Im American im dating a man he lives in Nigeria but was born in the UK, Dont want to be used for Citizenship.?

Looking at this from just a practical point of view you are doing exactly the right thing by being cautious.

He may be perfectly genuine, but as you are well aware, on the internet people can be anything they want to be and until you meet him in the flesh, you just can't know for sure who you are dealing with.

Learn all you can about dating scams so you can spot the markers.

The biggest marker is if he ever asks you for money. He won't do it right away. He has to hook you first and he will take his time. The longer he spends on the "relationship" now, the more money he will get out of you later. The trip to meet you could be the first major step in the set up. There is a last minute hitch and he wants you to send him money to buy his ticket or for something else, documentation or something. His employer has failed to pay him, he has fallen ill and needs money for treatment (Nigeria has a version of the NHS, he doesn't have to pay for emergency treatment!) Of course, he'll recompense you as soon as he gets to the US.

As soon as you hear the word Western Union, cut off all contact immediately. Anyone whom you have never met who asks you to transfer money by this method is 100% guaranteed to be a scammer.

Examine his emails. How is the English? Someone English born, and educated to uni level in Canada should have perfect English. Is the language flowery, or over familiar too early? Westerners just don't use this style of language with each other.

Does he call himself by a title? Nigerian scammers place great importance on titles. Engineer being a favourite. It just is not used in the UK or Canada in the same way as Dr might be in the west.

The pictures could be of anybody, you won't know unless you get to met him whether they are genuine or just photos he has taken off the net of some hunky looking guy who may be well known in Nigeria and so there are loads of available pictures floating around. If they look like modelling shots be wary. Ask him to send you specific pictures of himself. Tell him you would love to have a picture of him at home cooking,or in front of his apartment, or at his work desk. If the pictures are fake, he won't be able to do this as he can only send you pictures of the man whose identity he is using.

Take a paragraph of one of his early emails and enter it into Google in quotation marks to see if it comes up on any scam baiter sites. Most scammers use the same text over and over again.

Google his name, his telephone number and his email address to see what comes up.

I do hope he is the real deal, but I think you are really sensible for not taking it for granted.

This site has some good advice and a dating scam photo database.

http://www.datingnmore.com/fraud/scam_database.htm

How can you be 'dating' somebody you never met? You can chat with somebody but that's not dating

If he is a UK citizen and his mother lives in Canada and went to school in Canada, meaning he would probably be eligible for Canadian citizenship, there is no reason why he would use you for citizenship. As a Canadian or UK citizen with a degree from a top university he could live and work pretty much anywhere he wants, he wouldn't need you. If he's coming to visit you, great. He would come on a UK or Canadian passport and won't need any visa for a stay of 3 months or less. And as a Canadian if he can find a job, the employer would sponsor his visa so he wouldnt need to marry you

He has not asked for money, yet. Here's what's going to happen. He's going to leave on his trip to the United States. Then, you're going to get a phone call from London, Amsterdam, Paris or some such place. He's going to say that there's a big problem with is passport, visa, ticket or something. If you can just wire $1,500 to his travel agent in Nigeria everything can be cleared up and he can continue on his way. He'll say he doesn't have the money on him and he can't get at it because the authorities in London, Amsterdam or Paris are detaining him. He'll say that he's going to pay you back after he gets to the USA and has access to his money.

I know you do not believe you are being used. When the situation I just described happens I hope you will realize it at that time. If you send the money there will be another minor problem and he'll need more money wired..... always wired. There will be problem after problem until you finally stop wiring money.

Draw the line at sending money. Do not do it, ever.

It does not sound like you are going to be used just for "citizenship.' Chances are strong that you will be used for money, entertainment, oral sex, airline tickets, and room & board in the U.S. If you married him, he would not become a U.S. citizen, but he would ask you to petition for him so that he can get a green card.

At first, his green card would be valid for two years and be conditional. He would stay with you for the two years so that you could help him to remove the conditional status of his card. Once he had his 10-year green card in his hand, the truth would be revealed.

He'd either leave you or be your soul mate. Every year, thousands of aliens in Russia, Nigeria, the Philippines and elsewhere pretend to be madly in love with someone they know through the internet. In the Nigerian version, the fraudsters have armies of people actively recruiting single women from western countries through chat and matchmaking sites.

I suggest that you do a search on marriage scams (Nigeria) in Yahoo. Do some homework and then compare your experiences with the well known scams you read about. You'll be making an educated decision, if you do your homework.

If you're not in the same country then you're not actually dating. You're having an on-line relationship or a telephone relationship. And how do you know those are even pictures of him that he's sending you? If they look like modeling pictures has it occurred to you that they might be ummmm...modeling pictures...??? I'm betting he's going to ask you for money soon. Wake up.

Well, you can't be used for citizenship if you don't marry the guy. They don't grant citizenship to foreigners so that they can date Americans. Geez kid, are you old enough to date? Maybe you should tell your mom you're talking on the phone to a man in Nigeria.

Hahhaha! My God! Come on you are "dating" someone you haven't met? And in another country too? Don't worry he hasn't asked you for anything "yet" just keep your ears open and soon the "creative" sob stories will come. And his pictures? You are 100% sure that those are his pictures? Hahahaha! You ever watch the 60 minutes episode of the lesbian girl in Alabama that got took for a few thousand dollars thinking she was helping out a love interest who was "supposedly" stuck in Nigeria. When the investigative crew traveled to Nigeria they now find out that this "supposedly white female stuck in Nigeria" ended up being a dude?

If your spirit has an ounce of doubt then it is probably right!

Sorry if it seems I am being harsh, but I hope you understand that it is a common scam and some people here are concerned. Honestly what would you expect us to say?

You say you don't want to be used, which already sends signals that you have some doubts in your gut, do you?

He's coming to the USA. Do you have ticket information? Don't think that oh he has a ticket so there is no scam... there can still be a scam on the "day of flight", if he actually has a ticket, which I still don't believe, of "I need money there are bag fees, visa fees, they won't let me go if I don't get it now"

I met my wife online, but I was very careful when meeting her and dating her. If it is true love then your love needs to be understanding of any doubts.

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Forget citizenship how about trying to use you for money. Does he call you or you call him? Who is spending the money for contact between the two of you? Don't give any money!

I won't say it isn't possible for there to be honesty and truth within your relationship, but it is a well known scam of being a "UK citizen or ex UK Green card holder" living in Africa falling in love. Soon a need for money will come up (for example his mother is sick in Canada and he needs to visit her, but he doesn't have the money, can you send it to him and the two of you can meet in Canada or his child is sick) and he will ask you for money. Also if he asks you to cash a check for him and you wire the same amount to him, then it is definitely a scam. They target women who have recently had their heart broken.

How did you meet this person?

Have you asked him questions about his time in Toronto/UK (get specific details you can check online)?

Has he asked you for money?

Who paid for the airline ticket?

I hope it is love, but I would not bet on it.

more than likely if he is from nigeria he wants you to send him money or is using you for something. also, he sends you pictures of a model so that also doesn't sound good. tell him you want to see him on webcam, that way both of you can really see what each other looks like. beware. my advice is to only talk to him as a friend and find someone in your own country who you can see face to face. do not give him any money whatsoever. do not cash any checks for him. some will send you checks and you go to cash them in your bank and send him some and they say you can keep some for your effort but the checks don't clear and they get their money and your bank makes you pay them back the full amount. find someone else just to be safe if you don't want to get hurt or make sure of what he is telling you. see if he has a facebook, etc. look at his friends. google his family members and his name, etc. webcam for sure.

you didn't pay for his ticket did you? i hope not. there was a movie about this too. he will say something happened and is unable to come unless you buy him a ticket or you fly out to see him. i forget what else happens. i forget the movie. don't do it!!!!!!!

Nigerian scam comes in many forms: 419 scam, when they offer to transfer millions of dollars into your bank account, or lottery scam, when they tell you that you've won something in some bogus lottery.

However, Nigerian dating scam (or romance scam), besides just asking for money for their studies, sick relatives, etc.. usually involves this scheme: the scammers upload fake attractive photos, in most cases of white people. They pretend to be the foreign specialists working in Nigeria or Ghana (usually originally from US and UK, but it may also be Canada, Australia or any other European country).

After they establish some lovely correspondence with you, fall in love and maybe even send a couple of cheap presents, they will either:

a) be almost on their way to meet you, but something will happen to them: they will get robbed, beaten, get into the hospital, or other misfortune will happen and of course you will be their only contact to ask for financial help, or:

b) tell you that their employer pays them with Money Orders, and they can't cash them in Nigeria. They will send you the Money Orders and ask you to deposit them into your bank account and then wire the money to them via Western Union. Usually they say to keep some money for your trouble. Needless to say, those Money Orders are no good, and not even worth the paper they're printed on. If you cash them or deposit them into your account, Money Orders will come back after few weeks as fraudulent and you will be responsible for paying back the money to the bank and sometimes even charged for passing counterfeit instrument. Read more about Nigerian romance scams in this article.

A European citizen doesn't use Americans for citizenship - it's normally the other way around with Americans marrying Europeans so they can live anywhere in Europe. An educated European has no problem getting a visa to the US and could apply for a green card through their employer. Normally you see Americans trying to marry Europeans from any country because they know they are allowed to live or work anywhere in Europe under a spousal visa. There are plenty of Americans living in the UK, France, etc who marry Europeans just to be able to live and work in Europe legally. When I lived in Denmark, I knew two American women who married Danish men just to be able to live and work wherever they wanted in Europe, not because they were in love.