Are You at Risk of the Nigerian Dating Scams

The Nigerian dating scams target the lonely and vulnerable.
The most common comment of victims who think they have
found the love of their life is "I can't believe I was so
stupid!"

From internet cafes all over west African countries like
Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal etc scammers are
zeroing in on their prey - singles looking for love online.
The Nigerian dating scams are hugely profitable.

The Nigerians call them 'maghas' which is slang for
gullible white people. The scammers spend their day
trolling the dating sites and chat rooms for contact
emails, and then send off thousands of fraudulent letters
and emails awaiting the victim's replies.

They are offering the chance of finding true love and
happiness, and there are plenty of takers! However sooner
or later, the vulnerable hearts receive requests that will
ultimately lead to financial losses and heartbreak. The
scammers choose chat rooms and dating sites because the
person in love offers the chance of the biggest payoffs.

How Does the Scam Work?

The Nigerian dating scams are often not easy to detect as
the scammers are often highly educated, have exceptional
patience and they do their homework! The scammers start by
stealing a photo from an internet site. They prefer to use
images of white people capitalising on stereotypes and
perceptions.

The photos are usually of beautiful people and the quality
of the photo is high. The photos are usually stolen from
modeling sites with reports that 90% of them are being
taken from Focus Hawaii. If you think you are being
scammed, go to this site and browse all the photos to see
if the person you are communicating has a photo on this
site. Then you will know for sure it is a scam!

However they also use photos taken from profiles of other
people on dating sites, so remember that the photos that
scammers use are not photos of themselves - they are photos
of innocent victims. They also use many aliases, emails,
photos, gender, age and sexual orientation in order to cast
their net to catch as many victims as possible.

Often the scammers use attractive female photo profiles
because lots of men will respond to an attractive woman's
personal ad based on the photo alone. They also tend to
target middle-aged people looking for stable relationships.

The rationale is that this type of person is likely to be
more desperate, gullible and financially stable. They then
post ads with fake profiles on online dating sites . They
also lurk in chat rooms and social networking sites as well
as Christian and other religious-based dating sites.

They then spend months chatting up and luring their naive
targets with online intimacy. They often pretend to be
foreign specialists [from the US, UK or Canada, but can be
any European country]temporarily working in Nigeria or
other African country. A slight twist is is when the
scammer pretends to live in the same country as the victim,
and once a relationship has developed, then advise they are
required to go to a west African country on an assignment.

Some of the sophisticated scammers send cheap presents such
as flowers or candy [from stolen credit cards] to capture
the hearts of lonely women. Then they choose one of two
approaches.

They either advise that their employer pays them with Money
Orders and they can't cash them in Nigeria or are having
trouble cashing them. Then they convince their soul mates
to bank them into their bank account and then wire them the
money via Western Union. They are often told to keep some
of the money for their trouble [which helps to build trust
and also helps make them an accessory to the crime!].

After a few weeks the bank will advise the Money Orders are
fraudulent and then the victim is responsible for paying
the money back to the bank, and in some cases face charges
of passing counterfeit instrument.

Sometimes the scammer purchases goods with stolen credit
cards but have trouble getting them delivered as many US
merchants are now wary of shipping to Nigeria. They ask if
their soul mate can re-ship them to Nigeria.

Or the alternative is to say their wallet has been stolen,
hotel owner holding their passport, custom officials need
to be bribed, new plane tickets are needed, they have been
victimized and put in jail and need money to bribe their
way out, or they need money for an operation etc.

The reasons for needing the money will sound plausible.
Regardless of the series of mishaps, the end result is the
same - the cyber soul mate is asked to send money!

How to Spot the Nigerian Dating Scams

The person is new to the website or hasn't logged in many
times.

The photo looks like a model or looks 'too good to be true'.

The profile is not well written.

You are asked to go straight from on-site messaging to
off-site messaging such as regular email or instant
messaging [to prevent the dating site administrators seeing
the evidence of the scam and kicking them off the site]

The scammer will shun live video chat because the photo is
fake. The excuse they will give is lack of technology in
Nigeria. They will usually hire someone with an appropriate
accent for the phone calls.

What to do for Nigerian Dating Scams?

Once the scammer has asked for money, stop further
communications with them.

Report them to the dating site.

No matter how trustworthy they may seem, DO NOT SEND THEM
MONEY.

If you have sent them money, your chances of getting it
back are really zero, but you should report it to the
Police.

Advice for Nigerian Dating Scams!

Enjoy the relationship, but DON'T SEND THEM MONEY!!! and
then all you will lose is your heart!