. This is a picture of me and I think I already send that to you before.

Thomas Johnson
905-781-1744.

(I called this Thomas Johnson twice, no answer)

10th red flag. She sends me a picture of a dark skinned girl sitting on a lawn and a house that looks very American and a bunch of cars outside that look very American on an American looking street. (maybe it's Canada for all I know!) She also never has EVER sent me any pictures. She's probably getting confused because she's scamming ten other people at the same time and she might of forgot that she missed me on that one. 11th red flag.

I write:

Ok thank you. I will call today. And thanks so much for understanding and sending me pictures. No I never did receive them, so thank you for doing it again. I have another question too, why is everything in Canada and who is Michael Anthony Williams? Can I have the phone number for the bank National bank of Greece Canada and the phone number for Alliance Moving company too? My banker wanted to call them yesterday and it would make this easier. I guess I don’t understand why it’s all in Canada. And please don’t worry. Everything will work out fine.

Annie

She writes:

I don't understand why all this questions and questions. I am really feeling unconfortable with the situation. I provided you with every information that you requested, the Alliance are the moving company that I deal with, they are moving my stuff for me and that was the information they gave me to make the payment.

I don't have phone number to the Bank of Greece in Canada, I am going by all the information I have from the moving company. Why do you want all this information, the check has been cleared, it has been sitting in your account for almost 3 weeks now and you don't want to release the money. I am really sorry about this but will really appreciate if you can do the wire into the account. I will call you at 6:30 your time. Thanks


LOL. "I don't understand why all this questions and questions." This was the first time I asked a question!!!

I write:

I understand, but I’m not going to do anything until I know for sure. Yes the check has been in the bank since July 13th. That is 14 days which is two weeks, not three. It takes about 20 to 30 days to clear a check. I never received any phone number for Alliance. I am asking a lot of questions because I am uncomfortable with the situation. Yes, I would like to call Alliance and this Bank because I want to know who I’m sending this to. Yes, I do find it odd that it’s a Canadian account and it’s not even under your name! Please answer my questions because I think they are very valid. We have never met Heather and you live in another country. I’m not trying to say you are a bad person, but I’m doing this the right way. I will not send this money to anyone until I know it’s cleared. I have called Thomas Johnston twice and I don’t even get a voice mail. You will get your money but it’s going to have to be on my timing.

Annie

The next day after thinking maybe she might be for real:

Hi Heather.

I know you called last night but I was at youth service. I hope you’re not too stressed! I called my bank again last night and talked to the foreign exchange people and they believe the check has cleared. I’m going one more time to my bank today and if they confirm this to me I will send you the money. I’ll call you later. All things come together for good for those who love the Lord!

Annie


She writes:

I am really stressed and frustrated now. I don't even know what to think, I will really appreciate if you can get this straighten out because I know for sure the check has cleared your bank and you just don't want to release my money. Please reply back and let me know what is going on now. Thank you.

Dang she's playing with my emotions! Too bad I can't fall for it anymore. Now it's just funny because I have all the moeny and I know she's a faker. I brought a copy of the check to my bank to have the teller look at it and I told them the story thus far. They told me not to spend it and that it was a fraud. I then called the United States Treasury to track the check and they handed me off to Secret Services who told me that this is a form of the Nigerian Money Scandel. WHAT???! HA HA HA. So I wrote Heather this last e-mail and this was the last communication between us:

The check has not cleared in my bank Heather. I have been talking to so many people, but today I have shown a copy of the check to managers at my bank and everything that was sent to and I will not be sending any money until I know 100% for a fact that it is valid. Yes funds show up but that DOES not mean that it has gone through. I have told you before that I’m not sending anyone any money until the check has gone through. You also have not answered one of my questions. You’d think someone that was going to be living with you would tell you what’s going on. There is no trust between you and me because you avoid all my questions. You never gave me a testimony about your walk with God nor have you ever told me a single thing about yourself. If you received my voice mail I have explained that the check is not funded and you will not be moving in with me. I have called the United States Treasury and the secret service department and they both agree with me that this is a scandal. You can’t even get a United States treasury check unless it’s for social security, tax refunds or you work in the military. Everything I have received from you is from Canada. The envelope the check was contained in looks like something you print out on a home computer and not from the government. The letter that was contained with the check has no company phone number and the number on the fed ex box for the company is fake. I’ve tried calling BT Financial and Thomas Johnston. No one answers, or if they do, it’s the wrong number. You pressure and pressure me to send money to three different people FAILING to understand that Western Union, my bank, the United States Treasury and the Secret Service and the local police all think this is fraud and you still want me to send it.

The way you speak to me is quite unfortunate because if I gave a perfect stranger almost 10k, I’d be giving them every phone number and explaining everything to them in perfect clarity to make sure I got my money back. When you say, “you just don't want to release my money” is completely false because I have explained to you that I will not have a 9520 liability on my head. If you are for real, I am sorry because this is a bad decision on your part and these are the consequences. I suggest you start looking for another roommate and expect to have delays moving here if you truly are moving here. I’m sure your company will understand. You are free to use this e-mail but I have changed my phone number due to a lot of weird phone calls I have been receiving. There is nothing to straighten out other than I’m waiting until this check bounces, and if it doesn’t you’ll get it back later.

Annie

Whew that was a long story. But I will be sending this to people everywhere. I'm still in the process of dealing with this thing but I hope this has helped someone!! God is watching over me.

These people are slick,

I just received a check for $5000 in the form of two Traveler Express Money Gram/ International Money Orders.

Please do not be a victum!

Jack from Michigan


Hi,
>Thanks very much for the informations for the payment. I have forward it to
>the Account department.
>The Manager of my company disclose to me that the payment will be made out
>in the full amount that they are owing me since they are paying me in the
>US $ and the amount is $4000.
>
>Please After you have received the payment, I want you to have it cashed
>the same day so that you can deduct your $600 for the first part payment as
>we have agreed on and I want you to send the rest of the funds to my
>Travelling Agent through Western Union Money Transfer to enable me purchase
>my flight ticket to the state and also to arrange for how my car and
>furniture will get to the state.
>Also to pay for my hotel bills when I arrive as you know that I have to
>setup my room before I finally move in and I will also need some funds to
>buy some certain things when I am coming over to the state.
>
>If this arrangement is okay by you, that means I will give my company the
>go ahead to send down the payment to you as soon as possible. And also
>that means that we have a deal and I want you to respond to this very
>urgently.
>
>Lastly,I will like to know the nearest airport,as I'll be flying down with
>VIRGIN ATLANTIC to NY from there I'll board a local flight or cab to your
>area. I will also like to know if you'll be available to pick me up at the
>airport and show me around or if i should make alternative arrangements.
>I am looking forward to hear from you soonest.
>
>Stay Blessed
>

DANG!!!! These people don't know who they are messin' with!!!

Hello! My story begins with I was looking for a roommate on roommates.com and a girl replied saying that she was interested in the room. We talked through emails for about two wks she claimed she was in Italy with work and was being transferred here. She said that she was sending some money to scure the room and wanted me to get a tv and dvd player for the room and if I could send the remaining to her moms doctor for medical bills in the UK she also stated that her mom was very ill. So of course I did what she said and moneygram the remaining. Didn't think much of it and felt sorry that her mom was sick and this person also states that her dad was killed in an auto accident and her sister died while giving birth. This person whants you to feel sorry for her. Well she kept emailing me and sent me a few pictures and said that she was sending some more money orders so when she gets here she'll have some money tell her paycheck gets here. Well after receiving them she wanted to know if I could moneygram some money to her moms doctor and some to her so she could get back here to the states and to leave the rest in her room. Didn't understand why she could have done this but not thinking I did it again. Then supposely her mother passes away and she won't be here for another week. Well after cashing the last money orders I am not out as of now $8000.00 and there was a total of $14,700.00. Now I have to pay the bank. I'm lucky I only have about $1000.00 of that left but I'm still out a crap load of money and I'm like the rest of you I can't pay it back I'm barely making it now and I got laid off of my job. If I don't pay it the bank is going to press charges even though I didn't know that were bad. I'm like that other guys girlfriend I can't sleep, can't eat and have been crying everyday I know it seemed a little funny the second time around but didn't think much of it cause there was a weeks time between the two sets of money orders. I thought the bank would have caught this when I cashed them I even asked the teller if they were fine she had gave them to another lady to look at she said they were fine. I somehow wish the bank could be found at fault for some of this also so I won't have to pay the full amount back. I've gone to the FBI here locally they won't return my calls I even filled a complaint online. I also emailed roommates.com letting them know they have people scamming on their site haven't heard anything from them either. OH and to top it all off this person has kept emailing me and now she wants me to send the rest of money to them. I don't think so! However I wish there was a way the FBI could trace them down if I sent the left over money to these people, but since the won't return my calls I guess not. These people are totally crazy I called her on it and got no reply. These people are VERY good at what they do and deserve to be found. I wish I would of know about this website wks before so it would have saved me.

I am so glad that I saw this site! Same thing-a UK girl is moving over here for a job and she needs to find a room ASAP. Whatever...I first thought everything was legit until "she" started getting mixed up with the e-mail conversations we were having. OH yeah, she also said that her roommates.com account was expiring as well..BIG SURPRISE!! She called herself Christiana Craig or Graig I don't remember and she was dark complected. Anyways I sent over the lease agreement over to her so she could sign off on the lease. No response. Then she wanted account information so her (client)? could send the money over to me?Yeah..like I am gonna give you account information. Then I googled "roommates.com scams" and here I am now. Be on the lookout for bad grammar and also how the e-mails are written (as if they wrote the e-mails while watching a British Sitcom! LOL. Anyways I wish I could have a hot chick move in but....only in my dreams.

Greetings,

I've been playing along with the roommates.com scammers. Here's the latest one:

Hello Joshua,
I HAVE ALREADY SEND U THE PAYMENT,AND ALSO MY CLIENT SAID U WILL RECEIVE THE PAYMENT ON SATURDAY MORNING,PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF U GOT THE MONEY ORDER CHECK. PLEASE SEND THE REMAINING MONEY TO MY TRAVELLING AGENT INFO.

NAME::SUSAN JONES
ADDRESS:: 84-86 Essex Road, London, N1 8LU

PLEASE SEND THE MONEY THRU MONEYGRAM,AND COME BACK TO ME WITH THE RIGHT MONEYGRAM INFORMATION TO THAT I CAN GET BACK TO THE STATE AS SOON AS MY TRAVELLING AGENT GOT THE MONEY....REPLY TO ME WITH RIGHT INFO.. SUCH AS REFFERENCE NUMBER,SENDERS NAME,SENDERS RECIVERS,TEXT QUESTION.

YOURS FAITHFULLY
COLE

In a few days I'll tell her I'm still waiting for her check to clear my bank. After a week I'll tell her that I decided to keep the whole thing and credit it against her rent and security deposit.

I think it's fun to play along with these people. Give them back a little of their own.

Regards,
NHEngineer

I just want to say that I am shocked at all the scams I have read and feel for you all! I cannot believe that people would go to such extremes! I am so glad I did my research and caught it in time...Thanks to you all!

I have an ad on roomates.com and am in need of a roomate to live with me and my wonderful daughter and that is a definite risk to take when there is a child involved. I have had a response from the UK by the name of Kehinde Salaka who claims she is a model and has instructed her employer to send me $4800 where I will need to cash and send the difference in return... that alone raised a red flag! Why would you trust a total stranger with all that money! She said she is currently living with her mother in Brooklyn, MN. When I asked why would you want to leave your mom and pay rent when you are rarely home? She never answered. Now there is another one from London claiming she is instructing her employer to send me a M.O or Cashiers check where I will then have to send her the difference. I emailed her back to just send me the exact amount and we'll see from there... would love to catch someone and report them to the police.. This definitely needs to be stopped!!
By the way this ones name is Anne_Cole@Yahoo.com. Course that may not even help since they all must have multiple alias's...

Good luck to all of you and play it smart!!