Information on romance scams and scammers.
#245067 by Bryon Williams Mon Apr 06, 2015 6:29 pm
Hello,

It is a scam. The scammer has stolen the pictures and names of real people.

You have not been in contact with the real Mark. The real Mark will not write you.

Stop all contact with the scammer.

Please contacta moferatorstor if you have a question or information about this post.



Please do not tell the scammer he is posted here.


Please remember the fallen. https://www.odmp.org/
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#261851 by Bryon Williams Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:56 pm
Welcome to Scamwarners,

Please post his email address, a couple of his messages anything that will help others avoid the scammer.

Please contacta moferatorstor if you have a question or information about this post.



Please do not tell the scammer he is posted here.


Please remember the fallen. https://www.odmp.org/
#261903 by jbernsg Wed Jul 29, 2015 8:46 am
Hello everyone

From my own personal experience with this particular scammer in mention whom I knew then as 'Mark James' ... Please be aware he is a total fraud ... Matter of fact, the profile shows one man but in actuality ... It is a consolidated group effort by several Nigerian men all taking turns to pose as this particular scammer. He is on all forms of social media, including online dating sites, using different names but with the same set of pictures and photos. He/they use the military profile to request for care packages and then money to be sent to them, including computers. He will say that he wants to 'meet' and then even do video messaging to gain his victim's confidence and the video will feature anybody but a black Nigerian man. But that is fake. Also, he will use the excuse of retirement to want to meet but then delay the meeting because of his 'colonel' not agreeing to let him retire early. He/they will start will little $$$amounts and then create artificial scenarios to create anxiety and panic to request for money in the thousands. It's one public profile of Mark James or James Stuart or any other name but always the same set of photos but it's actually a full time syndicate of Nigerian men who pose as this man. They prey on women who are older, divorced or never married and vulnerable for love and company. When I had collected my facts and confronted him/them ... Including the IP address ... They could not deny their scam and confessed. Please be very aware that this person(s) are real full time professional scammers who do this for a living.
#261904 by Bryon Williams Wed Jul 29, 2015 8:51 am
^^^ Welcome to Scamwarners,

Please post his email address and if he had a phone/text number. Also a couple of his initial emails to you.

Do the same with the fake commander/leave officer.

This will help other women not to be scammed by the thief.

Please contacta moferatorstor if you have a question or information about this post.



Please do not tell the scammer he is posted here.


Please remember the fallen. https://www.odmp.org/
#261986 by jbernsg Wed Jul 29, 2015 4:57 pm
Hello Bryon

Unfortunately this incident happened to me 2 years ago and I have since deleted all further contact with him out of disgust.

However .... I still do have his email address under the assumed name of Matk James and it is ...

[email protected]

I would like to state something else ....

Upon confessing and admitting that it was a total scam and that I had been speaking not just to one person but many who took turns posing as 'Mark James' ... This one particular scammer had the complete audacity to inform me that they will not stop and continue to scam other women. He said that to them, it is not a scam. It is them telling lonely women what they want to hear and in return for showing them love and affection, they get 'paid' for it. He also said that they do this because their economy is very poor and they do this as an easy way to survive.

They are professionals and have figured out many ways to gain the trust of women including learning the different nuances of the language and culture of the many women they prey on.

At some point they will also ask for nude photos ... And this is used in later stages to blackmail the women by threatening to pose these pics online ... Should the women fail to send them the thousands that they ask for.

Fortunately, I did not agree to their demands.

When discovered, this scammer turned it around and told me that he loved me and still wanted to continue a real relationship if I would agree to move him here to America and give him legal immigration status.

He also said that he had not come forward sooner to confess who he really was because of his fear that I might not accept him being a black Nigerian man.

These scammers are by no absolute means amateurs. They are technically, psychologically and emotionally adept at identifying their prey, luring their prey and capturing their prey as emotional hostages.

The only reason they continue to do what they do in taking advantage of women online is because we enable them to by providing them the money and the equipment to do so.

They know they cannot be stopped because they cannot be caught.

On a final note ... These scammers do not talk to one woman at a time. At any one given time, they have as many as 20 women communicating with the same group of scammers under the online profile that you got to know. Multiply this by the amount of $$$$ and you will understand how lucrative this 'business' is.

Be warned.
#266016 by morgana Tue Sep 01, 2015 3:21 pm
Hello, the legitimate pics of Mark Stuart James is now used on FB by Smith Bruce Anthony. He did not ask yet anything from me , but he keep on chatting and telling me that he wants to spend his life with me after few days of chatting. On his FB profile there are the pics of the US Army Man. He wrote me that he is in Syria for a peacekeeping mission, he is a Major General and will retire in three months. He wrote that he has a 15 years old kid in Military Academy in UK and lot of other lies about his previous life, family and so on
Asks lot of questions, I figured out immediately searching Google for the images that he was a scammer, but I gave him some rope to hang himself, but now I am fed up to read all his lies, so I will block him. This is just to let other women know.
#269069 by Yvettehatesscammers Thu Sep 24, 2015 12:30 pm
Hi I have been talking online through messenger from Facebook with a guy that states his name is James Stuart and also states that he is a 4 star General currently serving in Kabul, Afghanistan... After total telling me he was retiring and retiring next month that he wanted to marry me..He states that he is widowed and has a son named Kelvin that is currently in boarding school in England and has had me contact him as well... He said he needed a parcel paid for that is in Russia that they are currently going to close down any day and it upon contacting the company requires a 320.00 registration fee... He has sent me many pictures of himself and we have skyped but it was silent and the man I was seeing was busy typing away and not talking...He said we had to be quiet afterwards... Anyways I have been going back and forth regarding this parcel that he says has over a million dollars in it and some much needed documentation of his in it... I have refused to pay it then upon a friends suggestion Googled him and I am seeing a lot of stuff that concerns me that this guy is not who he says he is... After confronting him yesterday with some posts I read on this site and asking him if he really is who he is..I got no reply and upon even pressing the issue further and saying I was going to go to the local Media And report him and also to his superiors...He deleted me as a friend on Facebook and has now blocked me... I am just wondering what steps I can take next to confirm that I was right or wrong..I also reported to Facebook that his profile may be a fake one.. What should I do now..I feel bad if I am wrong but things were just not adding up right to me..He confessed that we would never be apart and would be forever but it all came crashing down when I confronted him..I also asked for him to give me a phone number so I could contact him and he said that he was not permitted due to give out that info due to his position and he is only able to contact by phone his "superiors"... Was I wrong or right and does anyone else here have had the same thing happen to them with James Stuart??? He always called me honey and seemed so in love with me asked me to be his wife..and always was bringing up the "parcel" and was adamant about me getting it for him or he was going to lose all of his savings from the war and his documentation that he needed..That he had himself deposited the monies and needed it for his retirement and to build a life with me... Any feedback would be greatly appreciated... Thank You
#269131 by Tim Atem Fri Sep 25, 2015 7:01 am
As you've already figured out, he is a scammer. He is not a real soldier and he's using stolen photos of a real soldier. Going to the media will not accomplish anything. Be grateful that you found this out now instead of losing any money to this scammer. The best thing to do is move on, ignore him if he does contact you again.

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PLEASE DO NOT TELL A SCAMMER HE IS REPORTED HERE!

Learn what a scam is and how to protect yourself
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#269150 by Dotti Fri Sep 25, 2015 11:24 am
As Tim said, he's not a soldier. He's not even American. He has no connection to, and has never met, the General he is impersonating. Generals in the US military have extremely busy lives and no time to be searching for romance online. The same is true of deployed soldiers in any kind of a conflict area--what time they have to communicate is spent connecting with their friends and family back home, not starting new online relationships.

He's a young African man who makes his living using lies to steal money from people halfway across the world from him. Scammers come from everywhere, including the US but in this case it's safe to assume he is African, because the details you describe are literally textbook African romance scammer.

The reason you could not hear him on skype is because he was using video of the real soldier he copied from the internet to fake webcam, and he couldn't fake a conversation along with the image.

He doesn't care if you threaten to report him, because in reality you don't know his real name, location, or any identifying information.

A few other points to keep in mind as you will likely be the target of other scams:
-Soldiers are paid for their service, and they DO have access to their money. Generals make quite a bit of money but in reality a soldier at any level does not need to ask an internet girlfriend for money.
-Scammers rely on news stories related to one situation several years ago in which soldiers found a large stash (and they did not smuggle it out of the country, which would have been criminal--instead the money was handled through appropriate channels.) Scammers act as if this kind of situation happens regularly--it doesn't. Soldiers aren't out there finding and keeping or sharing large amounts of money, it's just scammer fiction.
-Soldiers are not running around shipping large amounts of money either. Pay and bonuses go to their bank accounts, not in packages.
-Diplomats do not deliver money or packages for/to private citizens.
-Soldiers request their own leave. You cannot request leave (or anything else) for a soldier.
-Soldiers do not pay for leave or to travel home when they have leave. It's like vacation from a full-time job--earned, not bought.
-They are provided the ability to communicate with loved ones. Medical care is provided for them, and their children are also covered by military benefits.

Any time a soldier tells you ANYTHING contrary to the points above, just block him and move on. He is a scammer, not a soldier.

Need to post photos? http://scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3219
Are you a victim of a romance scam? Read here for advice and FAQ's.
#269163 by legionlady14 Fri Sep 25, 2015 1:29 pm
I also was in the same situation but with a different scammer. Even when the experts told me the guy I fell in love with was a scammer, I did not believe them. It took me a year and a half to get over him and move on. In May of 2015, he tried to reconnect on g-mail chat. I deleted his request.
#269169 by Yvettehatesscammers Fri Sep 25, 2015 2:50 pm
[quote="Bryon Williams"]Welcome to Scamwarners,

Please post his email address, a couple of his messages anything that will help others avoid the scammer

REPLY: Company he is asking to send money to for parcel and email is [email protected]
Email Address he is using is: [email protected]
Sorry I misspelled the last message his personal email..Thank you

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