Beware of Message Board Scam Artists

First, I am in no way putting down message boards if properly used, they are a huge resource of information and friendship. With that said, I wanted to give some well needed information to those out there who visit message boards.

We have all, at one point or another, posted or read information on a message board and Im sure a few of us have developed friendships on these same boards. Now granted, this does not happen all the time, but I would like to share a few experiences that have happened to raise awareness on the newest type of scam artist out there.

A young lady had been posting on a parenting board I was a member of and she was a nice, funny, and lively young lady. I felt like we all had gotten to know her the 9 months she had been a member. She had a rough home life, 2 kids, and an abusive boyfriend. She did not have the money to leave her situation, but even with the drama in her life, she always tried to be cheerful and give warm advice to those in need. Well right before Christmas she posted a long saga that was happening in her life, ending with her kids would not have gifts for Christmas.

Everyone felt their heart go out to this girl and her children and a few members set up a fund to donate to this girl, so that her kids might have a Christmas after all. It all sounded sweet and innocent and I think all together 550 dollars was raised for this girl. Of course, she was grateful and appreciative. I did not donate to the fund myself because I don't believe in giving the gift of money to someone I have yet to meet, but the day after she received her money she disappeared in to the unknown, never to be heard from again. A lot of members said, 'I'll bet she left that boyfriend of hers' and it was never really talked about again.

Well a couple of months later I was on another message board, reading through archived posts and what do you know? Around Christmas, the same girl gave a different story and got about 300 dollars from this message board too. Well, by then my mind was working overdrive and I knew what had happened. So, the people thinking they were doing a kind act, helping their 'Friend', actually got scammed.