How to recognize and recover from everyday sociopaths - narcissists

You are here: Home / Archives for Donna Andersen

Romance Scams Part 3: Malaysia busts four love scam syndicates and arrest 27 perps

//  by //  Leave a Comment

[youtube_sc url="https://youtu.be/aN848rHAv0E" title="Malaysian,%20Singaporean%20police%20bust%20Internet%20love%20scam%20syndicates"] Police from Malaysia and Singapore arrested 27 Internet love scammers in a joint operation on February 6-8. The criminals including 11 Nigerians and 14 women were members of four different crime syndicates. These thieves of hearts and money cheated 108 people in neighboring countries out of $4.9 million. All the syndicates were masterminded by Nigerians who entered Malaysia on student visas, according to David Chew, director of the Singapore police Commercial Affairs Department. Romance scams cost Australians more money than any other form of cheating, …

Romance Scams Part 3: Malaysia busts four love scam syndicates and arrest 27 perpsRead More

Romance Scams Part 2: U.S. victims lost more than $230 million online in 2016

//  by //  Leave a Comment

[youtube_sc url="https://youtu.be/BmIvqOYwGGU" title="Special%20Agent%20Christine%20Beining%20describes%20romance%20scams"]Almost 15,000 complaints of romance scams or confidence fraud were reported to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2016. Victims of these crimes lost more than $230 million. In Texas alone, victims lost more than $16 million in romance scams. Who is running these scams? In many cases, says FBI Special Agent Christine Beining, the perpetrators are organized crime gangs. Why? It's an easy and lucrative crime. Criminals can often remain anonymous and beyond the reach of authorities. That's why it's on the rise. Romance Scams - Online impostors break hearts and …

Romance Scams Part 2: U.S. victims lost more than $230 million online in 2016Read More

Romance Scams Part 1: Canadians lose $17 million in 2016

//  by //  Leave a Comment

Looking for love online is dangerous and in honor of Valentine's Day, law enforcement agencies around the world tried to remind citizens of that. The first of three articles Lovefraud will be posting on the issue comes from Canada. Nearly 750 Canadians reported that they lost money in Internet romance scams last year, totaling $17 million, according to CTVNews.ca. But the Royal Canadian Mounted Police believe only about 5 percent of cases are actually reported so the money lost is likely much higher. Sgt. Guy Paul Larocque says that most of the money stolen is never recovered. According to CTVNews.ca: Larocque added that these scams are often executed by professionals based in other c …

Romance Scams Part 1: Canadians lose $17 million in 2016Read More

Identifying sociopathic behavior is easy; giving advice is hard

//  by //  4 Comments

Just about every day, Lovefraud receives e-mail from readers who are looking for answers about confusing, contradictory and abusive behavior exhibited by people in their lives. The new readers don't understand what they are dealing with; they just tell, either in a few paragraphs or lengthy compositions, their stories. The e-mails describe some or many of the following behaviors: Pathological lying Pity plays Shallow emotions Devalue and discard Cheating or promiscuity Addiction to drugs or alcohol Controlling demands Financial irresponsibility Manipulation of children Broken promises Claims of “you made me do it” Pleas of “I'll never do it again” The …

Identifying sociopathic behavior is easy; giving advice is hardRead More

Convicted con artist Patrick Giblin again pleads guilty to scamming women

//  by //  9 Comments

Patrick Giblin, 52, formerly of Ventnor, New Jersey, yesterday pleaded guilty to scamming more than 10 women out of $15,000 to $40,000. Giblin did this between January 2013 and December 2014 while on parole for previously scamming 132 women out of $320,241. Here's Lovefraud's original coverage of the story: Patrick Giblin trolls phone dating lines, taking money from 132 women, on Lovefraud.com. According to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman, Giblin's most recent adventures in phone scamming went like this: From January 2013 to Dec. 16, 2014, Giblin allegedly posted advertisements and messages on telephone dating services throughout the United States. Giblin cultivated a telephone rapport with …

Convicted con artist Patrick Giblin again pleads guilty to scamming womenRead More

Woman finds the ‘pickup artists’ who raped her – and bragged about it on the Internet

//  by //  1 Comment

A San Diego woman passed out in the apartment of some guys she just met in October 2013. She was raped. When she awoke, she went to the police. Many rape cases end up being "he said, she said" situations, where the perpetrator claims that the sex was consensual. But this woman conducted her own Internet investigation. She found that the man who raped her, Alexander Markham Smith, 27, and his friend, Jonas Dick, 28, ran a business called "Efficient Pickup." The idea was to teach men how to have sex with as many women as possible. To prove that their methods worked, Smith and Dick posted stories about their exploits including a detailed account of the San Diego woman's rape. It was enough …

Woman finds the ‘pickup artists’ who raped her – and bragged about it on the InternetRead More

Radical Acceptance – a path to true emotional healing after the devastation of a sociopath

//  by //  Leave a Comment

Book Review: Radical Acceptance Embracing your life with the heart of a Buddha, by Tara Brach.Review by Donna AndersenYou realize, or at least suspect, that you have a sociopath in your life — that's why you're reading Lovefraud. You may still be in a state of shock — you never really understood that people like this actually existed. But they do; now what do you do?Lovefraud is full of information and advice about escaping a sociopath and dealing with the fallout. Generally, recovery means moving forward along two paths. You can pursue both paths at the same time, and progress on one path helps you with the other one.The first path is solving the practical problems the sociopath has caused, …

Radical Acceptance – a path to true emotional healing after the devastation of a sociopathRead More

Woman fakes blindness for 15 years, collects nearly $400,000 in veteran’s benefits

//  by //  1 Comment

Back in 2001, Veronica Dale Hahn, 60, of Bonifay, Florida, told the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs that she was 100 percent blind in both eyes due to her military service. The VA believed her, and started paying her veteran's disability benefits. In 15 years, she collected $394,800.85. In the meantime, she obtained driver's licenses in New Mexico, Alabama and Florida, with no vision restrictions. She drove her vehicle and worked full-time as a case manager at state correctional facilities. Hahn pleaded guilty last week. When she is sentenced, she faces 10 years in prison. Holmes County woman pleads guilty to fraudulently receiving veterans disability benefits, on Justice.gov. …

Woman fakes blindness for 15 years, collects nearly $400,000 in veteran’s benefitsRead More

I continued to choose him over everyone and everything that ever mattered to me

//  by //  16 Comments

Editor's note: Lovefraud received this story from a reader whom we'll call "Ellie." This is the story of how I allowed myself to become emotionally dismantled by the man to whom I chose to give my heart. I loved him unconditionally. I accepted and forgave him without judgment. I empathized with stories of his childhood, when he felt unseen, unloved and insecure. I nurtured him through times of deep depression, drug abuse and alcoholism. I made excuse after excuse by rationalizing his behavior and convincing myself that I knew he could be more than what he was. I believed he could be the man I saw him to be, the man he wished he could be ”¦ I held on to hope that it would be ok, and that th …

I continued to choose him over everyone and everything that ever mattered to meRead More

‘Sextortion Queen’ tricks men into performing sex acts on Skype, then blackmails them

//  by //  Leave a Comment

Maria Caparas-Regalachuelo of the Philippines, aka the "Sextortion Queen," boasts that it only takes 30 minutes to convince men to get naked and perform sex acts via Skype. Then she posts the videos to YouTube and threatens to send them to the victims' families, unless they pay up. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, she details exactly how the scam works. She has a crew of "chatters," mostly young girls and transgender men, who troll the Internet looking for targets. When they find a target, they play a pre-recorded video of an Asian woman performing a striptease, and then send a string of racy text messages. The whole process is tightly scripted. Caparas is now in prison in th …

‘Sextortion Queen’ tricks men into performing sex acts on Skype, then blackmails themRead More