The Big Lipowsky Challenge: Can you scam the JDate scammer

Back in November, The Big Lipowsky posted about some Nigerian-esque scams hitting JDate. I challenged readers to write in with their own adventures in date scammers.

I received the following from Timo, a reader from Israel, who has been playing with someone trying to scam money from potential suitors. Timo found this “woman” (it could very well be a man, you can’t tell with scammers) on JDate and he was the one who began the e-mail. They’ve been writing to each other for two months and she has been asking for money for plane tickets and visas from Russia. “Olesya” claims on her JDate profile to be from Austin, Texas, but has told Timo that she is in Russia. According to an IP check from Timo, the e-mails are originating from California, not Russia as the scammer claims. It appears that the scammer has not caught on yet that Timo knows what’s really going on.

Here’s the last e-mail sent to Timo by the scammer:

Hi my love Timo! I was very glad to receive your message. I already
spoke to you that I have concluded the contract and I need to pay it
but you did not trust me and doubted me. Now I cannot still find money
to arrive to you and me there is no some sum. I have got tired of all
it. I only wish to be one it with you. Timo, I very much love you and
I miss on you but I think that between two people there should be a
full confidence but I and do not feel it from you and to me it is very
bad from it. Now remains two ways which we should solve or you send to
me of money that I could arrive to you and we will be happy with you
or the second way it I never will arrive to you and I think that we
need to leave and not to correspond any more with you because every
day I fall in love with you more and more but I do not want love on
distance. So you should inform me what way you choose also I do not
want more than any riddles. Timo, Now I finish the message and with
impatience I will expect your answer. Your love Olesya.

And here’s a summary from Timo about the ordeal:

“She’s” getting frustrated of not getting money from me and she’s about to cut our “relationship” if she won’t receive it by telling that she loves me so much and can’t be separated from me. I don’t think she has any idea that I know she’s a scammer. What I did for the start when she asked to pay her visa and tickets was just asking questions of how does it go, like with the embassy, councils and authorities. Now, I knew there’s a new law that russians won’t need a visa to visit in Israel in order to support tourism. When she finally asked the money for it, I told her that she’s been cheated by her agency because she won’t need any visa to Israel!! Oh boy, she got mad !! Then I like “forgot” that by writing other things and she continued to tell me she’s needs still moneyand I told her a story that the Israeli government is tracing the money flow abroad and that I had once tax problems so I’m not allowed to send money! Well, then she told she will ask money from her friends and relatives in order to pay the tickets. After her “long search” to borrow money from them failed and she asked me to send her again. I told her that I will try.
I got all the details of money transfer by Western Union with transfer codes and told her that I sent the money. Of course it was a fake. She wrote that she went to bank and nothing arrived. I said “what a strange thing”. 🙂 Then I sent her all the “details” of the transfer and she got to bank and she was told that such a transaction is not existed ! She wrote that am I trying to fool her and why do I do it. I told that “you see, I told that I might have a problem to transfer”! Then she like “started to borrow money” again from her surrounding until she told again that she can’t find any. Now it was $700 she needed when before it was $350. Anyway all the expenses she told me were double than in reality as I checked the flight cost.
Now my last play is that because I can’t send her the money (and she continued to ask to send her money even though I told many times that I’m not aloud to send) so I “found” a solution. I told her that I have a good friend here who’s flying to Kazan (city near Zvenigovo) and he’s a former KGB agent of russia. 🙂 While he’s there he will get to your city and give you the money, I will give him your picture to regognize you and he will deliver it personally to you! Since that two days has passed and she didn’t write to me. Now she has no escape….:-)

There has been no response from the scammer since Timo’s offer of having the former KGB agent drop off the money.

Keep sending in those stories, folks.

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