Dell Computers lied about selling dell laptops and tv's, and had me wire monies Brooklyn New York

Seems to me your gripe is with the person who scammed you, not Dell Computers.

I doubt that this "chat buddy" of yours truly worked for Dell. Perhaps you should identify this person, including the mailing address, and email address so others won't be taken.

So you were conned by a chat room con man. You can't blame Dell for that. He could just as easily said Apple or anybody else.

A scammer did. Dell had nothing to do with this.

Publishing his name and email address probably won't accomplish anything. They were more than likely fakes. Let me guess, he instructed you to send the money via Western Union or Moneygram, right? Those are services that scammers favor because they can literally dissapear after collecting the money.

... and Kathy here was one of them.

Everyone should keep in mind that just because you've chatted with a faceless person on the internet for however long, it doesn't verify their identity or confirm that they even *exist* in the capacity that they've presented themselves to you.

Some confidence artists will spend *months* setting up their "marks", getting to know them and establishing a condition of trust. In this instance, Kathy was probably not the only mark being fleeced at the time, as many shysters will set up multiple people at the same time to maximize their profits and make the whole scam "worth it".

Refrain buying anything on an individual basis over the internet from anyone who you haven't personally verified via multiple methods exists. Even if you've seen their face via cam or spoken to them on the phone, exercise EXTREME caution if you decide to enter into ANY business transaction, *especially* for high dollar value products that are "sight unseen", and be especially wary of buying anything from an individual over very long distances. People can buy "throw away" cell phones, use fraudulent mailing addresses, fake names, throw away e-mail accounts and even employ "one time use" internet service providers if the stakes are high enough.

Look at it this way; if people can even get scammed over a professional business site that is specifically geared to the trade, sale and barter of goods (eBay), what chance do you think you really have in a one on one situation with a determined (and no doubt practiced) anonymous scammer you know only by a handle or assumed name from a chat room/AIM/ICQ/MSN Messenger?

I'm not saying distrust every single person you come into contact with. I've personally made some excellent one on one purchases from people in the past online, but what I *am* saying is to be good to yourself, do some research, be as sure and safe as you can possibly be if you intend to go through with it and save yourself the heartache (and money).