Dating Scam Civil Engineer in Turkey

by Anonymous
(USA)

My story involves a 5 month online, phone, text and email relationship with John Hedrick aka Damian Berkins. He contacted me on Match.com in June 2020. I believed him to be a scammer from the start.

He responded to my request for a custom pic and a skype video call. Alleged widower, age 60 with 19 yo daughter in school in Charlotte, NC, construction engineer with international projects.

He gave me his address in Hockessin, Delaware that really belongs to a young couple with kids. He never was really in the states. Fake boarding pass matched up with a real flight from Philadelphia to Dallas to Los Angeles for an engineer seminar and then later that month, LAX to Istanbul, Turkey.

He says he was building a hospital in Istanbul for International Medicana Istanbul, needed funds to pay his driver and for supplies. He is really a 50 year old scammer from Russia. Email is hedrickj77@aol.com. He's been reported to the FTC and police and soon the FBI.

His English is good and he is very quiet, soft spoken and cunning. What he's not good at is being a human being.

This Fall, I found another profile on Match.com with the exact same write up as his but with another man's picture - also included in this post but I never tried to contact the second man.

I spoke with the head of Match.com's fraud unit who confirmed the scam and the profiles were removed.

I have colleagues in international security who say that the inside of a prison in Russia and Turkey is not a nice place. It seems to me that international authorities should begin to organize to address this huge global criminal element. It also seems there are many people on this site ready to provide details that can put these criminals where they belong.

I'm posting this to make others aware and to perhaps avoid further pain. I wasn't able to find him on this site and his photos are real, not stolen. He made a custom pic for me within a few minutes and sent me one from his childhood that was a young version of him.

With this post I hope to ruin his ability to use them again. I have more pics and will likely add them in another post.

I welcome anyone who knows his name(s) or pic to reply to this post for an offline conversation.

Dating scammers, if you are reading all of these stories of hurt and loss, one day everyone closes their eyes for the last time and in that moment, you will be faced with the reality of your life.

Let me say that I wouldn't want to be you on that day.

Comments for Dating Scam Civil Engineer in Turkey

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Jan 26, 2022
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Barely Escaped
by: Anonymous

Hi everyone, Wow, this is crazy that this guy has gotten away with trying to scam so many women. I wonder just how many fell victim to his charms. I just had a narrow escape from him this morning. Like others, he wooed me online. He was quick to ask to be exclusive and I thought how nice to meet a guy who doesn't just want to scroll and talk to a bunch of women. FOOLED!

He went by the name Diego Sousa and told me he lived in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, a small city approximately 1.5 hours from where I live. He told me he owns a construction business and was working on a big Government project in Istanbul when Covid hit. He had to shut down the project and return home and was waiting to be paid. 4 days ago just prior to when we were going to meet for a walk, he texted me and told me the government had contacted him to return to Istanbul to receive his money.

I questioned him as to why he would need to go in person but he had some kind of rationale for it. Should have been a red flag. He was very sweet as others have said.

Last night he texted to say he had received his $ and wanted to send me a scanned copy. I questioned this but again he had some kind of answer. This morning he called me very sad and upset, telling me that to cash his cheque, he had to have a Diplomatic account and in order to open an account, he had to deposit over $8,000 Euros.

He said he only had half that amount and asked me to lend him the rest for just a matter of hours until he got his account opened. He actually cried on the phone! The scanned check he sent me which by the way looked very official was for almost $5 million Euros.

I asked a lot of questions and in the end, I told him, I couldn't loan money to someone I had never met. That was it and he was gone! He has my cell and land line phone number, as well as my email address and I, am wondering if I should be worried? I feel terrible for all of us that have fallen victim to this criminal.

Jan 04, 2022
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Looking for an Update
by: Anonymous

You seem to know a lot about this scammer. I agree the contacts are in Turkey because when I was communicating with this individual, there was an earthquake and he knew about it before it was in the news.

I also agree that there a different baiters working with the one image. I communicated with a woman on this site who had the same scammer images and we compared voicemails of the scammers and their voices were different - so different baiters. It's been a year.

Has any law enforcement been involved? Do you know anything more about the Russian man who works with the scammers in Turkey who provides photos of himself?

Feb 14, 2021
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Harry and John
by: Anonymous

These pics are a real guy who participates in the scam by appearing in video calls lip syncing and there are baiters who work with him. If you see these pics shut him down. This group targets successful women on dating sites match and tinder and go for high stakes $. The bait is this very handsome Russian man and the scammers are in Turkey.

Feb 12, 2021
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Harry
by: Anonymous

Yes please nikis2498@gmail.com, I am spinning bs to him an he is hanging on so yeah my mind is all over the place and this has never happened to me before

Feb 12, 2021
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Harry
by: Anonymous

I get how your head is spinning now. I had him investigated with international security. If you want to continue offline just give me your email. Happy to fill you in.

Feb 11, 2021
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Harry
by: Anonymous

How did you finally give up after 5 to 6 months and did you ever meet him as thats a long time to keep it going. What number was he using for you and why hasnt he blocked me? When I had him on about his identity he had to contact his legal team. A load of BS but I am so frustrated I got sucked in by this scum

Feb 11, 2021
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Harry
by: Anonymous

I get it, I’m intelligent too and also enjoyed it. I thought he was in Istanbul like he said because there was an earthquake and he was in it and told me of it before it was in the news but he could have moved to New Zealand by now I suppose.

I saw him in a video call so there is a guy who looks like the pictures. There is a Russian Facebook vk page for Damian Berkins and you can see him. That profile wasn’t private before and I could see his contacts and he’s in a bad place in Siberia.

Now that I’ve posted, he went private. I wish some law enforcement cared about getting these guys.

Feb 10, 2021
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Harry
by: Anonymous

Thank you for your comment. The number he is using is 44 7990 261240, with the same pics. What I cant understand is how he thinks he will get away with it. I thought he was a scam right at the beginning as he was too full on from the get go so he cant be that intelligent if he hasn't changed his mobile but I got lured into the charm and enjoyed it.

Also I had him on about his double identity and he was confused by what I meant such as how you kept it going for a long time and how did eventually end an what were his excuses for not meeting. He wont answer any of my messages now but he hasnt blocked me so he surely must have read about himself online?

Also he made a few mistakes along the way so he cant be that clever but the dumbest thing of all is I am an intelligent woman and I feel heartbroken and stupid. Why do you think he is in Turkey obviously he has changed his name but surely he would change the country he is supposed to be an thats why my mind is going wild with how bizzarre this all is.

How is he ever going to get caught and shut down

Feb 10, 2021
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Harry Hesthershaw
by: Anonymous

Sounds like he could be the same guy. He takes his time asking for money. Does he call you sweetie and tell you he’s good at what he does? What is his accent and is he using these same pics?

I’m from the US and he spoke to me for 5-6 months and said he was Danish. I believe he is in Turkey. Don’t fall for him, he’s very intelligent and will call you every day.

What number is he using?

Feb 09, 2021
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Hes still an active scammer
by: Anonymous

I just added a comment but wish now to update my details so I can get alerts of other peoples comments

Feb 09, 2021
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Hes still trying his luck
by: Anonymous

Hi. He is supposedly now Harry Heathershaw and he is very clever as he has not asked for money but its only been 3 weeks and apparently now installing ventilators in Istanbul for covid. How could someone prey on women like this. I am still playing his game - he lost his wife 2 years ago and lives in Palmerston North. I am not sure where you are all from but I am in New Zealand and I hope this loser goes down

Dec 22, 2020
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Same Scammer
by: Anonymous

Is he the same scammer?

Dec 13, 2020
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Same scammer
by: Anonymous

The email is in the original post. Delaware 302.583.3056. Turkey 90.545.950.54.35. What do you have and why do you think it’s the same person?

Dec 10, 2020
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Same scammer
by: Anonymous

Would it be possible to share his phone number and email that he links with you? There is a high probability we have the same scammer

Dec 08, 2020
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DatingScamCivil Engi8in Turkey
by: Anonymous

Thank you for your information. I also posted several Posts to share all the photos I was given by whoever the man was that I had contact with.

Reporting them all to the FBI, FTC & your Local Police is pertinent.

Thank you.

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