Wednesday, October 22, 2008

A jokester and scammers on-line


Sunset from space

Last night a young woman by the name of Rachel (I will be kind and exclude the last name) emailed me on Facebook and originally had viewed my photo and profile on the Are You Interested? application. She used very suggestive language in a bid to make fool of me, but I simply informed her that I had no interest in that nonsense and we actually ended up finishing the conservation on a semi-serious note.

Theologically, I showed Rachel Christian love instead of counter-attacking her with anger.

Rachel meant to make a fool of me and failed, but in the past scammers through Christian Cafe and especially Meet Christians.com have tried to scam me. There are dating websites where a young woman (also sometimes a man pretending to be gay, but I have not been contacted thankfully!) from Eastern Europe or Africa pretends to be interested romantically in a man and with the use of scripted letters tries to entice him to pay for her to fly over to his country. Once the money is sent she keeps it and is a no show, leaving that man alone and with less cash.

The scripted letters were clear evidence of scamming for me immediately. As well, the reply letters would not deal with my return letters in any major detail.

One woman told me she 'loved me' after three to four letters.

Below is one site that exposes the scammers:

Russian Scammers

The following is a summary of some of the suspected scammers who have emailed me.

In 2006, someone by the name Tufaina, formerly Rita Bush, both from a Gold Insurance email header, eventually apologized for her dishonesty, after she had sent me pictures of models that were not her, and so I removed her email addresses and the pictures she used from my blog. She stated:

Okay, sorry and thank you.Christianity is forgiveness. Previously from Gold Insurance=Tufaina=Rita Bush +Why all this sinful act of a christian brother,who told you am a scammer and why you put my picture in your web site and claimed that im scammer? please remove it and walk in the Lord. tufaina

Months earlier in 2005, she had emailed me using a different alias and with a photo of a different model. She had forgotten that she had contacted me previously! She had claimed to be a former Mrs. Miami and stated:

Jesus is God.How are u?pls this is my office account,kindly contact me with my personal.

She called herself Rita Bush and sent me through email magazine cut out photos of a blonde, who was obviously not the same person as the brunette, who Tufaina claimed to be in 2006.

She emailed the following in 2006 after I exposed her:

You hurt me and disgrace my personality,my friend saw my picture and told me about this,please for God sake take this out.What is my sins for you?do i take money from you or cheat you?you are the one that gave me your email address when we chat .Im not interesting in this again and pease take this out.Im a missionary and servant of God.

I noted:

Tufaina you have not cheated me out of money, because I have not sent you any. You have been dishonest with pictures of obviously two different women.

She stated:

You gave this to me in christian site and my heart is pumping blood for you act,please take this out for Christ sake.I never knew you are like this.You sent you pictures to me but if i do like you will you like it?God is seeing we all.

The following email was from Yana, who is in my estimation a Russian scammer. Yana, and I never had meaningful dialogue, and she did not deal directly with my letters, instead relying on a script.

hi My love.I did not receive your letter. I very strongly worry. Whether all at you is good. You were not ill. I suffer for you. I ask you calm of me, write to me the letter. Now it so is necessary for me your letter. I strongly love you also I wait from you for the letter. Always yours Yana.

She calls me Mark by mistake.

mark.Today on April, 1 day of jokes and laughter.Today I would like to congratulate you on this holiday.Tell and you mark this holiday at you in the country and as you do it to me it would be very interesting to know.I hope to hear more detailed story about it in the following letter.At us in Russia this day people play people, joke and have fun.I would would like that also you this day did not despond and would be pleased lives that in it has not taken place. I too would like to cry and much because of what problems. But I not such was necessary to smile and be pleased always lives that I successfully do. I know that 1 minute of laughter will replace one glass of sour cream, and you knew it tell to me.So be dared if you do not drink sour cream:)I wait from you for the letter and a good joke.Have remarkable day.Always yours Yana.

This was from sweet ol' Nadya, we have had no deep dialogue whatsoever, and she does not use my name.

I have offended you why you do not write me I wait for the answer. So your letters are interesting to me and suddenly they are not present I has thought that you have found another it so? If there is no that write to me at least two words or tell even hi! Nadya.

My reply:

Hello Nadya, I hope all is well. However, having received many letters from Eastern European women, I must say your letter reads like scammer script. So if you are not a scammer, please tell me specifically why I am so interesting. I post scammers on my website. Good luck.

Am I going to let scammers from Christian Cafe and Meet Christians, and a jokester from Facebook keep me from dialoguing with women on-line? No. I will likely never make more than a casual friend on-line and meeting a Ms. Right is a long shot. But, being on-line also allows me to promote my blogs and so it is worth the hassles to me.

I want to promote my theology blogs and interacting with strangers on-line is an aspect of that promotion.

Russ:)

30 comments:

  1. Ila Uvsya and Meme Gootgal say: Ya must be love me - good funnie papers! Wait to hear ya pleez.

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  2. That is a fantastic photo at the top there!

    Yeah, that's some pretty crazy stuff with those scammers. I've never used one of those websites, but I can imagine the type of stuff that might get across there.

    Have you tried eHarmony, Russ? A friend of mine has used it for about a year and a half and has had no scammers at all. And he has met a couple of very nice women on there.

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  3. Wow, Russ, you have women suffering for you, falling in love with you after only a few emails, having their hearts pumping blood for you, and wanting you to replace their sour cream. What is this power you hold over women?

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  4. Russ,

    If you actually married any of those women, you might suffer similar consequences as this guy who lives in my city:

    Police: Woman abused elderly husband

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  5. Jake, thanks very much.

    You are fortunate in many ways to be married relatively young.

    I tried eHarmony for free, but there are too many restrictions without a full membership.

    Russ:)

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  6. Hi, Jeff.

    On-line 'dating' sites and related can be dangerous and a person cannot be known well enough until she is met in person over a long period of time.

    Now, if only my power can be used for good!

    Thanks, Jeff.

    Russ:)

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  7. I have deleted a few Facebook friends recently because they appeared to have commercial purposes for being my friend...to put it nicely.

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  8. Hello Russ,

    LOL! those letters were funny and i will have to admit some were hard to understand. You are a very wise person. I am impressed! They are thinking that they can scam you but all the while you are witnessing to them as well as exposing them as scammers.. Great Job!

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  9. Russ, don't even respond to a thing from those sites- Christian Cafe, indeed! I was hoping to find a Christian woman to help me raise my young teen daughter, found a wife through CC, in fact. I actually had stopped even looking for someone when I was contacted by a truly noble and sincere Christian lady, and quickly became friends with her. Married, and lost everything I had, including all respect from friends and family and could easily have died in the process, when she was done with her game.

    Considering all the hazards and possibilities, especially in the West, celibacy is not such a bad option.

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  10. Thanks, Tamela.

    Yes, they are difficult to understand as for some of them English is not their first language.

    I try to be Christlike, but it is frustrating not being able to find someone decent for me.;)

    Russ

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  11. On the other hand, maybe a move to Russia? I read recently they have such a surplus of womenfolks the government is considering to allow polygamy.

    Joking with ya- Living in the True North is already close enough, eh?

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  12. Cheers, Robert.

    Yes, as noted I have cut some Facebook friends, and as well have taken a few scammers off of both Windows Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.

    I have not found anyone on Christian Cafe, but have had three dates through it. I have been on it since 2000, mostly part-time with the odd free days they provide a few times a year.

    I am very sorry you were taken advantage of Robert.

    Being celibate does not solve the loneliness problems and related struggles, but I agree it is not the worst option. As the secular Doc Love states, from Doclove.com, a man has to be willing to be single if a right woman does not come along.

    That is my Christian position. I am just not willing to go from little experience to instant step-father of teens or older even though I am not in my twenties anymore.

    Some women just have problems grasping this concept it seems. Some view things primarily in social terms. I explained it to a quite intelligent female friend and she came back with an offer to set me up with a 47 year old with adult children! No, that is not what I want at all, but I would like to start my own family. She basically understood in the end and meant well. I am not interested in significantly older women for a variety of reasons which I am not going to get into here because I do not want to offend, but I have little experience and would my own children, if possible.

    I simply won't capitulate, but I ask the Lord to guide me.

    Russia is one place I doubt very much I would live in!:)

    Russ:)

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  13. Yeah, well, having lived near Toronto, and having a good friend who grew up in Moscow, Naah, we won't go there!

    :-)

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  14. Hilarious stuff, Russ. But seriously now, I have a bank account in Nairobi that I can only tap with the help of a Canadian citizen. I can give you 100,000 dollars US if you help me get my millions out of Kenya!

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    ReplyDelete
  16. Russ said,

    "
    One woman told me she 'loved me' after three to four letters."

    O.k., Russ. What are you really like? Man, you made some poor, unsuspecting young lady fall in love without even giving her an opportunity to ever meet with you.

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  17. Love is Blind, so they say...
    Set your standards, keep an open mind on what your dream girl should be, be true to yourself,
    wait patiently, work diligently in the pursuit, wait patiently...
    Dreams can come true...But, be careful what you wish for!
    -Love Bug (ger)-

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  18. Russ,
    Well, at least there will always be some busy cardiologist.

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  19. Hey, Russ, if you email me your bank account number, I can get your account up and running again for you.

    I have deleted a few Facebook friends recently because they appeared to have commercial purposes for being my friend...to put it nicely.

    I have a couple Facebook friends like that, but I will keep them, as an opportunity to witness, unless they start sending me dirty messages or something. So far they have not bothered me at all, thankfully. But its of course a personal choice.

    I had a Christian friend years ago, whom I only knew via email and Christian Forum, who asked me one time, "Hey, could I borrow $50,000? I need to pay off some debts, and I'm really in deep. I'm good for it, so I'll pay you back."

    Man, I only wish I had $50,000! Of course, if I did, I would never lend it to someone whom I had never even met in person, and especially to someone who had already gotten so deep in debt, and was therefore apparently not good with money!

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  20. Hi Jeff.

    By commercial purposes I meant sexual purposes, and that was why they were deleted.

    Thanks.

    Russ:)

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  21. I realize you meant sexual purposes. I have one or two female friends on Facebook who are apparently looking for that (by reading their Profile), but they have not approached me online in that manner, so I won't drop them unless they do.

    I have another friend who just joined me as a Friend on Facebook who is a guy in the Army, and he is posing with a rifle. He and I are both involved in a couple of the fighting games, and he has also invited me to a couple other fighting games. However, he also invited me to join a "Hotties For Sale" game, which makes me wonder. There are definitely things on there that a Christian should not involve themselves in (another example being this Vampire game).

    It's amazing that the Bugs Bunny cartoon was made before I was born, yet it's still hilarious, and a quality cartoon. I had seen it and the Road Runner cartoon on TV many years ago, but I forgot that the Road Runner had raced Speedy Gonzales, which is an interesting idea (like the Flash racing Superman).

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  22. Thanks, Jeff.

    Yes, Facebook is full of blessings and curses, to put it one way.

    I think those two Warner Brothers cartoons are excellent.

    Russ:)

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  23. My brother gained 51 new friends on Facebook from yesterday till today (i.e., in one day). He did it through playing 2 games on Facebook, and inviting other people who play those games to be his Friend, and just said, "Looking for friends to play [name of game]." He showed me how he did that, and I have made a number of new friends in one day as well, though not as many as him (because I didn't send out as many invites). Of course, he doesn't actually know any of those people, but that could be a way to network and advertise a blog site.

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  24. Thanks, Jeff.

    Yes, Facebook does provide many potential blog readers.

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  25. Manuel from Fawlty Towers is insulted on his answering machine.

    Two suspended.

    I think Jonathan Ross can be quite funny, but he and his partner went too far as the F word was used in the context of 'Manuels' granddaughter.

    From:

    BBC

    Brand and Ross suspended by BBC

    Andrew Sachs says he accepts Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's apologies

    Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand are to be suspended and all their shows taken off air until the BBC has investigated their prank calls made on Radio 2.

    It follows a series of calls made by the pair to actor Andrew Sachs on Brand's Saturday night programme.

    The actor, 78, said he would not be reporting the matter to police.

    Meanwhile, Brand has told reporters: "It would be silly of me to speak without thinking because that's caused all this trouble in the first place."

    I am not going to take it anywhere. I'm not out for revenge

    Andrew Sachs

    He added he was sorry he upset Sachs, famous for his part in Fawlty Towers, over comments made about the actor's granddaughter.

    Sachs, 78, said he was "not surprised" by the BBC's suspension of the pair but added: "I am not going to take it anywhere. I'm not out for revenge."

    The calls were broadcast as part of Russell Brand's pre-recorded show on 18 October.

    Russell Brand said he was sorry he had upset Andrew Sachs.

    During the calls, Ross swore and said Brand had slept with Sachs' granddaughter.

    More than 18,000 people have complained to the BBC while watchdog Ofcom has launched its own investigation.

    The corporation's governing body, the BBC Trust, has now called a special meeting of its editorial standards committee for Thursday.

    Director general Mark Thompson will report management findings to the meeting and tell bosses what action he plans to take.

    Announcing the suspensions in an earlier statement, Mr Thompson said he would be returning from a holiday and would "in the coming days, announce what action we will take".

    This gross lapse of taste by the performers and the production team has angered licence payers

    Mark Thompson

    Statement in full

    "Since Sunday, I have been in regular contact with the senior executives I tasked with handling this issue," he said.

    "In the meantime, I have decided that it is not appropriate for either Russell Brand or Jonathan Ross to continue broadcasting on the BBC until I have seen the full report of the actions of all concerned.

    "This gross lapse of taste by the performers and the production team has angered licence payers."

    He added his "own personal and unreserved apology to Andrew Sachs, his family and to licence fee payers for the completely unacceptable broadcast".

    BBC One show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was due to have been filmed at BBC Television Centre, west London, later on Wednesday.

    Guests on the show were to have been Sir David Attenborough, comedian Frank Skinner, US teen singer Miley Cyrus and band The Killers. The BBC said people with tickets to be in the audience should not attend.

    A decision has yet to be taken on what should be shown in its place on Friday night.

    Ross's Saturday morning radio show, as well as Brand's Saturday night radio show, have also been pulled from Radio 2's schedules.

    Meanwhile, Ms Baillie, 23, told the Sun the pair should "pay for what they've done with their jobs".

    Brand and Ross both have Saturday shows on Radio 2

    She said her grandfather was "really upset and says he wants the whole situation to end".

    "What's funny about humiliating a lovely old man who has never harmed anyone in his life?" she added.

    She said Brand and Ross were "beyond contempt".

    "It was bad enough that they recorded these things on my grandfather's answer machine but astonishing the BBC saw fit to broadcast it when they could have stopped it.

    "Someone high up at the BBC must have decided it was funny and suitable for national radio. They've shown an appalling lack of judgement."

    'Not handled well'

    Andrew Sachs is best known for playing Manuel in Fawlty Towers

    Prime Minister Gordon Brown criticised the pair for "inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour", while Conservative shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a speech on Wednesday that it was "wrong for broadcasters to produce programmes that legitimise negative social behaviour".

    He told BBC News the corporation's reaction to the affair was "concerning".

    Labour MP Sir Gerald Kaufman, former chairman of the culture, media and sport select committee, said it was "essential for the BBC to ascertain quickly who was responsible for approving this pre-recorded episode".

    "This has not been handled well - clearly this should not have been broadcast in the first place and if Mr Thompson did not know about it then he needs to cut some heads off of the people that didn't let him know," he told BBC News.

    Sir Gerald added that if media regulator Ofcom were to fine the BBC for the incident, it should not be paid with licence payer's money.

    "If the BBC is fined I believe the two people involved should pay the fine and not the licence payers," he said.

    ReplyDelete