Posted on 08/08/2006 4:18:27 AM PDT by Panerai
Like a lot of the women on dating Web sites, Lynn divorcee Carol Cormier was looking for love.
What she found turned out to be too good to be true, and now she’s on a mission to save other singles from being ensnared in a shockingly widespread online romance scam.
“The only thing I tell them is you opened up your heart and a jerk fell in,” said Cormier, 57, who almost lost thousands to a Nigerian who used a phony model’s photo to woo her and then tried to bilk her out of her savings.
Cormier says she’s one of countless lonely hearts on sites like match.com and eharmony.com who have been taken in by a pretty face. She moderates a Yahoo.com member site for singles slammed by the scam.
The site has 4,500 members, said Barbara Sluppick, who lives in Missouri and started the online support group after she was almost taken in by the same Nigerian scheme that Cormier fell for.
“Every single one has scammers on them,” she said. “It’s very widespread - more than people know.”
For years, people have been duped by e-mail and Internet flimflams that typically involve a man from Nigeria who claims he needs the recipient to wire him money or cash a check.
But this one is far worse, Sluppick said.
“This is dealing with a person’s heart and person’s emotions,” she said. “The emotional devastation is even worse than the money loss. They join the dating sites thinking this is a good way to meet people.”
Cathy Milhoan, an FBI spokeswoman, said the Nigerian rip-off is well-worn and has many faces.
“Every day we get complaints about the Nigerian scam in some form or another,” she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bostonherald.com ...
Looking for love in all the wrong places.
I signed up on Match.com and have met some very nice ladies. I also got messages from women in Nigeria, Central America, and Brooklyn who found me interesting and would be more interested with a few grand sent to them. Hell, I I wanted that, I could talk to my ex!
LOL!! Been there!
I actually received what surely sounded like a Nigerian 419-Scam come-on a few weeks ago through a Genealogy research site where I'd posted some family tree information.
"My father's late business partner may be related to you..."
How nice. Now go away.
How can people be so freaking stupid?
Shhhh, listen. The sounds of dupes in their natural habitat:
"So I wired the money to Nigeria."
To paraphrase Ben Franklin, a fool and her money are soon parted.
There are simply too many gullible people, lacking the common sense, skepticism, cynicism, and paranoia they need to avoid being duped.
Cormier says she’s one of countless lonely hearts on sites like...eharmony.com who have been taken in by a pretty face.
But... but... but... they match you on 47 points of compatibility!!! </sarcasm>
I was never 'net-centric' when it came to love. That's why I hang out the grocery store and the gym.
"Women in America can get laid any time they want. So why are so many of them on the Internet pretending they can't?" -- Stephane Hemon
The whole thing is best avoided, IMHO - because without face-to-face interaction you miss the whole point.
Most of the scam artists are obvious: a picture of a very pretty man or woman with a minimal profile. Sometimes they use porn stars' photos. I think the most common scam is simply to harvest e-mail addresses for spammers - but I have to admit I didn't think anyone was still vulnerable to the Nigerian scam after all the publicity it has gotten.
I receive emails from Nigerian "barristers" every day. Seems I have a lot of long lost, wealthy relatives who died in plane crashes and traffic accidents and I'm their only surviving family member.
Of course, when grown people can't seem to outgrow their need for "romance" and don't know what it involves to really understand the idea of actual love, they're just sitting ducks for this kind of stuff. It doesn't matter whether it comes via the internet, the health club, the guy or gal you met at church. As a side note, one of the most dangerous places for it may be AA meetings.
Rule #1 for women who are dating a guy...never give (or lend) him a nickle...regardless of how many of his relatives need cancer treatment or how great an opportunity he has with that liquor store across town.
Reminds me of a relative - they were always on the look out for a get rich quick scheme... they turned liberal... go figure... they now wear a Che Shirt.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.