Another Scam Warning

Description: We are working for your safety on our end, and want you to be careful on your end.

Categories: Dating, Pen Pals, Friends: Scam Warnings
This Post has been viewed 4037 times.
Submitted by: Nannette | View Member Profile | View Other Posts
Created: 2/14/2003

Scam Warning and Follow-up:

I received an email from two members from Nigeria. They both had similar messages... that they were sad to hear that there were unscrupulous folks from their country, who would purport scams. They wanted me to point out to our members that not all members from Nigeria are scammers, and that this might explain why they were not getting replies from most women on the site. In fact, what they said is true, not all people from Nigeria are scammers. And it is sad for those who are innocent Christians trying to find Godly mates.

However, NOT TRUE with these two. Both of these members were Ruby members, which is unusual from Nigeria, so I asked Larry to call the credit card company and double-check their cards. Their cards originated from Canada, so Larry made a call in Canada. The first card was bogus, and the second card used exactly the same first 7 digits, with different digits from the end. The Canadian card company said they were going to contact the owner of that card and have him cancel his card, because it was very suspicious that a Canadian card would be used by a Nigerian.

The card company representative told us a bit about how these scammers work, which I won't go into all the details. He said they used to just make a charge, to check if the card was going to be caught as invalid, and if not, then they would freely use it elsewhere. But now, they remain online and pretend to use your service, so that you don't get suspicious and check up on it.

I've had many members write to me indicating this type of fraudulent activity occurs on many sites, not just singles sites.

One member wrote this, and doesn't mind my sharing it:

I just went through that with a car I am trying to sell via the internet. But the sites carrying my car will not put on a warning. I even called the Secret Service and the agent there said it was really sad that these sites that could email out a warning to all members in 5 minutes does not want to get involved.

At ChristianSinglesDating.com, we take detailed measures... flagging IP addresses of known scammers, locking out reported scammer accounts, and immediately sending an email warning to anyone the scamming member has contacted or anyone who has contacted them. As well, we post an alert at the top of our Quick Menu when a scammer is caught and deleted.

They used to be more brazen and put their scam mail online. Now they are more subtle and send you their email address so that they can approach you offline and not get caught. Please do not be fooled by anyone who asks you for money...or who promises you money in most of these cases. You'll get millions, but I need a small fee for the attorneys to transfer the money. You'll never see your money again. Don't be fooled by the I'm going to donate it to a Christian ministry. Or my poor father was assasinated. They prey on the generosity and kindness of Christians.

Another recent fraud is asking for your bank account information to transfer money into your account. A lot of people are fooled by this get something for nothing scheme. Somehow, once they get your bank info, they can then get everything out of your account and leave you with nothing. Please do not be fooled.

We are working for your safety on our end, and want you to be careful on your end.