Watch for Online Scammers and Swindlers

By Conversation Exchange
Last updated on Apr 20, 2023

Conversation Exchange is a very large community with people from all over the world. Unfortunately, this also attracts individuals interested in making money using any sort of illegal scams.

Please do not trust any user unless you built a long relationship. And even though be on the watch as some of them take their time to build trust and then make fraudulent requests.

Usually a scammer will make a fake identity to trick you. Even though he will offer to help by claiming to be from an English-speaking country you might notice some major errors in his English.

Some of the most common stories a scammer might use are:

• Promise high-returns on Crypto Currency investments and ask you to open an account and deposit money on a fake web site. If you want to invest talk to your bank and/or financial advisor.
• Very dramatic stories like major accidents and deaths in his/her family, like he/she is a widow or lost a child in a car/plane accident or he is far away and needs money because of a major illness, for the kid birthday, for the nanny, etc..
• Claim to have rich family members that left him a huge amount of money and he is willing to share it with you and needs your bank info.
• He is a marine engineer, or a sailor, or an oil rig worker and wants to move to your country. But his luggage is stuck at customs and asks you to pay to release it. He will send you a fake customs email and web site requesting the payment to release his luggage.
• He is an investor and wants to invest in a business in your country and needs to send you some of his belongings. He might send you a fake passport picture as well to prove his identity. Never trust the picture of a passport, it might be fake.
• He is flying to your country and wants to meet with you to exchange and later will ask for a favor, like releasing his luggage or help him because his credit card does not work. He might even send a (fake) travel document to prove his identity.
• He/she is a soldier stuck in Syria or other battlefield for some peace-making mission and needs money to go back home.
• He/she is a general or soldier in the US military and wants to practice your language. He might send you fake pictures of a guy in a uniform.
• He/she is a very busy medical doctor and needs your help. Even though he is busy he will also ask you to use a social app instead of Conversation Exchange.
• He/she works the Red Cross or a military doctor and needs money to escape from the battlefield.
• He/she is in another country and his credit card stopped working.
• He/she promises to pay you for a favor using a Bank Transfer or mailing you "cashier's", "certified", or "verified" check which is fake. Do not provide bank information to people you do not know. Always ask your bank to verify a check before depositing it.
• He is super nice and sweet and will communicate with you for weeks up to the point he will pretend he fell in love with you. And probably you will too... that is when he will take advantage of you and ask for money. Be very careful and watch out for such romance scammers. They can be very sleek and persistent.

These are all made up stories to trick you and build compassion, trust and interest in order to then request a favor which in most cases requires a payment of some sort.
If you want an additional list of made up stories please check this link.

In most cases a scammer will immediately ask you to leave Conversation Exchange (due to the nature of his job, the site is not available at his location or other lame excuses) and move to personal e-mail or other chat applications like hangout, skype, etc. Conversation Exchange messaging is more secure as it won't reveal your email, phone number or chat IDs. If later you can trust your language partner then go ahead and use other apps as well.

Other signs that the person is a scammer are listed here.

Please be careful and DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY to people you do not know. Do NOT offer help to pay for medicines, NATO, Red Cross, luggage stuck at customs, or other things to be mailed to you. Do not disclose bank information.

If you think the person you are exchanging is suspicious or making strange requests let us know so we can check their profile and verify he is legit.

If this happened to you already, please report it at ftc.gov/complaint - click on Scams and Rip-Offs, then select Romance Scams.

We want Conversation Exchange to be a safe community and educate our users to practice a safe exchange.

If you have questions please contact us. Thanks.