One Gang of Scammers

What do all these people have in common?



Their pictures have all been stolen by scammers to use for Romance Scams on singles sites.

Who they claim to be and what site they are on:

A Mark Leon from Bayard Iowa on Person.com
B Shevi from El Paso Texas on FreeDate 24/7
C Andre Francis from North America on Trust Cupid
D Dorah from California on Mingles
E Julius from El Paso Texas on Friendster
F Daniel Baker from Colorado on Tagged and DateMeFree
G Thomas From El Paso Texas on Mingles
H Grace from Sinn el Fil Lebanon on DateAid International
I Andre from Costa Mesa US on EnableRomance (disability site)
J Andre from London England on TrustCupid.com
K Rob from El Paso Texas on Dating-today.net
and Golah from El Paso Texas on the same site
L Marisa from Ohio on myspace
M John from Baltimore US on Syl.com
N Andre Francis from Costa Mesa on Bebo
O Charles from Ghana on MyDailyFlog
P Osaka from Nigeria on Tubely
Q Anderson from New York on Lovecity.com

Of the above, Grace and Daniel Baker have been identified as scammers on anti-scammer sites.

Another thing these people have in common is that they all have one or more of the following paragraphs in their write-ups:

to love each other each day as if it will be our last day on earth, to get to know each other better each day of our life. I want us to be spiritually close to each other and to feel each other Quite the opposite, I.d like us to be different and have different interests so we could complement one another, I could learn from you and you could learn from me.

Speaking about my character, I am not a typical man, but just like any human being, I.m always different depending on the situation and environment. I can be quiet, shy and reserved in a new environment. I prefer to observe and listen to people before voicing my opinion. With friends and people that are close and dear for me, I.m open, outgoing and joyful. I like to make jokes and laugh with people who know me. I have a great sense of humor and a life that other people tell me makes them feel good to be near me.

I love people and I am always kind and friendly. I would like to tell you about my likes and dislikes. I like nature and animals. I like going to the country, to enjoy fresh air and I like to hear all of the music. I like to camp, I like the smell and the sounds that a campfire makes at night, I like to walk on the beach and to be with that special woman that I will love for the rest of my life. I enjoy watching movies, television and reading books as each time they make me see the world in a brand new way.

Some use all three. There are many many more. They are on networking sites, gay sites, S&M sites, Muscular dystrophy sites, deaf sites, straight sites and religious sites. They claim to be everything from artists to a missionary working in an orphanage.

So who are the scammers and what do they look like? I say scammers plural because someone I know fell for one of these guys and she said it sounded like it wasn't always the same person she was talking to.

By searching for key words in the above paragraphs I came up with a person called Monday from Lagos Nigeria:



He has all of the above paragraphs, but unlike the others, he has lots of photos on his page. There are 99 in all, meanwhile the most you get on any other of these sites is 4. Another thing that is different is the comments- they have advice on how to scam people. So I'd say it's a safe bet that he is one of the scammers. Some of his photos have pictures of his friends and family. Possibly they are in on it too. My friend talked to someone who claimed to be his son.

The scammers would have a lot more trouble doing their trade if sites would allow outsiders to report them, but most don't. You have to be a member to send them a message. So, for instance, the three women who are besotted with Daniel Baker on Tagged, will never know. They would assume that if he was a scammer then he would have been shut down. Because he hasn't been despite numerous comments saying he was, they will end up sending him money.

Though maybe they would gladly do that even if they found out. After all, he is giving them romance and excitement and when you are a 45+ woman that is really hard to find. A person I know kept up the friendship even after she found out. She did eventually dump him, but he's still trying to win her back.

There are more pictures of what other scammers look like here.

Unlikely Allies: Your Scammer and Your Friends

If your friends found out you were being taken in by an internet scammer, and they had a way to prove it, would they tell you? You'd probably say "Of course!"

Unfortunately that's not how people work. For instance I know of a case where a woman is totally obsessed with this guy she met on an internet dating site. He's saying he's going to prove how much he trusts her by sending her thousands of dollars, which she should then send back, just to prove than he can trust her too. This is a Romance Scam combined with a Fake Cheque Scam. Obvious to anyone, except the victim of course, who has never heard of either. Her friend is suspicious and told her not to have any financial dealings with this guy, and she promised she wouldn't, but of course if she doesn't the romance is over so she'll probably end up doing it anyway.

The woman's friend doesn't want to take the next step which is to prove that he IS a scammer. She can do this two ways- she can get the guy's photo forwarded to her and check it against known scammers on this site, or get his e-mail address and check it against known scammers on this site. But she doesn't want to do this because she herself doesn't want it to be true. She doesn't even want to warn her friend because her friend will hate her for it. After all, people who are in love don't want to hear anything bad about their lover right? And even if the woman believes her, well it's going break her heart.

So the easy way out is to just leave the poor woman in her deluded state, wait until she's been taken and listen sympathetically to her while she suffers the heartbreak that was always going to happen, and the humiliation of having been cheated out of money that she couldn't afford to lose. The woman will think her friend is a wonderful person for being so supportive. So that's the option her friend is probably going to take. That's human nature.

Worst thing is, the woman met this guy through a Christian dating site. When her friend warned her not to give the guy money she replied that she was sure God would look out for her. God did. He sent her someone who could prove to her she was being scammed. If her friend doesn't do it however then the woman will believe God let her down. Which He didn't. I'm trying to convince her friend to tell her (I don't even know her name), but if I push too hard, I will lose a friend too. And so it goes. So the strongest allies to a scammer turn out to be the victim's best friends, who won't tell even if they know about it.

Lovely isn't it?
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 http://www.romancescam.com/album/ has some of the most common photos used, http://www.romancescam.com/ has more ways you can tell if you are dealing with a scammer.
A high percentage of the listings on dating sites are put there by scammers, so look out!

Monckton the Saviour?

My husband debated Christopher Monckton at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney yesterday. It was two hours and in that time I noticed some of the debating tricks the Viscount used. I thought it would be fun to pass these on.

How to Debate Climate Change Monckton Style

When it is your turn to speak, walk forward to center stage in a deliberate manner, plant your feet far apart and thrust out your belly, leaning forward as much as possible. This will give you the air of pomposity that will remind people that you are nobility and your views should not be challenged. Further this by using an internationally recognized symbol on all your work to impress people:



Start your presentation with something emotional- starving people in Africa is a good topic. Makes it look like you are doing it for them, not for your own bank account and the attention you crave.

Next relate the problem to how it affects your audience. Scare tactics work well here. People will believe anything you say.and won't notice that you are using your right to free speech to tell people they don't have any. Global conspiracy? Sure! Show them they will be the victims and that they need a lord to be their saviour.

Then go to the topic of the discussion. Here you are at a terrible disadvantage because any graph you put up is going to show, even to the least scientific member of the audience that temperatures are rising. So use distractions and big words and terms the audience has never heard of before. It will reinforce that you are a genius and they couldn't ever hope to understand the topic let alone trust what their own eyes are telling them. They will feel dumb and helpless and dependent on you.

Know facts and figures, be well read and have a photographic memory so you can pull any figure out of the air that you need. If you don't know, guess, but say it promptly with authority so no one will know.

Always make it sound like you've spoken with the experts or that you know them personally and that they are on your side.

Answer a question, but let the other side answer first. That makes you look gracious. Then, say “Well no, that's not quite right”. People won't notice when the rest of what you say agrees with the opponent- all they will remember is that you said it was wrong.

Take every opportunity to answer questions. Use these questions to slide right into a speech of a related topic that you have already prepared.

Always compliment the question, even if just to say it is interesting. They'll be thrilled to hear that from someone who is as important as you.

If the opponent makes a good point, give the shortest possible answer to it and go directly into a question and topic that is as far related to it as possible. That will confuse he opponent and kill the impact of your opponent's argument.

When you are making your concluding remarks, remember that the audience is there so you can comfort them. They don't want global warming to be true- who does? What they want is someone who sounds like they know what they are talking about to reassure them that everything's going to be all right and they will fight anyone who says otherwise.

In the end that's all you have to do.

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I photoshopped the Jughead picture which comes from here, and joined it to another picture I photoshopped using one of Monckton's slides and his publicity shot from here.

The top photo comes from here.

My Encounter With a High School Gang Part 1/4

I've had four run ins with gangs. One was at school and harmless, others, well, they could have ended badly. I've been extremely lucky so far. Or maybe God has beene watching over me. Or both. Not that my atheist children could accept the second explanation. But no matter. I thought I'd recount them in a four part series. Maybe there's some lessons in them for others, who knows.....

My first encounter was in Junior High School. There was this guy in year 7 who was really popular.. If the teacher gave us a choice as to what book to study for English class, he'd decide what he wanted, and everyone else would vote with him. Except for me and this other girl. We didn't like him because he was always picking on us. He used to make fun of me because my parents wouldn't let me wear jeans. He was a lot meaner to her though. He once arranged to meet her in a park and never showed. Everyone laughed at her for thinking he would. Harmless stuff, I know. If that had happened nowadays in Sydney, not only would he have shown up, but he would have had 6 of his mates with him. But this was Winnipeg in the 70's. Even if she wasn't physically hurt, she was publicly humiliated and that's devastating for a 13 year old.

Anyway, the bullying stopped after an incident in the library. There were just the two of us at a big wooden table that seated 6. Larry and two of his friends came in. There was an empty table across the room but he wanted to make us move so he sat down at ours. The other girl got angry and told him to get lost. We were there first! She spluttered in frustration. Larry and his friends found this highly amusing. I tried a different approach. I purred “Oh, Larry, come sit closer. Come sit here on THIS chair.” He got really uncomfortable and said “Yes, well, um” and he and his friends made a hasty retreat.

Who could blame him? He'd challenged my territory, I'd stood my gound, I made him leave and he lost face in front of his friends. He couldn't even fault the way I did it because in Junior High, sitting next to someone in the library was a way of letting them know you liked them. So it was HIM, not me who made the first move. And on girls he least wanted to be seen with too! After that he left me alone. As for the other girl, she eventually became part of his entourage.....

Part 2 New York Gang
Part 3 Street Gang
Part 4 The Convict Work Gang

How War Hurts The Next Generation:My Mother's Story

In my anecdotes my parents don't come off looking too good. Thing is, there are reasons for their behavior and I think I should explain what they are.

For instance, my parents were teens during WW2. They were right in the middle of the horror of it all. The traumas they suffered affected how they raised us children, which led to the trials that we went through.

For instance, I have always been spiritual and my mother couldn't stand it. She'd try and crush any signs of it in me, even if I was just being kind to a stranger. I always knew that she loved me, but I also knew she didn't like me very much. This is because I reminded her religious great aunt.

This great aunt lived on my grandparent's farm. My grandfather was a farmer and a builder, he built the local church. He was also the bandleader of the town and owned all the instruments. My mother said he was loved by everyone.

My mother adored him. He let her and her three sisters be tomboys. They got to ride horses, climb trees, help with the harvest. They basically had to because they didn't have any brothers. Their relatives didn't approve of this behaviour of course, and this great Aunt especially disapproved of how they would work on Sundays. This is something the others in the town wouldn't do.

Anyway, the war came, and near the end of it, soldiers came to take her father away. They couldn't find him so they asked everyone in the family if they knew where he was. They all said they didn't, except for this Aunt. She felt it was a sin to lie. After all, Jesus had said :

John 8:44
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

When asked if she knew where the man was, she told them she did, and they soon got it out of her that he was hiding in a haystack. They took my grandfather away, and he was never seen again.

After he was taken away, my mother cried and cried and cried so much she vowed never to cry again. When she later had kids, she wouldn't let us cry, or even be sad because compared to her, we had no right to be. So we had to keep on a happy face for her- but heaven forbid we should be genuinely happy, because how could we be happy after what happened to her? So we had to pretend all the time.

Anyway, after my father was taken away, my mother's whole extended family left the family farm that had belonged to them for hundreds of years and became refugees. All except for that demented old aunt – she was left behind to fend for herself.

The upshot is, my mother developed a real hatred for anything religious or spiritual to the point that her relatives thought she was demon possessed. She didn't like anyone who reminded her of her Great Aunt, but unfortunately, without knowing it, I did. She tried to stamp that part of me out, but it didn't work. As a result, I feel bad if I do something bad, but I also feel bad if I do something good. I do choose to be good, even if it hurts, because I don't want my trauma to affect others, especially not my own children. I may be a bit too lenient with them, but I'm determined that the damage done all those years ago stops with me. I'm NOT going to pass it on to them. But I can see how easy it would be to do that. So just because a country is at peace, it doesn't mean its people are. They won't heal for generations!!!!!

Emotional Healing Suggestion

I've recently been mourning the end of a friendship and I've found that this technique, which I came up with after prayer, helps a lot.

First thing is to feel the emotion that is troubling you- feel it in full, The idea is to get beyond the drama, get beyond blaming, or guilt or analysis, just calmly and honestly feel the emotion, even if it isn't socially acceptable, even if you yourself don't approve of it. Just feel the emotion in the purest form. Then express it mentally to the person who you feel the emotion for. Do it in a spiritual way. Be honest about your feelings and don't allow any drama, excitement, debate, judging, blaming or analysis to get in the way. Just pure, honest emotion straight from the heart, not blaming the other person, not blaming you, but just saying and feeling how their actions have affected you. Feel the emotion to its fullest. Then "send" it to the person in question. Imagine that these feeling can be sent like a letter, or an e-mail. Or just send it off into space- like an unwanted package. Puff- it is gone. This should make you feel better already, and even give you new perspective on the situation. Then follow it up with the wish to rid your body of all bad emotions. Just imagine them all rushing out of your body. Pray that all the bad stuff gets washed out so that you can be clean and pure and free again. Then rest. You may be a bit shaken up by this if you have come in contact with the divine but either way, you will feel better and in more control and you'll be able to function again.

Why nice guys don't get the girl

Or alternatively, what do women see in dangerous men?

First question first. You would think that women would go for a nice guy who treats them with respect and would never force their will on them and who are good friends with them- they would make good husbands and good fathers and would be good providers too. Unfortunately, women are looking for one other key factor in a man: safety. Can the man protect them from danger, can the man protect her from other men? This is where the nice guy falls down. If push came to shove would he fight for her or would she have to fight her own battles and protect herself? Some women prefer to be in control and face the world head on but most want to be protected from the world by someone stronger. This is the attraction of a dangerous man. No one wants to mess with them, and if you are theirs, then no one would want to mess with you. To that extent you are safe and have power over other men and also other women- because they are NOT safe from that dangerous man.

Another reason is of course people like danger and excitement and unpredictability in their lives.Only the most damaged want a totally safe environment. It gives you status and bragging rights. After all, you were brave enough to cuddle the tiger, to play with fire and most people don't have the guts, but you do. That guarantees a certain amount of popularity, which everyone craves.

The violent man also makes you feel special, because he's mean to others, but he's nice to you- you are the exception. That's very intoxicating. Unfortunately dangerous men are only nice to you until they've got you hooked. Then of course you realize there is a price to pay. Yes, no one else is going to hurt you but he will, eventually. They don't tolerate much because they don't have to. People are scared enough of them to give them their way all the time. You try to assert your authority over him it is not going to work- you always have to give in, and heaven help if you should ever get fed up and decide to leave- that puts you in terrible danger, because you have become their property and these kinds of people are very primitive, very territorial. They conquered that territory, it is theirs, until they, and only they decide to get rid of it. So yes, the women are safe from others, but not safe from the very person they are living with. Not a great trade-off.

So the best option most women go for is go for a nice guy who is safe, but who can also protect them if they are in danger. So if you are a nice guy, try learning Kung Fu!

On being a Control Freak

I am a control freak. I don't like the unexpected, unless it happens during a timeslot that I've set aside for it. I am very good at reading people so I basically know what to expect from them in any situation, and i shy away from testing the waters by going outside safe territory with them. If they do go outside the expected and act immoraly, say, or unpleasantly, I immediately drop them because I don't like unpleasant feelings and I try to avoiud them at all costs, or at least delegate them to given times, when I know I'll be expecting them.
This need to control the world around me has made me more and more introverted and made me withdraw from other people, more and more. I've lived an exciting life and been in a lot of dangerous situations which I've mostly been able to turn around, but I'm less and less willing to take that risk. Sometimes I do get bored and want some adventure, so I'll slot in a new, unpredictable adventure, such a sdoing difficult bushwalks in unfamiliar places, or visiting new churches, learning a new religion, visiting pagan religious festivals, trying new walking trails with my dog. Each of these has grought new friends, new excitement and unpredictability and I love that. For a while. And then I need peace- to stay away from people, to become a hermit and be invisible for a while. I can't live up to people's expectations- I never could- I never wanted to. Whenever anyone looks up to me, I tend to bail. If anyone starts to think I'm special, I go out of my way to make them doubt their opinion of me so I can just melt into obscurity and be a nobody. Being a nobody is a safe option. No one picks on the invisible- it's the people who stand out that get burnt at the stakes, or persecuted, or raped. In the invisible state you aren't faced with moral dilemnas, you don't have to pretend, your world is quiet and predictable which means you can, to some extent, make it a perfect little world. Should some calamity happen to break that perfect world, then I just switch over to adventure mode and deal with that. I allocate a slot for dealing with it in my to do list and then suddenly it is manageable and under my control. That is why I'm glad when I have no e-mails or comments on my blog- no unexpected interactions, no unexpected emotions to hit me when I don't want to feel them. Sure, I like to feel excitement sometimes- but not outside of its planned timeslot. I lkike dealing with people, but not outside the planned timeslot- it's unexpected, I'm not prepared, I might blow it and say the wrong thing. I'm obsessed with being perfect, when I'm not I hate myself.
The roots ofr this were of course that my parents expected me to be perfect, and also, if anything, anything at all went wrong for them they could find a way to blame it on me. By being very very careful about every word I said and everything I did I could avoid their wrath about 70% of the time. I took that into my interactions with other people, even my own family- always be perfect in everything you say and everything you do and the world will be sweet. It works- I'm close to my husband and my children and I've been married for over 23 years. Still, this means people are work for me. I'm always afraid I'll screw up. I wonder if I'll ever get better?

Are you feeling crazy?

Are you feeling strong negative emotions and also feeling apprehensive, as if something bad is about to happen? Maybe you have subconsciously picked up on a real danger, or maybe you are seeing a pattern in your life that you are about to repeat.
Ask yourself what happened the last time you felt this hurt, this angry, this scared. What are the similarities between this time and that? Why did you go through the pain? Did you have to? Do you have to now? How can you break the pattern? If you don't you are destined to go through the same thing all over again. The only way to change it is to do something different . For instance, if you always run away from a situation- try facing it or if you always face a situation, try running from it. Do something unexpected. Bail out as soon as possible because the longer it goes on the harder it will be to change and the more you are going to get hurt. Breaking these patterns can be hard- but the minute you do you will feel better. You'll go from frantic to calm. And hopefully you'll never have to face that same situation again.