Author: Kevin McCoy

Here it comes…

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Kevin dear,

Wow!, you have my pictures pasted on your wall, i’m short of words right now, thank you so much. When i get back i would like us to hang out and get to know each other better cause i believe we share a lot of things in common and you’re the kind of guy i can see myself with for the long haul..But i’m worried right now because the seminar had already been concluded but something happened that is causing delays on my flight back.
What happened is that when i tried rescheduling my flight,the airline agent told me that i don’t have enough funds on my credit card,so I had to contact my card company since i knew the funds i left there and when the reports came i was told that i purchased some phones which i never did.i called my bank that issued the card and all they told me was that someone must have hacked my card and an identity theft was placed on my card and the investigation would be on when i get back ,it should not take more than 2 days to refund my money but i have to be home cause the Fraud department confirm to me they have lost over 1 million dollars to this kind of fraud and the insurance company are complaining.Now the airline agent is insisting i get the remaining funds before my flight can be scheduled,so sorry this happened before we met.

I have already used the remaining cash i have to settle the hotel bills and pay a deposit with the airline agent ..i have less than $40 with me here and i have to pay a balance of $750 to the airline agent so they can book me on a next flight out.
If i can get some help in anyway even if its a short loan,i will refund it,just to get my account reactivated.I think they got my online banking information..I cant get stuck out here..Its too risky for me.If you would be able to help me out on this i will forever be grateful and you will never be disappointed even if its important i have to refund it and i swear on my late fathers Grave never to let you down.I am so disappointed in myself right now.

I hope to hear from you soon.

I am online now.

Sarah

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I wasn’t online when she sent that email, and even if she was. I didn’t want our correspondence to end via chat. I wrote back the next morning, after deciding to pretend like I had a friend in London.

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Babe!

That’s crazy! Sorry babe, you sent your email so late last night I didn’t see it until this morning! Anyways, I’ve figured it all out for you! A friend of mine lives in London and she has the money for you! She is super nice, and a good friend of mine and our other friend Katie. I know she will help you out.

Don’t worry about paying me back babe, just knowing you’re safe is payment enough! Let me know when you get to Katie’s house so I know everything is working out!

Her address is:
57 Avenue Rd
London, UK

Worried about you!

Kevin

|  On Friday, June 20, 2014 9:02 AM, Kevin McCoy
|  <kevinmcocean@gmail.com> wrote:
|
|  Hey Jessie!
|
|  It’s been awhile, how are you? Hey, I have a huge favor to
|  ask. A friend of mine is in London right now and she’s having
|  problems with her travel agency. Can you send me your
|  address?
|
|  She probably needs a place to stay because she’s out of
|  money over there due to a problem with her credit card. Also,
|  she needs $750 for the flight home. I am wiring you $900
|  for your trouble, you should receive it soon.
|
|  Thanks so much,
|
|  Kevin

||  On Fri, Jun 20, 2014 at 10:16 AM, Jessica Stanley
||  ‪<jessieluvsya17@gmail.com>‬ wrote:
||
||  What the fuck Kevin!!! Are you kidding me right now!?!?! I
||  told you to NEVER TALK TO ME AGAIN!!! I don’t know if you
||  realized this or not, but MY HUSBAND is still fucking pissed
||  about the time he walked in on us having sex!!!! Don’t ever
||  message me again!! I don’t want my husband to think we’re
||  still in contact!!!

|||  On Friday, June 20, 2014 10:45 AM, Kevin McCoy
|||  <kevinmcocean@gmail.com> wrote:
|||
|||  Jessie,
|||
|||  Oh my god Jessie, hahahaha! That was like two years ago!!
|||  Is he still mad? Tell him to lighten up! Anyways, I really
|||  need your help. This girl is a friend of Katie’s, so stop being
|||  a bitch! Hahaha! I need your address so she isn’t wandering
|||  the streets of London alone, lol.
|||
|||  Kevin

||||  On Fri, Jun 20, 2014 at 12:02 PM, Jessica Stanley ‪
||||  <jessieluvsya17@gmail.com>‬ wrote:
||||
||||  Fuck you Kevin. Fuck you so fucking much.
||||
||||  57 Avenue Rd
||||  London, UK

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At this point, I’m literally pointing out that this girl is a hypocrite to the extreme. One thing she’s said over and over again is that she hates liars and cheaters. Well, from those messages from Jessie, looks like I might be a cheater…

She never replied, so I sent another message.

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Babe,

You ok? I just talked to Jessie and she hasn’t heard from you yet! Did you find a place to stay or figure out your credit card problems?

Miss you babe, stay safe!

Kevin

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This also never got replied to, so I decided to end this the only way that felt right: The End

This message is what confirmed it for me 100% that this person was fake.

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Thank you Kevin for getting back in touch with me as it actually made my day! I’m sorry it took a while to get back to you though, i’ve been somewhat busy with so many things i’m not about to get into right now. Anyway, like i said earlier, i love what i do and I’ve been modeling for some years now, 4 years to be precise, i do mostly glamour, fashion and commercial modeling. I will be coming back to the States as soon as possible and i’ll let you know later when the date will be. I live in downtown Seattle and i only just recently moved down there from Pittsburgh PA a couple of months ago and already like it there, i see why a lot of people never wanna leave too.

Could you tell me more about yourself? Do you teach math for a living or use your math skills in some other way? It’s cool that you’re a professional mathematician, never really fond of the subject if you ask me. How do you live with your friend and his wife, what’s it like? Have you ever been married? Do you have kids or want them sometime in the future? Well, i love kids so much and i can’t wait to start a family of my own someday soon. I am really going to put a lot of effort into writing this letter to you in hopes it will provide you with a good understanding of who I am, what I’m all about and what has made me the person I am today. The reason I am going to write a letter rather than just send a message is because I am serious about wanting to establish a quality friendship with you, and because of the fact I rarely contact anyone on here, so when I do you can be rest assured I am serious about my intentions.

I am looking for a man that will be able to listen to me, communicate his feelings to me, make me laugh, hold and comfort me in times of need, stand by my side, respect me, a passionate lover in every way, someone who will love me and only me, make me smile, protect me when needed, be romantic from time to time, constantly creative and knows how to treat me right…. I know you will probably be pondering on what a pretty lady like me is doing on the Internet looking for love when i can simply get men easily right? Yes, the reason I resorted to the internet to find the special person who deserves all the love and passion that makes up my heart and soul is because I do not have the time to meet others out in a public setting because of constant work and the fact I feel you can learn so much about a person through letters because he one has to take his/her time and think about the words they want to convey, so it allows you to gain a better understanding of someone than you would probably otherwise.

The very reason I am interested in establishing a friendship with you is because first i think you do have the qualities i seek in a guy and I feel I have a lot to offer you in the way of a friendship, I know I have a lot of love in my heart to share. I’m a woman of substance and not to blow my own horn, i know I’m very unique in today’s society because I live my life through my spirituality and through the word of God and because I have such a strong understanding of what I feel my role in life is supposed to be. I am a woman of integrity and my word is my honor!. I’ve got very high standards for myself and my life is all about providing love, peace and happiness to others around me.

Where others decide to write to a lot of people and keep their messages short because they are all about how many they can write to within a period of time, I am quite the opposite and very selective in whom I choose to write and I like to give them my very best even if it is in a lengthy letter. I know the type of guy I want to build friendship and ultimately a relationship with so I am willing to put the time and effort in my messages to show that much in my messages. I’m going to have to stop here for now and wait till i hear from you.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon,

Sarah

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Again, this minced English is super weird.

• She’s cute, but she’s not a model.
• Can’t give me a specific date for your return flight? And you’ll let me know?
• “Downtown Seattle”. No one lives in Downtown Seattle, you’d say I live in Belltown, or on Cap Hill. I don’t think anyone would say “Downtown Seattle” to another person from Seattle.
• I highlighted “married” because I decided that I would be divorced in my next email.
• Talking again about how important the letters are. Just say you’re in London and can’t talk on the phone. Pointing it out over and over again proves the ridiculousness of this whole situation.
• The way she talks about spirituality makes me giggle a little.

She attached 5 pictures of herself at the end of this email. What girl would do that? hahaha

I had decided this was fake, but I didn’t understand why. These letters were so boring for someone who was trying to mess with me, or even if someone was lonely and had made a fake profile. Why was this person messaging me? The only motivation I could come up with that made any sense to me was money. That’s when all of it clicked in my head. These letters were meant to get me to fall in love with this girl, or at least be interested enough that when her “flight home” from London has problems, I’d be willing to send her money.

Romance scams are terrible, and money scams are terrible, but doing both together is seriously malicious. I could’ve just not replied, but I think you’re going to be glad I did. Since I knew she wanted money, I decided to make it sound as if I’ve got some money to throw around…

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Dear Sarah,

I’m glad I made your day! You keep making mine. I totally understand being busy, there’s got to be a million things to do over there in London. You should definitely take your time and enjoy it! Honestly, I’m surprised you’re taking the time to write me at all while on such a fun vacation!

I use my math skills to predict the future, and as math sometimes does, it attracts all the ladies 😉 I work in the healthcare industry and deal with large amounts of financial risk. My job is almost identical in skillset to that of an investment banker.

It’s hard to find girls who like me for me. Usually they’re just interested in my money or good looks and don’t even know who I am. It’s really funny that you’re a model, because I always seem to end up dating models. My mom is going to laugh if you ever meet her and she finds out you’re a model. She thinks I’m very superficial and only date really attractive women. I am not superficial, which is why it’s important to me to really know someone well.

I love reading your letters, it makes me feel like I know you well. This is stupid, but I sort of miss you and we haven’t even met. You should keep track of all your favorite places in London, because maybe someday you could take me there and show me around. I feel so lucky to be talking with you, because you probably get guys constantly asking you out. I think you’re beautiful and you’re going to make a ton of money in your modeling career!

I was married once, but we got divorced two years ago. She was a hand model, her name was Vanessa. My mom was so happy when we broke up, it actually made things harder for me. I don’t have any children, even though we were trying. I also want to start a family, but luckily for me it didn’t happen with the wrong person. She left me for a tax auditor, but she never cheated on me while we were married. At least I don’t think so. I don’t really know for sure.

I am so glad you know God and you are so spiritual. I can’t stop thinking about those things either. I want to help you provide love, peace, and happiness to the world, and with Gods help, maybe we could do that better together than we could separately. I will meditate and send blessings your way as you are in London. I also hope you will come back to Seattle soon. I would love to hold your hand and pray to God about us maybe having a relationship together. I think your hands are even prettier than my ex-wife’s, and you have the warmest smile I have ever seen.

Your new friend and maybe more,

Kevin

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I have never been married, nor have I ever dated a model.

What happens next: Fifth Message

So I write back one last real message. Enough people thought it could be real that I decided to write back mostly out of curiosity. I told people at this point I was 95% sure it was fake, but I didn’t know why. The messages were not flirty or interesting, so it didn’t seem like someone was making a fake profile because they were bored or lonely. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, what was the point of this fake profile. It had to be fake right?

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Sarah,

That sounds like a fun trip! I’ve never been to London, or anywhere in Europe actually, but I’d love to visit someday. How was the seminar? Did you find it useful?

I’m sorry to hear about your ex, that’s a rough way to have a relationship end. I can’t really imagine what it would be like to be betrayed by both your best friend and your boyfriend, that just sounds awful.

I think it’s good that you feel cautious with who you fall in love with. A heart is a delicate thing, so it’s important to only share it with people who will also respect it the way it deserves. At the same time though, being too guarded also isn’t a healthy thing. Anything worth having requires some risk as well. Just risk it with the right person.

I don’t pretend to know what it’s like being a girl while online dating, but I hear some pretty ridiculous stories. Some of the ones I’ve heard were so strange I wondered how it’s possible that some of these guys actually exist. I guess that’s the downside of internet dating. I’ve even had several strange messages from girls, but I’m guessing that it’s much tamer than what girls receive from guys.

So me, I’m easy going while still being driven. I am able to laugh at myself, and can enjoy pretty much any activity as long as the right people are there. I try to keep people around me who I want to be like. People who I can have fun with, and who will call me out when I’m wrong. I don’t want to stay the same, I always want to be improving and trying new things.

I’m a professional mathematician (Actuary), but I don’t really fit any math stereotypes. I always have a ton of projects going on. You saw the dog portraits I’ve been doing. I act, paint, play music, read, write, edit my friend’s novels, and pretty much whatever sounds interesting to be doing that day. I’m excited for the summer because I plan on having several adventures! Recently, a friend of mine snuck into a festival after-party where at least 10 of the people there had been on Conan or Fallon! That was super fun.

My favorite color has always been red, after a blanket my grandma made me when I was very young. I live with two roommates. My roommate Michael owns the house, and his wife Brianna also lives with us. They got married last month, but they’re not kicking me out. We all enjoy living together, and it’s helping me save up for a house of my own. Every time I mention moving out, Brianna says, “Oh Kevin, you’ll never leave us!”

I’ve grown up around Seattle my whole life. I used to live in Bothell, then Bellevue, and now I live in Northgate. I love Seattle, but I also love traveling. I’ve gone overseas once a year for the last three years. Not sure where I’ll go this year, but I’d like to go somewhere. The last three times it’s been to Southeast Asia with friends. My old roommate Evan lived in Thailand for a year with his wife and I went to visit them during one of the trips.

Where are you from? Do you have any plans for the summer?

-Kevin

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I mentioned my favorite color only because she did.

See her response, and the end of reality: Fourth Message

The Google Plus account had detailed interests and followers. Not just clearly fake interests, but all sorts of them of all different types. It didn’t look like it was faked. She followed NPR, and some local photographers, some fashion blogs, some regular people, etc. There was nothing that really stood out as being unreal. Even more interesting, was there were hundreds of people following her. Guys and girls, and they seemed to be real as well. Now, she did just write me back with somewhat strange English at 4 in the morning, but that Google Plus account would be hard to fake.

Also, there’s like no downside to sending another message. I could always decide I wasn’t interested after the next response.

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Hi Sarah,

This is Kevin from OKCupid. You messaged me and told me to get ahold of you here.

How is your day going? I’m meeting up to hang out with a friend later, not sure what we’re going to do yet, but it’s a nice day and I’d like to get outside.

In response to your message, I signed up for OKCupid to improve my opportunities of meeting people. I’m looking for a real relationship that would eventually lead to marriage. I, also, don’t play games. I’m looking for a best friend. It’s hard to find someone who is best-friend caliber that’s a guy, so I’m not surprised that it’s difficult to find that sort of relationship with a girl. Anyways, I’m giving online dating a shot because it gives me a better chance at finding someone I might be interested in, even if it means having to wade through lot of people I wouldn’t.

I wrote you because you seem like you know what you’re looking for in a relationship. I appreciate your straight-forwardness and would like to learn more about you.

If you are interested, I’d love to take you out to coffee and get to know you better. Or, if you’re more comfortable with this, we could chat on the phone so that you would get to know me a little better before meeting in person. My phone number is (206) CEN-SORED.

Let me know, if you’re not comfortable with either of those we can continue to email back and forth for a bit. I’d love to hear about your job, and what you do with your free time.

Hope this finds you well,

-Kevin

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I hate writing emails, I’d rather talk on the phone.

She responds 18 hours later, the next morning.

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Hello Kevin,

I am really sorry for the little delay in response, i only just realized your mail was in my spam folder. Anyway thanks for keeping in touch and sharing a bit about yourself. I’d like to keep our conversation on an email basis for now if you don’t mind. Well, If you’re not looking to talk dirty and what you seek is something serious and long term then we can move on to getting to know each other better.

Hopefully this will give you an idea of who i am and what I’m about and if you like what you see we’ll go from there. Sounds good? I’m a model and i am presently in London, UK, came down here for a just concluded modeling seminar and should be back in the States in a few days. I am 25 years old and single as you already know, love to laugh and hang around fun loving people. I’m easy to get along with. I have being hurt in my previous relationships but won’t let that stop me from experiencing true love and finding the happiness that i truly deserve. I hate liars, cheaters (can’t stand those cause of my ex!!!!!) and more importantly i love what i do (modeling). I am willing to relocate for the right reasons or the right man if need be, i believe strongly in family values and i am seriously looking for that time when i’ll have a home of my own with my husband and kids. I think life without someone to share the good times and bad times with is an empty one and i don’t think i would wanna choose that kind of life. I have to admit it though, i am kinda cautious about who i fall in love with again cause of the experience i had with my ex ( we dated for 3 years and he ended up having sex with my best friend……caught them in the act). I strongly believe that the success of a relationship depends on both parties commitment and its about giving and receiving. I really hope to meet someone fun and interesting soon. I’m new to this online dating, don’t know about you but it seems like you can’t find a nice honest guy these days so I decided to give this a try. I think of myself as an honest and down to earth, loving, laid back kind of girl. I like trying new things all the time, I’m not a closed minded person, I love dogs not always scared of them,but i lost my puppy when it was just a few weeks old..I love music, sports, food..My favorite colors are hot red and blue and i love the outdoors as much as i enjoy being indoors. I’m not looking for a guy that’s just like me, because then what would be the point in that, I want someone that can show me new things, just as I can show him. So do you live alone? where exactly are you from? Get back soon.

Sarah

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I’m bolding all of the things I find weird.

• A little delay in response? This was literally the next morning.
• Keeping it on an email basis is not unreasonable, but it does seem like it could be fake.
• “I am presently in the UK”? I am presently not talking very colloquially…
• Hahahaha, Modeling Seminar? That is seriously the largest Red Flag you could ever have.
• Uh, who said anything about relocating. You said you were living in Seattle on your dating profile…
• TMI about your ex-boyfriend, maybe wait awhile before sharing that information…
• That puppy thing is either the saddest thing ever, or the creepiest thing ever. Please don’t go into detail about the most shocking sentence in this email…
• Is “hot red” a color?

I showed this to some friends. At this point I told people I think it’s most likely this is a fake profile. Several people just thought it might be a strange girl, or someone who has trouble conveying their thoughts through text. And I have received even stranger messages from people I know are real…

Read my next message here: Third Message

I read this girl’s dating profile and decided I was curious enough that it wouldn’t hurt to message her. So I did what I always do before my first message and tried to see if I could find her online. Searching for people online has saved me countless times at this point from messaging fake people. So many times I’ve seen a cute girl and image searched her photo only to find it’s been posted on Pinterest over a million times, meaning that this profile is most likely fake. Someone found a cute girl, made a fake profile, and is sitting there waiting to be messaged. I found nothing on this person, and this girl, while being cute, was not unrealistically attractive. She seemed like an ordinary cute girl.

It couldn’t hurt to message her so I did.

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Hi,

My name is Kevin. What career are you trying to break out in? Also, what church do you go to?

I’m never really sure what to start with, but just this week I opened up an Etsy store. I’ve been commissioned by a few people to do digital artwork of their pets, so I figured, why not sell it? Here’s an example.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/191559067/general-rodney-canvas-print?ref=shop_home_active_2

I haven’t fully set up the store yet, but eventually there will be a place where people can commission me to do their pets as well. I already got a few jobs just from the friends who have hired me!

Anyways, that’s what’s new in my life. I hope you’re having a good day as well!

-Kevin

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It’s hard to know how to start a conversation with a girl online. Yeah, I showed her my Etsy shop. It’s not the best first message but I wasn’t feeling all that inspired. Judge away.

Anyways, she responded with this two days later, at 4am, and had deleted her profile.

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Hey there Kevin, how are you doing? I love what you do, it’s really nice. thanks anyway for the interest, may i ask what brings you here and why you’re interested in me? I’m looking for something serious and long term, not interested in games of any sort. if this is what you seek then get back to me on sarah.censored@gmail and tell me more about yourself. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Sarah

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Here email address didn’t have “censored” in it, you just don’t need to know her fake last name (in case this was a hacked email account…).

Anyways, the whole thing was strange, deleting her account, responding at such a weird time in the morning. Even some of it read weird. But it wasn’t unreasonable, plenty of people are not strong writers, and some people communicate much better in person than they do online. Also, the “I’m not looking for games” thing seems strange, but in reality, probably 1 in 3 girl’s profiles say “Not looking for a one-night stand.” which makes me think that there must be a ton of “quality” guys out there sending completely “appropriate” messages.

Find out about her Gmail account here: Second Message

The thing about dating sites is that there are people out there who make fake profiles, sometimes out of fun, sometimes out of loneliness, and sometimes for a reason we’ll discuss here in depth. Even the profiles that are “real” are generally a very catered and improved version of these people who want to put their best foot forward. There are a ton of reasons why making yourself seem at least slightly better is extremely tempting. People do it on Facebook, so the motivation to do it on a dating website is a hundred times stronger. There was one girl who made three different profiles, with three different names, with photos of three different women just to talk to me. To ME. When I got her on the phone, it became clear it was the same girl and I promptly ended the conversation as I really have no desire to waste my time.

The thing is, though, I clearly have some desire to waste my time. Recently I found myself messaging an internet scammer and I decided to continue responding. I will transcribe the messages in full, but it takes a few messages to get to the good part.

Buckle your seat-belts folks, this departs from reality very quickly.

If you would like to read the story from the very beginning before I had 100% confirmed for myself that this person was fake, start here: First Message

If you would like to read the story from where I decided to take a break from reality and mess back with this internet scammer, start from here: Fourth Message