Tue 08/17/10 11:35 PM Did you have a bowl of stupid for lunch? Well I had a years supply when I started socializing on the internet...read on!

I only correspond with members I meet here using communication channels provided for us at this site. If a "member" wants your email immediately "to send you pictures" or "get to know you in a more private way" there is a good chance they may be setting you up for a "Phishing","Spamming" or any one of numerous cybercrimes currently relieving unwary computer-daters of their hard-earned money.

Here is my story:
I consider myself a good catch for the right lady and now I know when I "meet" her, she would understand that if I didn't give her my e-mail or other personal info right out of the gate that I am being safe and not paranoid. WE ALL NEED TO BE AWARE that the internet is not safe; especially dating and social networking sites like this where members take the chance at not only having their heart broken, but their bank accounts and piggy banks emptied as well! I know; here is my story. I lost $3500 dollars and cried with a broken heart at the airport; flowers in my hand and limo waiting with reservations to the finest restaurant in town. WHAT A TOTAL IDIOT. I had been chatting with this girl for about 8 months; she lived far away and I had fallen in love with her! I truly believed she existed. DUMB. I was scammed and devastated. Boy did I feel stupid, and I REALLY WAS!

Because of this and a few friends that knew people, I worked with FBI IC3 (Internet Crime unit) for several months and by scanning my hard drive for stored info I didn't even know existed they were able to track several "bounced" or redirected IP addresses using sophisticated computer tracking hardware and some super high tech software to finally catch this person, a MAN, posing as many single identities; male and female. He had at least thirty men and women sending him money for various reasons including but not limited to medical ailments, travel expenses, visas and passports, shipping expenses, bringing his/her children with them, ill mother/father, etc. All very convincing stuff! He also had several hundred unanswered "please help!!" requests waiting for responses! The estimated fraudulent take from this ONE PERSON was over 120,000 dollars! After my incident I wasn't surprised when IC3 investigators informed me that there are literally 1000's of fraudulent individuals and even large fraud "rings" doing similar scams.
What really gets me the most is that I had sent poetry, pictures of my children, addresses to my employment and home, and several large Western union deposits TO A MAN!!! (Eeeeww YUCK! [No offense to those that prefer their own gender, really!]) Please learn from my loss and be careful and cautious, not trusting and gullible.

Internet crimes fall under federal and even international jurisdictions; and in the United States those individuals found guilty of committing cybercrimes and fraud face an easy 5 to 10 years (per offense) in jail and retribution/fines/court costs up to $250,000 dollars. Everyone involved in the scam will be charged with conspiracy to said offense; and will also face criminal prosecution.

Fraud has many facets and definitions; but basically is defined as
misrepresentation by any individual, group, business or corporation to coerce and/or convince any private entity to commit financially for a service or item that was never intended to be provided to the
aforementioned entity.

If you are a victim of this deceitful and absolutely criminal behaviour you can report it at this IC3 (Internet Crime) link:

http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp

provide the following information when filing a complaint:

•Your name
•Your mailing address
•Your telephone number
•The name, address, telephone number, and Web address, if available, of the individual or organization you believe defrauded you.
•Specific details on how, why, and when you believe you were defrauded.
•Any other relevant information you believe is necessary to support your complaint.

Post this on your website! It helps steer the bad element away!

HTML Code for IC3 website banner:

<a href="http://www.ic3.gov/" target="_top"><img src="path_to_image_saved_to_your_site.jpg"

width="width_of_chosen_banner" height="width_height_of_chosen_banner" border="0"/></a>


HTML Code for IC3 iCON LINK:

<a href="http://www.ic3.gov/" target="_top">Internet Crime Complaint Center</a>

At the IC3 site their are also available pdf files with postable documents; so spread the word to help bolster your social networking sites integrity; and thank them for truly helping us find real love! Remember! If you suspect a member is scamming you REPORT THAT MEMBER IMMEDIATELY. The site staff will investigate it for you.


You could say I am a little paranoid, and will NEVER SEND MONEY to anyone I haven't known for a while. DO NOT TRUST PEOPLE. Much to Mr. Machiavelli's surprise, humans are NOT "BASICALLY GOOD" and it is a crying shame that our brilliant and gifted species has been corrupted with DNA from society's bottom dwellers and degraded the human genome.

Oh! Before I forget, here are some very useful tips provided by the IC3 unit:

If a person shows they are from Alabama, but sends a message that sounds like broken english, there is a good chance that this is a foriegner impersonating an english speaking person; [no predujuce intended here, just a possible and all too common scenario.]

If the first reply to you asks you to communicate via e-mail, there is a good chance that this person is phishing or spamming your information for some other dark purpose. They may say that "they don't post their pictures for public viewing". If thats the case you can ask them to meet you for coffee at a local shop you know of! Good Luck!

Never give anyone personal information such as SSN, resident address, where you are employed, bank info/branch, childrens names/info/school even after you have established a certain amount of trust, especially on the computer or telephone! Remember this saying: Don't be shy! Ask them why!

A picture of a person via internet DOESNT MEAN THAT IS THE PERSON OR GENDER YOU ARE CORRESPONDING WITH.

Go with your gut feeling...better to bow out early than be victimized! Not 100% correct, but 100% safe.

When meeting someone for a first date, leave your purse and personal info in a locked vehicle; preferably a trunk. Always tell someone where you are going or take a friend if possible. Don't let your date change plans at the last minute or on the way to your meeting place. (If they do just say "RED FLAG!" If they are legit, they will immediately backtrack; and if they are not, they won't show up!) Pick a public location or business you know; or know people at. Keep your cell phone with you; and DON"T STORE PINS, ADDRESSES AND OTHER PERSONAL INFO ON YOUR CELLPHONE! (I can dial 911 on my phone in my pocket if I need to. IMPORTANT! You can practice this by disabling your connection in your options or connections file on most cell phones; that way you can see if you typed correctly on your screen without actually calling them. If 911 is called and you dont respond, they will automatically send a patrol unit out to the GPS location on your phone. Always keep this feature on. Now if your phone auto-dials when you turn your connection back on it is better to tell the operator that you dialed it accidentally...DON'T HANG UP ON 911! They dispatch on those calls, too!

Don't click on pop-ups! "you just won" or "1,000,000 millionth customer" or "Meet Local girls in (your town)"; this gives them your routing info and redirects your IP address to them.

Try to correspond with local interests that can actually meet you for coffee, a drink, dinner etc., instead of falling for someone far away.

JUST USE COMMON SENSE AND CAUTION!
MOST OF ALL "THINK SAFELY, BE SAFE!"
Edited by happyperson4you on Tue 08/17/10 11:44 PM

Did you have a bowl of stupid for lunch? Well I had a years supply when I started socializing on the internet...read on!

I only correspond with members I meet here using communication channels provided for us at this site. If a "member" wants your email immediately "to send you pictures" or "get to know you in a more private way" there is a good chance they may be setting you up for a "Phishing","Spamming" or any one of numerous cybercrimes currently relieving unwary computer-daters of their hard-earned money.

Here is my story:
I consider myself a good catch for the right lady and now I know when I "meet" her, she would understand that if I didn't give her my e-mail or other personal info right out of the gate that I am being safe and not paranoid. WE ALL NEED TO BE AWARE that the internet is not safe; especially dating and social networking sites like this where members take the chance at not only having their heart broken, but their bank accounts and piggy banks emptied as well! I know; here is my story. I lost $3500 dollars and cried with a broken heart at the airport; flowers in my hand and limo waiting with reservations to the finest restaurant in town. WHAT A TOTAL IDIOT. I had been chatting with this girl for about 8 months; she lived far away and I had fallen in love with her! I truly believed she existed. DUMB. I was scammed and devastated. Boy did I feel stupid, and I REALLY WAS!

Because of this and a few friends that knew people, I worked with FBI IC3 (Internet Crime unit) for several months and by scanning my hard drive for stored info I didn't even know existed they were able to track several "bounced" or redirected IP addresses using sophisticated computer tracking hardware and some super high tech software to finally catch this person, a MAN, posing as many single identities; male and female. He had at least thirty men and women sending him money for various reasons including but not limited to medical ailments, travel expenses, visas and passports, shipping expenses, bringing his/her children with them, ill mother/father, etc. All very convincing stuff! He also had several hundred unanswered "please help!!" requests waiting for responses! The estimated fraudulent take from this ONE PERSON was over 120,000 dollars! After my incident I wasn't surprised when IC3 investigators informed me that there are literally 1000's of fraudulent individuals and even large fraud "rings" doing similar scams.
What really gets me the most is that I had sent poetry, pictures of my children, addresses to my employment and home, and several large Western union deposits TO A MAN!!! (Eeeeww YUCK! [No offense to those that prefer their own gender, really!]) Please learn from my loss and be careful and cautious, not trusting and gullible.

Internet crimes fall under federal and even international jurisdictions; and in the United States those individuals found guilty of committing cybercrimes and fraud face an easy 5 to 10 years (per offense) in jail and retribution/fines/court costs up to $250,000 dollars. Everyone involved in the scam will be charged with conspiracy to said offense; and will also face criminal prosecution.

Fraud has many facets and definitions; but basically is defined as
misrepresentation by any individual, group, business or corporation to coerce and/or convince any private entity to commit financially for a service or item that was never intended to be provided to the
aforementioned entity.

If you are a victim of this deceitful and absolutely criminal behaviour you can report it at this IC3 (Internet Crime) link:

http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp

provide the following information when filing a complaint:

•Your name
•Your mailing address
•Your telephone number
•The name, address, telephone number, and Web address, if available, of the individual or organization you believe defrauded you.
•Specific details on how, why, and when you believe you were defrauded.
•Any other relevant information you believe is necessary to support your complaint.

Post this on your website! It helps steer the bad element away!

HTML Code for IC3 website banner:

<a href="http://www.ic3.gov/" target="_top"><img src="path_to_image_saved_to_your_site.jpg"

width="width_of_chosen_banner" height="width_height_of_chosen_banner" border="0"/></a>


HTML Code for IC3 iCON LINK:

<a href="http://www.ic3.gov/" target="_top">Internet Crime Complaint Center</a>

At the IC3 site their are also available pdf files with postable documents; so spread the word to help bolster your social networking sites integrity; and thank them for truly helping us find real love! Remember! If you suspect a member is scamming you REPORT THAT MEMBER IMMEDIATELY. The site staff will investigate it for you.


You could say I am a little paranoid, and will NEVER SEND MONEY to anyone I haven't known for a while. DO NOT TRUST PEOPLE. Much to Mr. Machiavelli's surprise, humans are NOT "BASICALLY GOOD" and it is a crying shame that our brilliant and gifted species has been corrupted with DNA from society's bottom dwellers and degraded the human genome.

Oh! Before I forget, here are some very useful tips provided by the IC3 unit:

If a person shows they are from Alabama, but sends a message that sounds like broken english, there is a good chance that this is a foriegner impersonating an english speaking person; [no predujuce intended here, just a possible and all too common scenario.]

If the first reply to you asks you to communicate via e-mail, there is a good chance that this person is phishing or spamming your information for some other dark purpose. They may say that "they don't post their pictures for public viewing". If thats the case you can ask them to meet you for coffee at a local shop you know of! Good Luck!

Never give anyone personal information such as SSN, resident address, where you are employed, bank info/branch, childrens names/info/school even after you have established a certain amount of trust, especially on the computer or telephone! Remember this saying: Don't be shy! Ask them why!

A picture of a person via internet DOESNT MEAN THAT IS THE PERSON OR GENDER YOU ARE CORRESPONDING WITH.

Go with your gut feeling...better to bow out early than be victimized! Not 100% correct, but 100% safe.

When meeting someone for a first date, leave your purse and personal info in a locked vehicle; preferably a trunk. Always tell someone where you are going or take a friend if possible. Don't let your date change plans at the last minute or on the way to your meeting place. (If they do just say "RED FLAG!" If they are legit, they will immediately backtrack; and if they are not, they won't show up!) Pick a public location or business you know; or know people at. Keep your cell phone with you; and DON"T STORE PINS, ADDRESSES AND OTHER PERSONAL INFO ON YOUR CELLPHONE! (I can dial 911 on my phone in my pocket if I need to. IMPORTANT! You can practice this by disabling your connection in your options or connections file on most cell phones; that way you can see if you typed correctly on your screen without actually calling them. If 911 is called and you dont respond, they will automatically send a patrol unit out to the GPS location on your phone. Always keep this feature on. Now if your phone auto-dials when you turn your connection back on it is better to tell the operator that you dialed it accidentally...DON'T HANG UP ON 911! They dispatch on those calls, too!

Don't click on pop-ups! "you just won" or "1,000,000 millionth customer" or "Meet Local girls in (your town)"; this gives them your routing info and redirects your IP address to them.

Try to correspond with local interests that can actually meet you for coffee, a drink, dinner etc., instead of falling for someone far away.

JUST USE COMMON SENSE AND CAUTION!
MOST OF ALL "THINK SAFELY, BE SAFE!"