Scammers Use Tulsa Man’s Pictures, Identity To Create Fake Profiles

More than two dozen scammers stole a Tulsa businessman's identity from Facebook in order to entice women to send them money.

It got so bad, Facebook shut down his account until he could prove who he is.

"Kennedy Marsh, Scott Marsh, Rusty Keith Church, Andrew Smith Marsh, Underwood Marsh, Charles Frederick Marsh, Marsh Jones, that's my brother's name," said online identity theft victim, Jonathan Marsh.

Those are just a few of the fake names scammers have been using, along with pictures of the real Jonathan Marsh, to create fake Facebook profiles.

"Their story was they were in Nigeria, the Army sent them there, they had no money to get back home; their family misses them. There's nobody in the Army that the Army's not sending back home," Marsh said.

Women he'd never heard of started sending him messages, first saying they loved him, then mad, accusing him of lying - some even sent money.

Marsh said, "This one is talking about sending $3,500 to send me home."

Facebook got so many complaints they shut down Marsh's real page for about 24 hours until he sent proof he was the real one and all the others were fakes.

At first, he was amused, then they used pictures of his daughter, and he felt bad for victims who lost money.

He also didn't want anything to harm his roofing business he's worked so hard to build.

"As an Army officer, and public affairs officer for the Blackhawk unit here in Tulsa, being a business owner, my reputation is important. I definitely don't want it squandered away by somebody else," Marsh said.

Before falling in love with a profile, it's important you authenticate who they really are - insist they Skype or Facetime, anything so you see the real them.