How to spot scammers
Posted 03-15-2009 at 11:39 AM by peacefulgentle
OK, Many of you know I am a cop (only one ASL certified on department of 400), and I am HH one ear also. Anyway, I am going to tell you how to spot scammers here, at AllDeaf, and also in your regular email. Scammers took $$ from my brother by email, and I had my identity stolen. It can happen to me, it can happen to you. I will tell you how to protect yourself in many situations. I did the research to learn.
I will start with TagDeaf, AllDeaf, and similar social sites (even Facebook, MySpace, etc.) This is what to look for when you wonder about if someone is a scammer:
1. You have never heard of them before, and they contact you first.
2. You don't recognize their picture.
3. They are from far away, not from your area.
4. They are too friendly. In the case of "women" writing to men, they will tell you that you are wonderful, handsome, etc., and that they want to get to know you better.
5. Their profile has practically no information at all. No pictures, no bio, nothing, just a name, hometown, and a picture (usually a cute picture).
6. In the case of "women" writing to men, they will have a bunch of new friends, all men, no women. Watch out!
7. Most but not all scammers are from Nigeria. Nigerians tend to use terms such as "My dearly beloved, I am Mr. Robert Mendala, a prominent banker..." or, "My special friend..." They use strange phrases we don't use here in the United States.
What they want is your email address so they can start sending you email. They might start friendly, take advantage of you being lonely, then they start to tell you about big problems. For example "I have a baby and she needs an expensive medicine." The truth is that they are scamming you to become rich, buy drugs, live a gambler lifestyle, and laugh at you for giving them money and falling for their scheme.
OK, now on to email. Once your email address is on a spam list (if you get spam email, you are on a list), you will eventually get contacted by a scammer. Most of them, almost all of them are from Nigeria. Here are some sample subject lines from Nigerian scammer emails I have received recently:
*"FREE DEAF LOTTO"
*"CONGRATULATIONS LUCKILY WINNER"
*"God bless you - My Deaf Friend, My name is Reverand Matthew James"
*"Dearest, - Dearest, I am writing this mail to you..."
*"FBI AGECNCY" (yes, they spelled it wrong!)
*"FBI AGENT: Hello honest deaf I believe you all know what scam is..."
Don't talk to these people. Yes, they will frequently pose as FBI agents. Believe me, and since I am a cop I know about this -- the FBI will not email you from an address such as "scam@company.com" or "hanss@cox.net" (those are the two email addresses used for the two "FBI" email I received in the last month). If you are contacted by the FBI it will either be by a written letter through the US Post Office, or perhaps an agent coming to your house. It would be RARE to get an email from the FBI. If you do, it will have an email address that ends in "fbi.gov". For example, it might be "hoover@mail.fbi.gov" or something like that.
OK, now... what do you do if you have been contacted by a scammer, and have already given them money? Report it at
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) | File a Complaint
This goes to a multi-agency task force which includes the FBI and other agencies. You can make the report online.
If you have not given money, and you use an email program which tracks and eliminates spam, then hit the "spam" button if you get one of these types of email. The best scam programs are yahoo mail and google mail, but there are others as well.
If you are on TagDeaf or AllDeaf and you think you have a spammer talking to you, you can report it to the administrator, Alex. He is very good about investigating and removing scammers.
Good luck! Eric
I will start with TagDeaf, AllDeaf, and similar social sites (even Facebook, MySpace, etc.) This is what to look for when you wonder about if someone is a scammer:
1. You have never heard of them before, and they contact you first.
2. You don't recognize their picture.
3. They are from far away, not from your area.
4. They are too friendly. In the case of "women" writing to men, they will tell you that you are wonderful, handsome, etc., and that they want to get to know you better.
5. Their profile has practically no information at all. No pictures, no bio, nothing, just a name, hometown, and a picture (usually a cute picture).
6. In the case of "women" writing to men, they will have a bunch of new friends, all men, no women. Watch out!
7. Most but not all scammers are from Nigeria. Nigerians tend to use terms such as "My dearly beloved, I am Mr. Robert Mendala, a prominent banker..." or, "My special friend..." They use strange phrases we don't use here in the United States.
What they want is your email address so they can start sending you email. They might start friendly, take advantage of you being lonely, then they start to tell you about big problems. For example "I have a baby and she needs an expensive medicine." The truth is that they are scamming you to become rich, buy drugs, live a gambler lifestyle, and laugh at you for giving them money and falling for their scheme.
OK, now on to email. Once your email address is on a spam list (if you get spam email, you are on a list), you will eventually get contacted by a scammer. Most of them, almost all of them are from Nigeria. Here are some sample subject lines from Nigerian scammer emails I have received recently:
*"FREE DEAF LOTTO"
*"CONGRATULATIONS LUCKILY WINNER"
*"God bless you - My Deaf Friend, My name is Reverand Matthew James"
*"Dearest, - Dearest, I am writing this mail to you..."
*"FBI AGECNCY" (yes, they spelled it wrong!)
*"FBI AGENT: Hello honest deaf I believe you all know what scam is..."
Don't talk to these people. Yes, they will frequently pose as FBI agents. Believe me, and since I am a cop I know about this -- the FBI will not email you from an address such as "scam@company.com" or "hanss@cox.net" (those are the two email addresses used for the two "FBI" email I received in the last month). If you are contacted by the FBI it will either be by a written letter through the US Post Office, or perhaps an agent coming to your house. It would be RARE to get an email from the FBI. If you do, it will have an email address that ends in "fbi.gov". For example, it might be "hoover@mail.fbi.gov" or something like that.
OK, now... what do you do if you have been contacted by a scammer, and have already given them money? Report it at
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) | File a Complaint
This goes to a multi-agency task force which includes the FBI and other agencies. You can make the report online.
If you have not given money, and you use an email program which tracks and eliminates spam, then hit the "spam" button if you get one of these types of email. The best scam programs are yahoo mail and google mail, but there are others as well.
If you are on TagDeaf or AllDeaf and you think you have a spammer talking to you, you can report it to the administrator, Alex. He is very good about investigating and removing scammers.
Good luck! Eric
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