Are you falling prey to an oil rig scammer?
How do i know if someone is lying about working on an offshore oil rig?
In this article you will learn what an oil rig scammer is and how to expose romance scams in online dating.
Are you a believer of love through social media, dating apps or dating sites? Have you met an osshore drilling rig engineer on the Internet?
While it is true that many people find their partners on sites, such as
- Snapchat
- Tinder and others
there is also a terrible flip side to this picture. The Internet is full of scammers trying to trick you into giving them money or personal details. One wrong move and you can end up with an empty bank account.
Oil rig scams are one of the most common forms of online scams today. Here, the romance scammer tells you that they work on an oil rig, in a bid to win your heart and steal your identity or money.
When you search for offshore oil rigs, you find that there are currently more than 1.400 offshore drilling rigs operating all over the world. Considering how often romance scammers use this scenario, the chances of getting to know a real oil rig engineer online are very slim.
What should you know about an oil rig scam
People, especially women, tend to prefer some professions when looking for a partner. For instance, doctors and military personnel (US Army scammer) are some of the favoured professions. That is why romance scammers often appear as US Army scammers.
However, offshore drilling rig workers serve as a better cover as these people spend the majority of their time offshore, with no access to money or ATMs. Therefore, it is easier for scammers to ask for money under the guise of such professionals.
The scammer tells, for example, that he is working on an oil rig in the North Sea, in the Gulf of Mexico, in Norway, off the coast of Dubai or somewhere in the height of Australia. He is supposedly petroleum engineer or engineer supervisor or marine engineer contractor, drilling engineer, petrochemical engineer and so on.
Before asking for funds, scammers are careful to maintain their cover. Moreover, these people initiate an online romance with you to strengthen your emotional connection with them.
Remember, each step that these people take is ultimately aimed toward acquiring your money. For that to happen, they will shower you with compliments and praises, winning your heart in the process.
How can you identify scammers? The red flags.
Identifying such a scammer is trickier than it looks. However, following the steps mentioned below should allow you to determine which of your online contacts could be a scammer.
Tells you that he/she works offshore
While many people truly work on oil rigs, the mention of this profession by an online contact should always be a trigger for you. When you hear this, admit to yourself that you might be facing a scam.
He often tells us that he is a widower and that he has a minor child who goes to a boarding school somewhere back home.
Uploads stolen pictures
Scammers rarely show their true face on social media accounts. Most use pictures of attractive people to hook men/women to the profile. Some women are quickly flattered when a very handsome man courts them.
To determine whether the picture truly belongs to the profile owner, use tools such as Google reverse image search. Doing so tells you whether the photographs exist somewhere else on the web from where your online contact downloaded it.
Avoids meeting or engaging in a video chat
Since they portray themselves as someone else, scammers always make excuses when you ask them to meet you. Similarly, whenever you tell them to come on video calls, they will refuse with another excuse. Sometimes they say it’s forbidden, other times they claim the Internet connection is too bad.
There can be a legitimate issue once or twice. However, when you notice an online contact repeating these excuses every time you tell them to meet you, it indicates a scammer.
Mostly, they also claim that it is forbidden to make phone calls on such a rig. The reason is obvious: At least a native speaker would quickly recognize from the African’s dialect that the man is not from the country he claims to be from there. The truth is: offshore oil rig workers are allowed to communicate with the outside world although there are some occasions when they are not allowed to use a cell phone outside their accommodation on the rig.
He asks you for money or gift cards
No scammer directly asks for the money but instead makes up a detailed story about their need for funds. For example, most oil rig scammers use the excuse that they are at sea and need money for immediate emergencies such as damaged equipment. The romance scammer tells you that you are the only person who can help him through this difficult time.
Alternatively, they may ask you to transfer funds to their family members for medical emergencies. Some even dupe you by demanding payments in the form of online gift cards. Our advice: Never transfer money or send gifts. If you wire money it is lost. The scammer will never pay back any of the money as promised. And once you pay, he will immediately ask you for more money.
Forces you into a romantic relationship
While you may be interested in friendship with the person, the scammer always tries to initiate a romance. Furthermore, for such people, friendship blooms into romance exceptionally fast.
For these opportunistic scammers, a romantic relationship is just another way to ensure success. Watch out for people who force you into such relationships even when you are not ready.
What to do when you suspect he’s a scammer?
If you notice one or more of the above-mentioned signs in one of your online contacts, take necessary precautions. Listed below are some ways to avoid identity theft or financial loss.
- Limit sharing personal and financial details with people you do not know personally.
- If possible, avoid befriending people you do not know on social media platforms.
- Ask a range of questions to the suspected scammer. They often slip up and make mistakes while answering your queries.
- Verify each aspect of the individual’s profile, starting from the veracity of their profile picture.
- Arrange face to face meetings before an online friendship blooms into love. If the opposite person makes an excuse to avoid such meetings, you can be sure something is wrong.
- Never send any financial aid to people you do not know personally. Sending your online friend money can result in permanent losses.
- Finally, never send nude photos of yourself to a stranger you met on a dating app.
You can never be sure when someone is targeting you for romance scam. Therefore, these precautions can save your hard-earned money. Because once the money is transferred, you never see it again.
Not sure if the guy is real?
Our experienced private detectives discreetly conduct background checks on your online acquaintances. Is he a con artist – a romance scammer? Our investigations uncover whether the individual is authentic or a romance scammer posing to be an oil rig worker.
Is your online contact real or a fraud? Private Investigators uncover the truth whether you are a victim of a romance scam. Never send money.
We regularly check offshore workers and determine if everything the chat partner said is true. After a short time you will know for sure whether you are dealing with a real person or a fraudster.
Write us what you know about the man or woman. You will then receive an offer for an investigation for the background check. If he is a drilling rig scammer, you must stop communicating with the person immediately, because romance scammers are dangerous. Everything they write is a scam and all about the money.
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