⚠️ Warning: I intentionally lie to scammers and play along with their stories. I do this to expose their tactics and waste their time, but you should never try this yourself. If you suspect someone is a scammer, cut off contact immediately and report them.
This one started on a dating site called Mature People Mingle. Almost as soon as I matched with “Mary,” the conversation shifted over to WhatsApp — a classic red flag.
For this test, I used my fake bio Jake Caldwell, a 50-year-old engineer from Montana. He’s part of the toolkit I use to keep scammers talking. Sure enough, Mary wasted no time trying to push the conversation toward money. Within just a few days, she was professing deep feelings and then suddenly had an “emergency” that required — you guessed it — gift cards.
This scam was fast. Unlike the long “pig butchering” cons that play out over months, this one was a smash-and-grab attempt. The script was textbook:
- Rapid affection — she started calling “Jake” honey, dear, and soulmate almost immediately.
- Isolation — she wanted to move off the dating app right away to avoid platform detection.
- An urgent story — something had “gone wrong” and the only way to fix it was with gift cards.
- Pressure and guilt — she played the “you’re the only one I can trust” card to push for fast compliance.
It’s worth noting that gift cards are a scammer favorite. Once you scratch the code and send it, the money is gone. According to Homeland Security, scammers love gift cards because they’re anonymous, untraceable, and can be resold instantly. If anyone — even someone you think you’re dating — asks you to buy gift cards for them, it’s a scam.
From the style of the conversation, the West African scam playbook was obvious. The oil engineer persona, the quick emotional bonding, and the sudden gift card request are all classic signs of Nigerian and Ghanaian scam groups, often called Yahoo Boys. They run these cons in high volume: push fast, cash out small, and move on.
The sad part? If I weren’t running a fake bio, someone else would have been targeted. And many people still fall for it. The FBI estimates over a billion dollars is lost to romance scams every year, with thousands of cases involving gift cards.
Red Flags to Watch For
- A profile that looks too perfect — successful, good looking, but conveniently single.
- Moving off the dating site to WhatsApp, Telegram, or email almost immediately.
- Love-bombing and fast talk of commitment within days or weeks.
- An emergency story that just happens to require money or gift cards.
- Refusal to meet in person or video chat, always with an excuse.
Bottom Line
If someone you meet online starts asking for gift cards, crypto, or wire transfers, cut them off. No matter how charming they seem, love + money request = scam.
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