ScamVictimsUnited.com

mom meets a nice looking, very well educated man on eharmony. He is apparently from Indiana and is a Civil Engineer contractor. His name is apparently William D. Morrison. they talk consistently every day about everything! Every aspect of life is questioned, talked about candidly. He was very knowledgeable about his profession, his past and his future plans. The "fall in love"... meaning he got her to a point of being able to open up emotionally. the "i love you's" were flowing frequently. They make plans for meeting. He bought them tickets to go on a vacation. Most likely they were photoshopped.

One month into the "relationship" he very suddenly had to go to Africa to do a project for his company. Mind you, he is a Civil Engineer... this isnt completely out of the ordinary. Plans for trip are canceled until a later time. He now plans to come to austin when his project is over. Now calling from an african number... they still talk every day! he apparently made a friend who lets him use his phone as his doesnt work there. neither does his laptop and now has to go to the library eery night to chat with her.

one month later, one phone call in particular... he calls to say he has flipped his car driving home from the library after chatting with her. he is ok, and they continue on having regular conversations for about a week. in this time they have a few arguments because she questions some things... who wouldnt? but he can prove anything she questions... and the relationship moves on.

one week before his supposed contract is up and he is supposed to be coming to austin to visit her... She receives a phone call from a William Morrison from IN saying that his identity was stolen. He received a post card from my mom (that she had sent over a month ago when her "William Morrision" was still apparently in IN), and that he (the William Morrison she knew) was in fact not. She is devastated and heart broken to say the least. That same day coincidently, "William" calls to say he has bad news. he reminds her of his "accident" and that the car was totaled. He has to pay the car rental out of pocket and doesnt want to involve his company. His assets are apparently frozen and asks her for help financially. She immediately stops any and all contact with him.

The weird thing is... he spent 3 months, devoting at least 2 hours a day in communication with my mom. He sent her presents with hand written cards. When he asked for money, it was only $2000. From what I've read, scammers usually ask for a lot more a lot sooner than that. Never the less, I am outraged that this happened to such a wonderful, caring, intelligent and very insight full person as my mom. He wasnt able to steal her money, but he killed her spirit! To her this experience is like the love of her life just died suddenly... and then she remembers that he was never real to begin with. It's a total mind f***.

In my vengeful rage... i did everything i knew how to track this jerk down. What would i really do if i found him? probably nothing, however I need him to understand what he did to her emotionally. not like it would matter. I traced all his emails, his phone records... searched for his photos. No photos anywhere to be found on the scammer sites. His IN phone number is one of a block of VOIP land line numbers bought by some fictitious company. All his emails (EVEN THE VERY FIRST ONES) are traceable to Ghana, Africa. I found contact info on the african WHOIS database. I searched for the names I found there and they are all linked to SCAMS.

Not a typical scam from what I can tell. I am not an expert at these things what so ever. I figure this was his first attempt to pull my mom into a money laundering situation and thank god she didnt take the bait. But too bad she met and had the unfortunate mishap of falling in love with someone who never even existed. Now she is just left with hurt and mistrust of anyone new who may come in to her life. eharmony could have very easily traced users email address like i did. It should be in their intial set up process. It's very easy and takes only minutes... and it's free!

These people may not be physically injuring anyone, but they are killing people emotionally. Sometimes, I dont know which is worse.

I am sorry to hear what happened to your mother. There are many stories on sites devoted just to internet love scams, and the scammers that invest more time into the relationship usually end up totally draining the victims bank account . . . a couple thousand here, a couple of thousand there . . .

I was scammed by a man using the exact story as Tammeo's mom in this posting. A concerned friend found this posting and gave it to me to read. I compared facts with tammeo's mom and except for the last name and the pictures, it was the identical story but different men in Ghana. Sadly, over the course of 4 months I lost over $4000. I owe tammeo's posting from saving me from losing even more money.

I owe her and her wonderful mom more then I can ever say!

They are out there in huge numbers. I also had someone try to scam me, but has not been successful. I will not send money to anyone, especially someone I have never met. But there were doubts in my mind until I started to read this stuff, that there was that one in a million chance I was wrong.

Thanks everyone!

These romance scammers are a lot more patient than the usual "run of the mill" 419 and other scammers. They will take time to hook their victim thoroughly. The first requests for money are usually smaller amounts. Sometimes they will even pay those back to lend credibility to their scam. Later when the victim is fully hooked and trusting the request will come for $10,000 or $20,000. Some are more patient than others but on average the romance scammers invest a lot more time into their scam than the other types of scams.

I was new to the Internet Dating. I registered in Match.com around Jan 10/08 as a three day trial member, and I got three emails, each of which sounds like very loving and very interested in me. two of them are widows with kids. And they have contact work traveling aboard. I replied to one of them named Richard Howard, 45years widowed with a 6 year old daughter. He claimed to be a successful businessman with Architech as a profession from Manchester, UK, looking for a loving woman. He claimed he had met some local women and they all wanted was his body. He said his body is the temple of God. He was not there for the games. He was looking for a woman who could give his happiness to his life. He seems to be very regligious and godly kind. We chatted for two weeks and he wrote me emails with loving and passionate words. He asked me for my email address with my real name as well as my phone number. I got one message from him one time without hearing any English accent. He also sent me the photo of his daughter and the pic with him and his daughter together as I requested. He claimed he has found the woman he wanted and he said he was going to come over to Canada to meet me after he finished his Road Survey and planning contract work in Nigeria. He said it was the first time he visited Nigeria. He sunddenly mentioned he broght his daughter with him to Nigeria as he could not stand the tears from his daughter a few days after arriving in Nigeria. I felt wierd at this moment as his daughter would stay in the hotel while he was away for work which was not reasonable for a normal father should do. Suddenly the next day, he wrote me an email with the topic saying: I need your attention now. He said he was bitten and chasing by wild animals in the zoo while he was doing filming. He had found his wallet lost by the time he was going to buy the flight ticket for his daughter to back to UK. He has nothing left and no credit cards were allowed to use in Nigeria. He had no money to pay for the hotel bill and food. He could not communicate with people outside. He didn't ask me to do anything at the first time. later he asked me if I could helped him to send $800 money to Western Union under the name Richard Howard to help him to pay for the hotel bill. I have questioned him many things on the online chat. and finally stopped him from talking me online. but he still tried to contact me until the point I did online search on Nigeria and I found the website talking about Romance Scam from Nigeria. so I told him you Nigeria scammer, you would never get any money from me and I was going to disclose you on the Internet. then he stopped emailing me. The interesting thing was, as soon as I have registed into the Match.com as a paid customer three days after trial, I have never got any message from anyone. I suspected the scammer are targeted at people who just signed into the website or the scammer in relation to the scam too ( got people interested with a few emails). The lost for me is the motional drains for two weeks and $62 membership fees which was not worth to pay at all to Match.com. The good thing is I have learned experience in two weeks which is not really too long. Now I became more cautious to online dating right now. It is not safe and practical to meet people from a long distance. How do you know you are talking to a real or fake person. Even though it is real, how can you know someone in just a few meetings or visitings, it is dangerous when you consider to date someone to build a serious long term relationship.

Below is the email I received from him re: his incident in the zoo.

Hey Angel,

Hope you haven't stressed up your self today, please you shouldn't work too hard on ourself. Angel you know i really do love and care about you and all my dreams is to be with you and spend the rest of my life loving you and staying at your arms till the end of my life. Angel, I took Candy to the zoo and we had a good time and she was really happy. Candy was playing with a rabbit and she was really having good time and at the same time with some peanuts Angel, we left zoo after spending 55minutes and we went back to the hotel to drop her so that I could go and made a live capture of animal in the wild, I film some reptiles and I film pretty birds. Oh Angel when you watch this you will be wanting to come to Africa, I was still firming and I wasn't aware Angel, I was been followed by a panda before I get to look at the damn thing, my leg was in his mouth and I started struggling in other to free my self and I have to run and screaming and I wasn't even aware that was their house, my screaming woke the others up while I was still running and I don't even know where I was running to, Angel I ran into lion's den and that was the worst of all Angel, I escape death today and I was very lucky Candy was not with me and i really do thank God for that. When I got back to the hotel I was like some one who had an accident, rough and bleeding, the whole thing was very sad to me and as you know I was to take Candy out of the country by tomorrow and now the whole thing is rough and when I got to pay for the hotel bills and go and book for her flight to Manchester City, I realize my wallet was not in my pocket Angel, the whole thing happened so fast and since when I came back from the incident I haven't eaten and Candy was sleeping after playing with her teddy bear, now the hotel bill, I have not paid, money was in the wallet and now you wont believe Angel, I have gone to find this wallet with some people accompany me to the place, Angel they search and search and I was told they didn't see the wallet, it really surprise me and I know that wallet was in my pocket before I was been chased by those wild, I really don't know what to do Angel, and the hotel have said they will not provide any food for me and Candy if the bills is not cleared and now I don't have money for that and they know my situation but they don't really want to help me when they know what has happened to me, I feel like committing suicide sweetie, I want to leave this place I want to be with you, if it is only a day I know my heart have found a companion and I will be happy and Candy will be happy too. I will talk to you on line Angel.. I really do love and care about you Angel. I Love you.

i feel relieved - and disappointed that there are stories posted on here which are similar to mine. i met 'Dave' on eHarmony. he said he lived in California, was originally from Holland and had a home in Colchester England, where his 12 year old daughter, Amy, lived with her 'granny'. He had to travel a lot for work (petroleum piplelines). during the 5/6 months that we communicated his story became less and less plausible. he first asked me for money ($5,000-$10,000) when he was working in Enugu, Nigeria. i refused to send money and he called me the next day crying with shame that he had even asked me to help him out. the next request for money came a few weeks later, this time for $500-$1500. i again refused. when he returned to England (in an emergency situation - his daughter needed open heart surgery) i didn't hear from him for a while. after a few weeks, we again began IM'ing and emailing. He asked me for $1500 the next time, first saying that he needed it so he could return to the states to sell the car he has here. then later - in the same conversation (he's getting sloppy now!) he said he needed the money to file for bankruptcy in England. shortly after i refused to send him money, we were <mysteriously> cut off. i believe that he was hanging up on me whenever i asked too many direct questions, or the conversation became too intense.
unbeknownst to him, i had a friend in the federal government checking his email trails - the emails were coming from everywhere, including South Africa - when he was 'not' there. he had also given me about 7 different phone numbers which were untraceable. his emails sounded just like the ones i've read from other women here - we could all be dealing with the same man, either that or they've all gone to the 'how to ruin a woman with a fraudulent internet romance' school!
anyway - his name is Dave Stankova, he is on YAHOO - and i would warn everyone to BEWARE. i loved this man, believed he was everything i had waited for, pronounced that he had great moral character and knew the Bible well. basically he is a liar and a fraud and i invested months of emotional energy into someone who is a professional scammer. save yourself the heartache and the money, if it seems too good to be true - it is.

Well first, I am sorry you got emotionally hurt by this creep, but I am glad you did not lose any money.

And no there is no "school" on how to ruin a persons life that these creeps goto, they just use form letters and follow a script (for the most part) and that is why all the conversations and emails look similar, stories are all the same, and it looks like it is just one person.

Glad you caught on to him before he stole any money from you. Did you notice this also:



I wonder how he found a panda in the wild in Africa? Pandas are from China and they are solitary animals except when they are mating. Looks like this guy needs to watch more National Geographic Channel.

An Update:

'Dave Stankova' has recently contacted me - under the name 'Dave Jensen'

email is davestan86@yahoo.com

BEWARE!

we talked for months before the subject of money came up - then it became the only thing he had to talk about.
i'm moving on

I am amazed they invest so much time into building up the relationship before they ask for money. It almost seems like to much work for a few hundred or a few thousand dollars.

Ok, I have met the same man, Mitch Davidson, Fort Wayne, IN, Civil Engineer and general contractor, working in Asia and Europe and president of Charity Group for AIDS and just happened to be on mission trip to Africa for 3 weeks when I met him. His email is: onekindsoul46808@yahoo.com, phone number is: 802-810-4311. His wife left him 6 years ago for his best friend and married him when his daughter was 3 years old.

He wrote me Godly, romantic, emotional, loving emails for three weeks, then planned a trip here. 48 hours before scheduled to arrive he calls me at 2 am to check the following urgent email from him.

Honey i've got a little problem and i don't know how to go about it,yesterday the hotel management brought my bills and it was billed at $6,800USD(Sixty eight hundred US Dollars) which i paid respectively but i just got a call this morning from the management that there

was a mix up in the bill. The manager says i was suppose to pay $7,800(seventy eight hundred) instead of the $6,800 that i paid initially,now they are demanding that i pay up the balance of just $1,000 and i don't have that in cash now to settle it,i've only got my credit cards and they don't accept credits here for transaction,i'm confused that i don't know what to do next.
The hotel manager said i must pay up the balance $1,000 on or before my depature day or else they would be forced to delay me from flying back home and i wouldn't want that to happen,it would be highly embarrassing. Pls baby i solicit your help to enable me settle this,i'll definately pay you back double as soon as i arrive,pls i beg you in the name of God,i'm afraid i'm going to loose my flight if i don't meet up with the hotel's mandate. Pls get back to me as soon as you read this as this is very urgent. God bless you as you try to help me...I love you baby with all my heart and i look forward to meeting you soon.

Love,
Mitch.

I have reported him to Eharmony and he is still on their site, so PLEASE BEWARE OF MITCH DAVIDSON, he also had an accent. Said his parents were deceased.

Oh my gosh, he was coming here to Austin also. The man from IN, he called himself Mitch Davidson, civil engr and general contractor. Could not google this man anywhere. Met him on Eharmony. They have still not removed him so beware.

Well, this guy sounds similar to the one who I met on Match.com, but he said he was from Marshalltown, IA. 40 yrs old. has a 10 year old daughter, His wife cheated on him with his best friend 3 years ago. He is a Civil Engineer, and went to Africa on Sat. to finish his work. He professed his undying love right away. He has an accent. I had a feeling something was up with him, but played along. Well, he then needed money, like $500 because he used all his money on the hotel and did not have any money for food. He said that all he had was checks and that the bank would not clear the check for 15 days, of course he gave me a sob story. I told him that I did not have any money because I am looking for a job and I just moved to Austin, myself. The money I have I needed to save to pay bills. of course he got upset, but I played along an got him to feel guilty for being upset. So he asked me to cash some checks for him and send him the money by Western Union. I agreed, just so he would send them and I could get more information. Well I got the checks today, called the bank that they were issued under to verify funds, of course no funds available. By the way he told me that he froze his checking account because of past experience. LOL. Anyway, the checks came by UPS, but the senders name was of a women living in NY, the checks were under his name Jason Sean of West Hills, Ca, I looked up the address and there is a Jason Sean Hallock under that name but not the same person of course. He looks very attractive in the photos, The photos he sent me and the one on his profile, which he cancelled after thinking I was falling for him.LOL The pictures that he claims to be of a very attractive man, looks italian with long black curly hair. Right now I talked to the guy that lives in CA, and found out that he has had several people calling him and sending these checks that they received from this Jason Sean, or whoever he is. He has been talking with the FBI and I am going to send him the checks I received, apparently this scammer has been doing this for awhile. So now we have a plan to try and hook him hopefully it will work.
Take care I will keep you posted.

To cherylalbanese et al - I too was targeted by "Mitch Davidson" from Ft. Wayne, IN who luckily closed me on eharmony side few days after his supposed 2 week trip to western Africa to attend to his supposed Catholic charity work he claimed to be president of. He chose Fast Track right off the bat (had another one earlier do this too that I closed via eHarmony after few exchanges - another story that I now suspect was also a scam) and provided same outside email address you previously listed. We exchanged emails for 4-5 days and, yes, he was quite charming and really had me dizzy thinking of the possibilities. His story was virtually the same as you said. I found it odd that his grammer was a mix of British English (which I dismissed since he'd said he'd been raised in Europe) and chat room lingo which didn't match what I would presume someone with an engineering degree to communicate like. In my last email to him I questioned was he real or not and did he really do what he said he did? I told him about recent conversation with some new friends warning me of this "Nigerian something" scam but yet I thought he seemed authentic and I wrote off my paranoia to lack of sleep on my part. Because he'd said he was preparing for a 2 week trip I waited patiently for 2 weeks and shortly after that he closed me on the eHarmony side to "other" and emails stopped. At the time I felt quite dejected and took it personally even though I did also wonder had I hit close to home with my suspicions to him. Yesterday I received email from eHarmony telling me they had removed him from their service, although today he is still showing under my closed matches. They wanted me to know they cared about my safety and that they held no responsibility for any further consequences I might encounter and they couldn't provide the details. I agree that it seems like background checking could possibly be more thorough on their part especially since we've paid them good money to use their site. I feel like such an idiot I fell for it, despite knowing these things happen in the world. I'm just grateful it was nipped in the bud and that I've found this site (and others) and am doubtful I will continue use of online dating sites. I'm sorry too for everyone else who lost money and have suffered broken hearts because of this scam.

Excerpts from emails from "Mitch" - new nickname of "My Man Mitch" (governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana's campaign pitch):

"i was married for 17yrs and divorced for 6yrs now and since then i've not dated,though i've met several women but none was a good match.it's true many women has been seducing me 'cos they see i'm handsome but thats not the issue,i just haven't found the right person.i pray that God guides me towards finding the real woman.
I was actually born in Fort Wayne,IN, but grew up in Europe and yes i live in Fort Wayne presently,wanna come over? be my guest , My parents are late(dead)now."

"I'm a self employed Civil engineer and a general contractor,i specialise in designing,building,and construction of roads and bridges.thats what my work is all about and it mainly inlvoves travelling.As might have read in my profile i've travelled extensively to Europe and Asia for work." (I found it odd that this description of his job was repeated in multiple emails vs. a normal person might provide more details of specific projects and a little about their work history, education, etc....oh but my loneliness made me lower my guard and ignore it)

"We named the organisiation "immaculate heart foundation",it has always been my character to help people 'cos i've this very big heart and i try to share it with the people around me,so one day i thought of using my big heart gift to impact on other people's life especially the sick and the orphanage." (I attempted to research online under the Ft. Wayne Catholic website and this wasn't listed and all other references to 'immaculate heart' included a St.'s name at the end - I'm not Catholic so I didn't really realize the idiocy of it until now.)

"I've a little daughter that lives with my Ex in Missouri,she is 9yrs and she is my one and only child but though i wish i had more kids,i love children alot...well if you don't mind i could share my daughter with you since you ain't got kids,how about that? she is cute and smart,i don't get to see her often 'cos of the distance except on holidays but i'm actually working on gaining total custody of her soon.i'll look for her picture to send to you if like?" (ain't????? 'cos - doesn't sound like an educated person to me)