In 2008, I started working as a Internet cafe attendant. Believe it or not, computers and the Internet were still kind of new to me… I just had not used them much. I began learning more and more of all the things you can do via the Internet. On my free time, I started browsing online, used yahoo messenger and registered on friendster and tagged.com.

Later on I met guys and one of those sites. One in particular was named Mark from Europe. According to his profile picture, he Was good looking so I started getting interested of him. We exchanged emails on the site. Mark asked for my yahoo id. I gave it to him and started talking in yahoo messenger. While we are talking, he requested my webcam so I opened it to let him see how I look. When I asked him back to view his webcam, he had excuses and said his cam doesn’t work.

After some time of talking, he introduced a site telling me that he had an account there and that it is similar as tagged.com where we met. He said that if I open the site then I will be able to see a picture of him there. He sent the link to me (I don’t recall the name of the site). When I opened it up it was requesting my email address and a password in sign up. So i told him this seem strange on why I have to sign up to see his picture. He said that that it is necessary to get access inside the site for his profile. So i typed my email address in it and a password. After that i still couldn’t get in to the site that he was sharing. When I put in all the information, the site didn’t seem to work. So I told him this. He said try again ‘darling’ because maybe you had some errors in typing the informations. So I again typed my email address and at that time ‘with the same password’ that i use from my email address. After the second try, a profile of another man showed up with personal informations about him ,a different descriptions and a different picture too of an Indian guy now.’ So I realized right away that he was fooling me. I got angry and told him that I knew that he was scamming me by using a fake profile on tagged.com where we met. I told him and that ‘I dont like Indian people.

By that time, I told him to delete remove me from his contact list I will do the same. He kept buzzing and gone crazy apologizing to me.

The next day, I signed in on my yahoo id while I am at work. It suddenly signed me out. I was confused why it was happening. I signed in and tried many times and for a while i get signed out again. So I decided to make another yahoo id and added few yahoo ids of the people that i recall. I informed them that I am using the new one temporarily because it seems like my other id was messed up. Then one of my filipino friends was surprised and said that ‘she was talking to me a while ago’ and confused too why I kept asking her to signed up for some “strange site”. She had the idea in her mind that it wasnt me because while talking to our native language, the person who is pretending to be me would reply only in english and talks all about the site to convince her but she didn’t do it.

When i heard all of it. I had the answers already and it was not yahoo that was really messed up but there was someone that hacked my yahoo id’. I quickly checked my email, went to the “Account Settings”, change the password and it went back to normal again. Thankfully that i was able to retrieve it because I had important files there.

Its been a big lesson to me. Not to just talk to anyone who are totally strangers without even knowing them well first or seeing them.

by: INOU

Regina Sechico Ramirez .. Dipolog area Pinan, Philippines Mulitiple fiancee’s. Meet and greet of couse. Think your the only one. But has many and of course requests money for food, medicine, legal fee’s any and everything she can, playing on your affection and belief your the love of her life. She took me or thousands and another man for tens of thousands.

Fake Profile Pictures

Online dating is now a very popular way to meet a partner. Match.com & eHarmony are very popular dating web sites and claim that 1 of every 5 marriage (in Western world?) are from dating sites.

But on thing that goes unsaid is the amount of scams that happen on these sites. There are many “romance scammers” on these sites. Below are examples of face profile pictures that these con artists use to lure you in.

http://ic-girl.blogspot.com/2009/03/cewek-cantik-dari-medan.html

I meet Simon on yahoo messenger. I was in the middle of chatting w my cousin who is in other country, when a message from a complete stranger pops up on YM. I was “Simone”.

His message said, “hi can you be my friend”. At first I disregard his messages but he continued to send message. Eventually, I start chat with him everyday. We introduced ourselves to one another and we became friends. We shared a lot of stories about family, life and everyday life. We talked everyday. After almost a month, we began to chat cam to cam.

He share a lot story about his life in India. He told me that the country is so poor that it has very little jobs and opportunity. He told me there is a lot of crime and a lot of robbery there.

For me it was very nice to talk to him. He made me laugh every time we talked each day. As time went on everyday talking to him, I had the feeling that he is more than my friend. He was my boyfriend. He seemed to care a lot. At the time, he was my the most special love since and I became so attached to him. He was so special in my life that I felt I would do everything he said. I would give him anything he wanted.

He ask for a little amount and I would find a way to give it to him cause I was so in love. He would tell me he needed money to chat with him in the Internet café. I would ask mom to send the money to him.

We do things that I will never forget. We were like a couple and we enjoyed every moment we had together on the web cam. We started to plan on seeing each other.

The plan was to meet at Manila Airport. I would fly from Cebu City in the Philippines and he would fly from India. Five days before the trip, I sent him money to get a plane ticket. I had saved up the money on my own just for him.

I was so excited to see him on that day. But when I arrive in manila, I waited for him the whole day. I waiting in the airport thinking maybe the flight was delayed from India to going here. I waited 24 hours at Manila airport. Simone did not show up. I checked the hotel we booked, I went to the café to check if he is online but he don’t get online anymore.

Onetime I catch him online but he did not responding my email. I felt like I was going crazy on that day. I didn’t know what to do. I want to die.

After that there was not a single night or day that I did not cry. I wanted to die. I felt I could rather die than live without him. I attempt to hurt my self. I tried to overdose on medicine. I felt everything is gone to me. My mom never left my side. She was there to cheer me up. It was months before I could move on. I was the first time I cried for love. The first time I would rather die than go on without love. He was my first and last love.

I want to protect my real identity so that I can protect my personal life.I will tell you how I was scammed out of a lot of money from Filipino cupid.
I have been going through a divorce from my wife of 15 years. Tragically our relationship feel about due to communication issues. Because of this, I have been very lonely and seeking a new life partner.

I heard Filipina women were very good, faithful women so I decided to try Filipinocupid.com. I was shocked to find a FLOOD of scammers, con artists, sex shows, liars, and desperate single mothers begging for money on that site. 1 out of every 3 ladies I talked to here trying to get money from me.
That should have been my first warning. Of all these ladies, I found one that seemed different. She said her name was Ludivina. She was loving, caring and very beautiful. We started to talk to her and I was immediately amazed by her. She seemed very sweet and that is just what I was looking for after having a hard time in my dwindling relationship with my wife.

If she needed something, I would happily provide it. I make a good living and I actually enjoy helping others. I just have a problem about people being ungrateful, liars, and being selfish. So I never want to give money to scammers. Sometimes I would even give scammers a chance to tell me the truth and just give them money, usually they don’t trust me so they keep lying, then I don’t give them money.

After about 8 months, Ludivena told me she had not given me her real name, or real picture. She told me that she had done it all initially to get money, but now she wanted to get serious about me.

I was heart broken. She totally crushed me. I was totally in love. I was willing to share my whole life with her. I would have done ANYTHING for her. Now I don’t trust her.

Despite all the scammers, I did meet a few life long friends. And I still believe there are great Filipinas there that would make the best wife.

How and Why I became a romance scammer on filipinoheart.com

*The following is a real event that has been re-written from the original for clarity with names changed to protect those who were willing to come forward… the real ludivina yasay is a lady that scammed me lol. The original author of this story is not named but she really did do this. I may post the original (and change the names) for now you get a simulation of a REAL event.. the emails in this post is real, the story is real.*

My name is Ludivina Yasay. I am from Cebu City, Philippines. About a year ago, I scammed an American named Matt T. I met him on a popular dating website called filipinocupid.com (filipinoheart.com in the Philippines). Over the course of 8 months, I took about $3000 dollars from him.

Why did I do it?
I needed money.

How did I do it?
I gained his trust, told him what he wanted to hear and he believed me. He fell in love then gave me money.

How it all began
After graduating college, I could not find a job. Jobs are REALLY hard to get in certain parts of the Philippines. Places like General Santos, Cebu City and many other places have many people and very little jobs available. Many families can barely afford to pay rent, utilities or even eat. Even with a college degree, I could not find a job for over a year.

I started searching for jobs online. While in the Internet café, I over heard two people talking about how they would get money via Western Union from a person they were chatting with. While I was trying to unsuccessfully get jobs each day, they were getting paid from some guys online.

Filipino Heart Scam Ring
I found out my friend was involved in the same people I had seen in the Internet cafe. She explained to me what was going on. She told me that they would find guys from the United States on dating sites. They used a fake profile on Filipino cupid, flirt with these men, start a relationship, then get money. This ring of Filipino heart scammers were mostly gay men.

They told me that they do it so much that they are actually able to buy home, cars and live very well in the Philippines.

Since my family and I were struggling, I decided to do it. I create a fake account with a picture of a model. I had a set of pictures. Very quickly I had a guy who was interested, Matt T.

We began to talk and I told him everything he wanted to hear. I told him that I was looking for a guy who is serious, I told him I was attracted to him. I told him anything to make him feel good. I didn’t care about him he is just a stranger. I just need money.

How I got the Money
Message to Matt:

hope you have a very nice day today… its have a wonderful today when i found you.. i fill always happy when you respond to my email.. and i fill that your a guy i that god given me and i know in my heart your the right one for me…. hope we could chat soon. i miss to chat w you.. take care….. love”

from MATT:

That is very sweet. I look forward to taking the time to know you better. I want to know the dreams and wishes of your heart.

After a short time, he started to trust me so we were starting to speak like friends. When I mention to him that my family does not have enough to eat he is concerned for me.. his “friend”. I did not ask for money directly. When I mention I am in trouble, he offered to send me money. I pretend to be reluctant, then took the money.

Falling in Love & telling the truth
Everytime I mention my troubles, he offered money. After a while we started getting closer and closer and he is giving me more and more money. The funny thing is I never even really asked him.. I just gained his trust and he offered when I said I am in trouble.

He told me about how he is getting a divorce with his wife. He told me He has two kids. He told me how he is lonely lately and all about his life. Over the months, he help me anytime I needed it. He helped me move to another city, find a job and even explained how I can help him with a business he runs and pay me!

We started to really get close and even fall in love. Over time, I realized that I really love him and do not want to live a lie. As a practicing Catholic, it was hard for me to accept this lie.

I went to church and did confession. The priest told me I should tell him the truth.

The closer we got the more I realize I cannot do this anymore to him. He thinks I am some other woman. One night he told me he wants me to be his girl friend. So I decided to tell him the truth.

I told him my real name, showed him my real picture. He was upset that I had lied to him for so long. I was not sure if he would ever talk to me again after I told him the truth. But I wanted him to know the truth.

I wonder if I can gain his trust back. I feel that I hurt the only man I will ever love.

I regret what I did to him. More than anything else, I don’t want to lose him.

Filipinocupid.com (also known as “philippine heart”, “filipino heart”, “filipina cupid”, or fc, fh for short) is a dating site. Although, philippine cupid is focused on Filipino men and women, there is huge presence of westerners there (mostly European & American males). The on line dating interface of the site is similar to the every grown genre of race specific dating sites (i.e. thai cupid, japan cupid, korean cupid, dominican cupid, columbian cupid, latina cupid, caribbean cupid and all the other cupid dating sites).

Philippine culture can be found among the profiles of the members, however the language on the site is almost exclusively English (with some spanish, french, italian and almost no tagalog). Western men will quickly see that they are the primary target of many (if not most) of the filipinas on filipino cupid. The same cannot be said of some of the other “cupid dating” sites.

Although the site is completely legitimate, popular and well done, members should be careful of the MANY date scams, romance scams and fake date profiles on the site.

His mailing address and Drivers name are:

Endurance Njoku
21 Ikosi Road
Lagos City
Ikeja
23401
Nigeria

Everyone please be careful of people who sound too good to be true, who offer you the world even before meeting you, who use alot of romantic talk right aways, who declare undying love and devotion and move at a really quick pace. Don’t be confused with this and if they ask for help financially or for help with getting a visa don’t buy into it.

Here are some tools you can use to separate date scammers from the legitimate people:
1) Search Engines
2) Google Images
3) Personal Information Aggregators

1) Google potential online dates:
If they have given you a name, then google it, Bing it, Yahoo it. Find out who is talking about them with “who is talking about me“. You can also use Who is talkin. If they have been around the block, you will find something on them.

2) Google Image their profile picture:
Scammers use other people’s picture for their false profile. They do it because its easy and its a picture that worked in the past so they are certain it will work on all future chumps. To check on their profile, download their picture from the dating site (or from email if they sent it to you) and drag & drop it into Google Images Search. If they grabbed the picture from someone else it will show up in a search.

3) Use a Personal Information Aggregator:
If you have their name and location, verify them in Spokeo.com. If you have not used Spokeo before… get ready for a shock. It is scary how much information is online about most of us. Keep in mind not everyone has information online but if they bought a home, own a business, changed homes a few times or went to a university, chances are there is a record of it online. If you don’t find them on Spokeo, try Zabasearch.com or white pages. With the information you gather, you can determine if its a real person or just made up. You can get their phone number, REAL email address, address.. use this information to verify if they are telling the truth.

You may have heard the saying “Trust but verify”.. well on the Internet you should not trust anyone and verify everything with two or three separate reputable sources. The ability to be anonymous on the Internet coupled with the selfish, apathetic nature of cold strangers makes tragic victims of trusting hearts. Trust NO ONE, particularly if you have not met them in person (and I would even say keep a watchful eye on those you have met in person LOL). Only time and experience with another person’s behaviors and actions will tell us what they are really all about. Knowing someone over time is really the only way to begin to allow trust to creep in.