Victims stories

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I have recently been the victim of scammers. There were at least two and it was the usual stuff, one guy hooks up with me through a dating site, chats for a few weeks and then supposedly goes on a business trip with his young son to Ghana where he is robbed of his wallet, so he has no cards or cash. He does his business deal and names me as a trustee to receive some of the money so that I can send him some to come home as for some reason he can’t access his bank account (which I question on several occasions, also if he goes on business trips abroad regularly why can’t he claim on his insurance). It is at this point that the supposed bank manager takes over and there is tax to pay on the money he is sending me and a fee for this and that with me questioning all the time why can’t they take tax etc out of the money they are supposed to be sending to me. Of course this can’t be done for some reason or the other. I know now that it’s a classic scam. When I said no more money and they realised that I meant it Mr Bank Manager rings and tells me that my “friend” has been taken into hospital with a heart attack and he needs money to pay for his medical treatment. I tell him to contact the British High Commission in Accra who will help. For some reason he’s not very keen to do that, I wonder why. At this point I have already informed the British High Commission about it all anyway, informed the dating site where I first made contact, informed the Bank that they are using as a front, told my bank etc, etc. What is strange is that I have still had contact with one of them ( the “bank manager”) and really riled him by telling him what low-life’s him and his friends are as up until two days ago they were still using the same mobile phones! Extraordinary.
I still have the photographs that the first guy sent me and I’m wondering who it is. I suspect that they’ve got them by nefarious means as part of an identity theft but I would love to post them all over the internet and see what happens.
By the way I’m a 57-year-old disabled woman living on benefits, something that they were fully aware of, so I didn’t have much money to begin with and I don’t know how I’m going to pay back the money I borrowed on my credit card.
But as I said to “Mr Bank Manager” at least I’ve still got my self-respect and can look in the mirror without feeling shame which seemed to upset him. I think he may be in the wrong profession! (09/03/09)

“thanks for your response,no although im 40 years old but still i havent get engaged or married,about 3 years ago i was going to be engaged but that was the time when that scammer was working on my mind,i belive he knew many things about psychology so there are many people at risk now,during 2 years we exchanged about more than 500 emails,in first step he said i should pay 400 pound for registration so that process be legal,after that he said my funds going to be released but i have to pay 500 pound as a visa fee,then after one month he said everything was going to be right but a british chancellor named Greenland Janet told i should pay the tax of those funds and sent a form for me (british inland revenue)and required about 1200 pound but at last i paid about 1050 pound and he said i will complete the rest of that,after that he said because of political situation of my country chancellor is not interested in my visa so i have to pay something as a gift to make her kind about my self and then i paid 400 pound but at last he said she is requiring 10000 pound before my coming and w i told him i cant and i will never pay ,he said ok,wait after changing of chancellor maybe i can do something for you,in fact at first that was unbelievable for me that he is forging a lot of documents just for taking 400 pound from me but later i found that it was the pace and technique of scammers specially when i searched about William Wilcox scams in google,i know i cant reach to my funds any more,but at least i want that my information can be used for other people who doesn’t want to be scammed!!!!!” (09/16/09)

Please can you advise me on a possible scam. My sister has recently hooked up with a man she met on a dating site who calls himself Michael Wigins. He is apparently in the USA Army serving in Iraq. He is 47, widowed, has a six year old daughter living in Canada. This man is promising my sister the world he wants to marry her he is coming here in a few weeks etc, etc,. Through this my sister who has some health issues that makes her very vulnerable has sold her home in order to make funds. I have written to this man via email asking relevant questions and he refuses to answer. I have also emailed my sister links on the website with scam stories which I may add are very similar to hers. I am at my wit’s end please can you offer some advice. (09/2009)

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