Hi,
We had hoped that in our Christian site, that we would not have the same problems with persons who sought to take advantage of other persons. Unfortunately, in our first year at Christian Filipina, we’ve found that with the success and popularity of our website, we’ve also attracted some dishonest persons.
What are some signs that you can't trust someone you've met online? When their stories constantly change but the stories all end with a request for your money.
While we believe almost all of our members are honest, we have decided to share with our members a few examples when we have learned of scam persons who have tried to defraud other members. We also want to pass along to you the link to Dragonladies.org This is a site where you can read more accounts of internet scamming than you want to read. We don’t have any relation to that site or know how much of the information is accurate, but we think it can be helpful to talk with others to be wise when getting to know people from a different culture. You might also learn from more general fraud-information sites like http://fraudgallery.com/, FraudAid , and http://www.scamletters.com/ .
On our own site, I will share with you two examples from August of 2009. The first was a scam by a person claiming to be a woman employed as a petrochemical engineer living in the United States and operating her own oil drilling company. She signed up for the site and upgraded her account to a paid membership. She then apparently sent an email to several site members, and some of those responded offline. The men she responded with (in the two examples we heard about) thought something was fishy – especially when the woman seemed to have a male voice on the phone – and then found it especially strange when the woman came up with an elaborate scheme to donate supplies to the Philippines, which would require a western union payment from the man in order to release two suitcases of luggage containing these supplies. Here is the fake receipt from the supposed shipping company in Nigeria:
We have received a confirmation letter from your fiancee Miss Kodrea Smith who insured and deposited some luggage in our custody. Deposit number. GSC – O576 – PLG45, Sort/Clearance Code: GSC / 576-45/MP56 33, Deposit Certificate #: 405576.Confidentially saying we should deliver 2boxes luggage to you . We are pleased to inform you that we render diplomatic delivery services worldwide. We have agents such as; UPS international, DHL, FedEx express and many others who run a professional and quality delivery services all over the world. Our affiliate runs quality services at your disposal up to your doorsteps. The luggage would be sent by flight to the address you gave us has we have been earlier informed by your fiancee. Below are the charges for our service delivery direct to your doorstep
CHARGES
INSURANCE FEE : $ 510 .00
CLEARANCE : $ 330 .00
SECURITY: $ 210 .00
SHIPMENT &TRANSPORT FEE : $ 520.00
________
TOTALS : $1570.00
Amount paid by Miss Kodrea Smith $920.00
......................
Total balance ro pay $650.00
You are required to pay the total sum of U S D $1070.00 for services delivery to be done appropriately. Your tracking number will be sent to you so has to enable you know the movement of the luggage after payment of the above fee.
The luggage will be delivering to this recipient address given to us (confidential) Your contact address is needed where the luggages is going shipped.
METHOD OF PAYMENT:
Payment should be made through WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER agent nearest to you with the following information.
NAME : KINGSLEY NJOKU
ADDRESS : 40 ALLEN JUCTION
STATE : LAGOS
CITY : IKEJA
COUNTRY : NIGERIA
ZIPCODE : 23401
OTE:
Send the information you use for the payment to us for necessary documentation and shipment processing. Your ability to make payment as soon as possible determined the fastness of our services delivery. Thank you for consulting and using our services and be rest assured that your luggage are safe and secured for delivery. At INTER GLOBAL SHIPPING COMPANY,we serve you better with peace of mind. A trial will convince you. We hope to hear from you.
Yours Sincerely,
NJOKU KINGSLEY [Custodian Manager]
We are glad that our member sent us the scam report instead of sending the money to Nigeria! Never send money anywhere, especially Nigeria! Here is another example of a fraud that a user reported receiving from a member:
23/24 Cocody Avenue
Abidjan Cote divoire
Dearest One,
I know this mail will come to you as a surprise since we have not had previous
correspondence, please bear with me. I will really like to have a good bussiness relationship
with you, and I have a special reason why I decided to contact you. I am Miss Sokona Nnam 18
years old girl from Cote d Ivoire, the only daughter of Late Mr Edward Nnam I
am constrained to contact you because of the maltreatment I am receiving from
my Uncles.
They planned to take away all my late father’s treasury and properties from me
since the unexpected death of my beloved Parents.Meanwhile I wanted to escape
to anywhere i can have a good life but he hides away my international passport
and other valuable travelling documents. Luckily he did not discover where I
kept my fathers File which contains important documents.So I decided to run to
an orphanage camp where I am presenty hiding under Reform Abidjan Cote DIovoire
where my late father deposited some amount of money in a bank. I wish to
contact you personally for a long term business relationship and investment
assistance in anywhere in the world.
My late father deposited the sum of US5.5 million (Five million Five Hundred
united state dollars) in one of the leading bank with my name as the next of
kin.
However, I shall forward to you with the necessary documents on confirmation of
your acceptance to assist me for the transfer of the money to your account, and
investment of the fund. As you will help me in an investment, and I will like
to complete my studies, as I was formerly a medical student, when the crisis
started. If you are willing to help me in this kindly get back to me as soon as
possible.
I am waiting for your urgent and positive response. Please do keep this only to
your self please I plead you not to disclose it till I come over to your
country after the transfer.I am willing to offer you 20% of the total sum as
compensation of your effort and 5% for any other expence you made after a
successful transfer.
Thank you and God bless
Miss Sokona Nnam
Well, we are ashamed that it happened using our site, and we are going to try to keep our members up to date that they have to keep their common sense. And please, as soon as you are suspicious of any member, report it immediately. We will soon be installing a new feature to make reporting potential scam even easier, but for now you can easily use the Feedback Form link at the bottom of the page.
Remember, although these two extreme examples come from Africa, it’s also possible that a friend you meet on the site might ask for money even if she is a Filipina who is in your own denomination. We have a strict rule against members soliciting money from other members. Please report this behavior as soon as possible, and we will immediately suspend the violating member. It doesn’t matter whether it’s bad teeth, dead caribou, school expenses, sick grandmother, etc, it’s simply inappropriate, and it’s a violation of our terms of service.
We do value you as members of the site. We’re sorry that we have had to relay this information. Remember, don’t send money to anyone you meet online who you have never met in person!
Have a great day. Take your time to meet new friends. When you have a chance, take a trip to meet friends in person and learn about a new culture. Let me know if you have any comments or questions, by using the feedback link at the bottom of the page.
God bless you all.
Jen
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