So, I'm not selling the wife's car, but...

[davek_964]

... I did sign up to POF at the weekend. Had a couple of scammers already trying the short game (Hi, I don't like this site please follow this link and we can chat there) which I simply blocked. But, this evening it seems I've entered the long game. This lovely young lady contacted me :



Now, of course I was flattered. Profile suggests she's a tad young for me (mid 30s, I'm late 40s), says her name is Lucy and she's Middle Eastern ethnicity. Broken English but very detailed description about long term relationships and how she's looking for somebody to live happily ever after.

A couple of messages exchanges and she suggests moving to Skype so that we can get to know each other and exchange photos. I can hardly wait - although had to wait long enough to setup a new Skype account.

We quickly exchange a few messages - I ask where she's originally from and am surprised she says UK. When she gives me a few details about herself, her age has changed by a couple of years - but hey, age is nothing but a number and me being older is no problem. Result - go me!

I'm quickly sent another photo - guess this one was taken in a different light since she looks slightly different - but hey, still hot right?



Surprisingly, her English is better on Skype than it is on her profile. It's almost like she's two different people....

Here's a twist I didn't expect though - the chat / photo exchange was only about 10 - 15 mins, then she had to go to cook some food. Thought she'd want to reel me in a bit more straight off - she promised to be back soon anyway. I miss her already.
(Curiously there was a lot of 'May God take care of you' as she disappeared for her food which is odd considering her profile says non religious....).

Installment 2 when / if she returns....

ETA : classic - just noticed that 'she' has 2 profiles, with the same pic but different details and has viewed my profile with both of them!

Edited by davek_964 on Monday 24th April 20:08

[davek_964]

Civilian47 said:

Unless you're bored it's probably not worth wasting your time on, reverse image search returns hundreds of results for the second image.

https://www.tineye.com/search/42d777f8b801d60a41f7...

It will entertain me for a while - had nothing else planned this evening and I'm just curious to see how it progresses.

[davek_964]

She's back.

In the same conversation where she told me she's originally from the UK, now she's asking if I've ever talked to anybody from Ghana before.

Seriously, how stupid do you need to be to fall for this?

[davek_964]

Ah, she's visiting her family in Ghana at the moment because her mum and dad are having some problems. That's sad - I wonder if there will be any way I can help them.....

[davek_964]

stevensdrs said:

Play it out and see what calamities befall this poor wench. Money transfer will likely raise it's head very soon.

I think so, but it seems not tonight. She's now disappeared and will be back in 2 hours - at which point I'll be in bed so will probably have to keep it going tomorrow.

I feel they should be trying harder!

Edited by davek_964 on Monday 24th April 21:59

[davek_964]

So, it seems that she returned about 12.30am and then tried to make a Skype call to me - but obviously I was asleep.

I'm quite surprised we've moved to attempted voice communication already. I obviously can't progress it much while I'm at work but we'll see what happens tonight. Even then, I certainly wouldn't want much of a call - my router died overnight on Sunday (genuinely) which means until the replacement turns up from Virgin (which they said should be by tomorrow) I'm using up my mobile data allowance. I still have a fair bit left but not sure I'm willing to burn through it any faster on a Skype call with a scammer!

[davek_964]

OK, I don't know if I actually have the patience to keep this up. I'm not good with stupid people, and the level of incompetence here is amazing.

We've exchanged a couple of messages this morning, but they keep losing their place in the script and repeating the same questions!

[davek_964]

MitchT said:

Sounds like the old "win your trust gradually, then get you to do naughty stuff on Skype, then threaten to distribute the screen recording they made of it unless you hand over loads of cash" scam.

Damn, if only you'd said that half an hour ago....

She complained that I was too slow with my replies, and asked why - and I reminded her that some of us work for a living. So apparently, we are going to continue our conversation this evening (if I'm not doing something else!).

[davek_964]

OK, let's hope that's how they are going to play it. There are all manor of pictures on the internet and they're not the only ones who can send fake photos. If they want some compromising pictures they'll get plenty - they won't be of me though.

[davek_964]

I'll see how it goes this evening, and see if it keeps my attention.

I think before any naked pics, I might say that my friends have told me that there are some dishonest people on the dating sites, and perhaps request a custard photo. That does seem to be the way to start these things!

[davek_964]

Ok, she tried to call me twice which I really can't be bothered with.

So instead I said that I didn't want to talk on the phone yet because my friend has warned me that some people are fake. So to trust her, I want a picture of her holding a sign saying custard....

She says she's going to! We'll see....

[davek_964]

Well, didn't get one last night - I got several more attempted calls but I was on the phone so missed them. Once I'd finished the call, I said :

Sorry, I was on the phone. But we can't talk until I see the photo so I know you're real. Then it would be nice to talk on the phone.

I was told it will be sent tomorrow (i.e. today) which I doubt and that we'd chat again today. I couldn't resist sending a :

Ok, night x

And got similar back.

So - we'll see what happens tonight. I think they may lose interest because I won't speak to them.

[davek_964]

Mr-B said:

It's interesting that she is trying to voice call, I thought these scams were traditionally all done via messaging and the scammers actively avoided voice calls since they were usually geezers and would sound like this

Yep, I'm surprised to but they have been trying very hard to get me to answer the call - while I was on the phone last night (for about an hour) they called 4 or 5 times.

One thing they have repeated a couple of times - it's clearly in the script to get you OFF the dating site as soon as possible. It's been mentioned / asked a couple of times if I'm still using it, and then comes the explanation that "she" has not had success on it, it's better to build trust / relationship between us blah blah blah. They obviously want you hooked completely on them, and forgetting there are all those other fish out there.

Oh, and I think I forgot to mention - the Skype profile they use is called "Honestly". Nice touch......

[davek_964]

Well, no photo arrived on Thursday. Thursday evening, I sent a message saying that clearly they were not real, was a shame I thought we had a future etc etc. The reply was : You haven't asked why I haven't sent it yet.
I said I didn't care, it only takes 10s hence I was no longer talking to them.
The reply : I didn't send it because my day was very bad, my mum is fighting for her life in hospital.

(Hmm, where might that lead).

I said that was a shame but no more conversation since no photo. After a few 'Are you there?' that evening it all went quiet and I'd forgotten all about it.

Just got in, and look what was sent to my Skype account this afternoon!



That's all I needed really, so will now block them