#romance_scam

Due to the anonymity of the internet, lying and scamming can be incredibly easy. They can be found in every major social network or dating site. If you're not careful, you could get scammed out of your time (and feelings) or even money. So, how can you tell if the person who has contacted you is sincere or a scammer? Scammers are mostly from Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Russia.

We have many measures against such scammers, but there can never be a hundred percent protection. You can identify scammers through there particular characteristics. Be warned: Never send money! When a stranger asks you for money, alarm bells should be ringing straight away. Here are a few tips to Romance Scamming:

How to recognize a scammer?

There is no patent remedy for scamming, but many typical characteristics. When in doubt, simply inform our support and we will check the profile.

It often comes very quickly the proposal to continue the conversation through another online service. This can be via e-mail, typically using a Hotmail.com or Yahoo.com e-mail address. Another option are Instant Messaging services such as Skype or Yahoo Messenger. Scammers know that for a long discussion on Jaumo they run the risk of being recognized by our automated system.

You will be asked during a conversation for some money, which should be mostly transferred via Western Union. Alternatively, it is also asked to open a bank account in their name (mostly with Wells Fargo Bank). In most cases, it's all about money sooner or later.

The conversation usually is in a bad language style due to automatic translations of the scammers. Typical phrases include "I am a good and faithful man", "I want to find your soul mate", "I want nice of you to know" or "I'll be happy to hear from you".

African scammers often mention in the conversation that they are from Africa or just temporarily residing in Africa. They often use very common last names such as Williams or Smith.

Usually you get very long, prefabricated texts about pitiable misfortunes, diseases and a urgend needed surgery, training or study, a sick child or another financial bottleneck with the urgent need to overcome. It may also be that you are asked to send money for a webcam or that you can continue the conversation via Internet in the future.

How do scammers look like?

The photos of the scammers are stolen in most cases from other websites on the Internet and they use the same images over and over again. Therefore, one can find the pictures quite simple with an image search or in relevant forums about scamming. Scammers use almost always photos that do not show the actual scammer, but a fictitious identity.

Male scammers profiles usually show pictures of Americans or Brits at an age from 40 to 55 years. Some of them use pictures of soldiers (so-called "Military Scam"), engineers or doctors. 

Female fraudster profiles are mostly much younger, between 25 and 40 years. They look often for much older partners, mainly in the age from 40 to 70 years. Typical occupations are teacher, student, nurse or model. The pictures show most U.S. Americans or Britons, often revealing image details of images that were stolen from porn sites.

What to do if you get in contact with a scammer?

Enter the name of the scammer in Google with the word "scam" and see if she or he is already known. You can do the same with the profile pictures and upload them to the Google Image Search.

No longer reply to the scammer. End the conversation without notice. 

Use the report function in the profile of the scammer. We usually respond within a few hours and our anti-scam system will keep an eye on the profile.

Never send cash, checks or identity papers! If this advice came too late, then go immediately to the nearest police station and report it.