Watch out for 'visa and travel' scams from Cambodia!

'Visa and travel' scams are not common out of Cambodia, but they are starting to pop up. They appear to be conducted by West Africans who are residents of Cambodia. West Africans also conduct scams while living in other SE Asian countries, like China, and Malaysia.
The scammer will have a local Asian lady to help with the scam, usually answering phone calls from men they meet online, and posing as the girl in the stolen pictures they are using.
You will be asked to pay 'visa and travel' fees for the girl in the pictures to come meet you. The girl in the pictures the scammer uses is not involved in the scams. You will never meet her. The lady you may talk to on the phone is not the girl in the pictures! The person who picks up the money you send, is not the girl in the pictures. Your money is gone. It's a scam.

Both of the recent 'visa and travel' scams I've run into lately, involved the fake lady claiming to possess a passport, from Singapore, which if true, would make travel to the USA or other Western Country, possible. This is a scam. The passport you may be sent a scan of, is fake. The person you are in contact with is not the person in the pictures, but a black, male, West African, and his girlfriend, or helper.
Don't send money!
You can get more info on internet scams from Cambodia at Dragonladies.org

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lin.sothe@gmail.com Lin Sothera CAMBODIA

IP: 36.37.161.221
This appears to be a West African scammer, in Cambodia, trying to pull a 'refugee' scam. The IP is correct for Cambodia. You are not in contact with the person in the pictures, claiming to be a Japanese lady in Cambodia.

Dear James

, I am very happy for your quick response to my message. I don't have webcam depending on my current accommodation in Cambodia. How are you today? I hope fine. I am not too good due to my suffering condition here in Cambodia. I am single and never married, 5ft 8 inches tall, 55kg weight, Asian hair and brown eyes. I am of Japanese origin but presently in Cambodia. I do not know anyone in Cambodia and I am residing in a church orphanage home here in Cambodia as a result of the earthquake and tsunami disaster that happened on the 11 March 2011 in north-east Japan. I lost my parents during this deadly tsunami. My family was among the first target of tsunami. My late father was a successful businessman and he has two hotels close to river where the tsunami carried everything away. I am the only person in my family that was not at home because I was at the boarding school in Tokyo. Due to this all my family members including my elder sister were gone in a cold blood and our family houses gone. I was lucky that I escaped death because I was in boarding school when this deadly incident took place. I am the only person surviving and I managed to make my way to Cambodia and this is my first time to visit this country and I don’t know anyone here. I am staying now and never hope to go back to north-east of Japan again, even sometimes I look through the web pages and I cry all day. Below is the link to view the full story. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/world ... wanted=all I would like to know more about you. Please tell me about your love life, previous and present relationships and hobbies. I will tell you more about myself in my next mail. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Yours, Sothera

This scammer also uses the name 'Tomiko'.
West African scammers are present in many Southeastern Asia nations. They drift there on real and fake visas, pulling shady business deals on locals, and also scamming anyone via the internet.

You must demand to see a face on webcam. This filters out many of the scammers using stolen pictures.
Never send money to somebody you only know from the internet, or phone calls.
The West African scammers in Asia increasingly will recruit a local Asian lady to make phone calls for them, pretending to be the person in the pictures they send, and the story they tell.
Many men have lost thousands of dollars in these scams.