[drmalcolm]

Hi all,
When you get the chance, check out this thread Brandy started on the Guatemala forum about a person posing as an adoptive parent, a potential adoptive parent, a representative of adoption charity/foundations, etc. Apparently she is unstable.

Watch what you post, she's back!

While she seems to focus on Guatemalan adoptions, some of her posts refer to the 2 SN children from China she is trying to adopt. I know many of you belong to forums outside of this one, so do take care. Kelleymac has had some awful experience with her (see above thread).

We have some very kind-hearted people in our program, and I'd hate to see anyone become unintentionally involved with this person.

Thanks for reading,
Christina

[stephdpenn]

Christina
I had been following this thread. It is awful that someone can be so cruel. BTW where is this fertility forum that everyone is referring to? I wanted to check out her way of posting so maybe I would be able to spot her is she came around here.

[Marshie]

If this is Julianna, she's already made her way through the waiting children yahoo groups like a month or two ago. Definitely beware of this one. Thanks for the heads up Christina that she's here too!

[Teekay74]

Kind a freaky- Thanks for the warning, luckily we don't come across this stuff to often on here. It scares me though, how would I really recognize her ?

[kelleymac]

You'd know. Be cautious in what you share with people you're just meeting. It only takes her a few times to identify herself as a fraud, but if you've shared too much in that time, she'll be tough to get rid of.

Just be cautious. remember that things you post can be read by many. I have made some wonderful friends (IRL and internet) on this forum, and wouldn't trade it.

Julianna is a troll to be wary of for sure.

Keep this bumped for folks to read.

Kelley

[Maggie Beth]

I want to "ditto" the warnings about Julianna. I've received emails from her & they are beyond WEIRD. If you haven't read the thread that Christina posted the link to... you really should. It is hard to remember sometimes that there are scary people out there, since 99.9% of people on these forums are awesome... but a few are not so nice or honest!

[stephdpenn]

Fertile Thoughts, I read that she has been on this one a bit. Can someone please tell me where it is at? Is it on this group? Thanks

[drmalcolm]

Steph, I googled this: fertilethoughts international adoption board. It was the 2nd listing that came up. Not sure if I can include a direct link, but PM me if this doesn't work.

Tina, she has an odd way of writing--she capitalizes random words and writes in incomplete sentences. Here is an example of her writing, courtesy of lazycactus:

Originally Posted by lazycactus

She even tried to join our little Yahoo group last week (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/School...rom-Guatemala/) I had to reject your request... ) The woman (or could it be a man??) is everywhere !!
BTW, this is the email she/he wrote (to give you an idea of "key words"...)
"I am a Single Mom who has Fostered and Adopted from Guatemala!
I would like to meet and support people
School Age Children.
I would like to Advocate Fostering School Age Children! "

Christina

[drmalcolm]

Marshie, yes--Juliana or Internationmom.

Here is a summary from Brandy (on aforementioned thread):

Originally Posted by BrandyHagz

Molly,

There are reports from at least one member of Juliana calling their agency and making accusations against them - because this person didn't believe what Juliana was posting and complained as much.

She has also made accusations against other members claiming that they've adopted their child from the state, rather than Guatemala as they claim.

She claims to be an expert on all facets of adoption from almost every country currently doing adoptions - she's got anywhere for 4-10 adopted special needs/older children with varying "issues" which allows her to "know all" - those who have talked to her on the phone indicate that they've never heard a child in the background and that she is vague and non-commital when discussing her children.

She claims to work for DCFS in California as well.

She posts on Guatemala, China, India and Russian adoptions most...

She offers the use of a house she or a friend (depending on when you talk to her) owns in Antigua.

She offers $500,000 in grants/loans for adoptions - both to agencies and couples adopting.

She has posted in the past about "cheap" airline fares to Guatemala.

Her "game" is more emotional than anything - I warn ALL new members to verse yourself in her scam's and be aware of what she claims to be able to do - there is nothing more devistating than going thru the emotional process of adoption, only to arive in Guatemala with no place to stay.

Again, if it sounds to good to be true...it usually is.

[stephdpenn]

Thanks Christina, I found it and I must say her way of writing I will remember.

[twoinblue]

I think this is where paying attention to reputation points comes in handy. There is one who wanders in here periodically and some of the things she says are very inappropriate. She just claimed to be DTC a short while back and I'm wondering if that is true.

[Poleczech]

You know, it angers me that there are people like this who go around trying to scam people, especially when they prey on folks they know will be emotionally tied to the subject like adoption. Apparently, international adoption isn't immune from scammers anymore than domestic adoption, which may be why I haven't run into this person, since I normally don't go to those forums.

We were recently contacted by someone we thought was a pbirthfather who turned out to be a fraud, and who is also being investigated by the FBI because he has scammed so many paps across the US.

Internet scammers are the worst kind too -- hiding behind their computers inflicting emotional pain with just some keystrokes.

Chins up everyone :0) They are in the minority around these forums.

[Marshie]

I've seen her on a few yahoo groups in the past months and she always seems to go by Julianna Wiseman, so keep a look out for that name. Also, she usually posts really outrageous things. Some I've seen were saying she could help people get $750,000 in grants, offering to donate thousands of dollars to people for their adoptions, offering condos and apartments for free for people to stay in, saying she's adopting 4 special needs children from China at once (3 of which she said she was adopting from my agency's WC list so I knew that was BS), and she told a lady she wanted to buy 10 boxes of girl scout cookies from her daughter and to give her her daughter's info and mailing address. It never seems to be just normal posts, always really wacky things.
The pattern I've seen seems to be posting crazy stuff so that everyone will email her privately to tell her she's a loon, then she harvests the emails and uses them to email the people later and say she's gonna donate to them or offer a place to stay and gets the people's personal info. What she does with that, I dunno. Just be careful and don't ever email her, give her your email or especially your info.

[adoptkazakhstanblog]

Bump. People need to see this. Lots of folks on the Guatemala board have been harassed by this person.

[foxl]

Apparently she also posts on Guatemala "Big List" as Kem. Her sentence structure and grammar seem a little odd, almost English-as-second-language odd. She definitely makes the rounds.