Nigerian Dating Scam - I've been there

by Catherine
(Sheffield, UK)

I am a widow and after just over two years my friends told me to try internet dating. As I was in my 40's I thought I would join a site for over 40-plus dating which you pay a subscription for and I thought would be safe.

I started chatting to a guy who said he was english born but his father was american. He was working for the united nations as an orthapedic surgeon which I thought was a bit of a story but I went along with it.

We were chatting for a few weeks and he suggested going onto messenger as it would save money on subscriptions. He told me things like he was also a widower and told me about his wife etc. This went on for 3 months.

I gave him my mobile and he rang me each evening and we would chat for 5 or 10 mins at a cost to him not me. He even rang me when I was on holiday in Spain. When I came back we chatted for another couple of weeks and then he asked me for some money so that he could home and we could be together.

I was so gullible for the love but as soon as he asked me for money I cut him off completely. The best advice I can give you is if anyone asks for money or your bank details to transfer money into - cut them off totally and report them to the site you originally met on.

I also did some checking on other sites and also facebook and reported him on each site in a hope that nobody else can be conned by him. But I will say if they sound too good to be true cut them off and don't even say anything to them just get rid of them as soon as possible for the sake of your heart and in a lot of circumstances your pocket.

They pretend to be soldiers, working in Pakistan and also in jobs that will pull at your heart strings to make you fall for them as soon as possible.

Please take this warning and be very careful and forget about how you feel when you find out, and get them reported to whoever you can.