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How To Avoid An Online Dating Scam

How To Avoid An Online Dating Scam

It doesn’t matter how reputable a a dating site is, there is always the possibility of an online dating scam. That is just one thing that you might have to deal with when you’re online dating.

On most of the sites I’ve reviewed, the scammers are few and far between, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep a guard up when chatting with other singles online.

First things first, you should pick the best online dating site for you and it should also be known for having quality members. Also read dating site reviews before handing your credit card information over. On the top of my head, if you’re looking for a mainstream dating site you could go with Match.com. If you’re looking for an adult dating site, you should go with SexSearch.com. And if you’re looking for a gay dating site, try ManPlay.com. From my experience, these sites tend to have higher quality members, therefore less scammers. Of course any site will have some scammers, but if you do a bit of research and stick to the best reviewed, you’ll probably have the best luck with avoiding problems.

Once you pick the dating site and set up your profile, you should be ready to mingle. This is when you need to be the most smart and aware of the scammers. A scammer could be anyone from a robot, to a prostitute, to a troll just signing up for shits and giggles, or even someone actually dangerous who has plans to rob you, extort you, or steal your identity. You want to avoid these people at all costs because they will give you nothing but headaches. And in order to do this, there are certain steps you can take in order to avoid and online dating scam.

Take a look at their profile picture.  If it looks like something out of a magazine or somewhat resembles Kim Kardashian, then it’s probably a fake picture that they stole from Google Images. Granted, it might not even be a celebrity photo that the scammer is using. It’s incredibly easy to find pictures of regular people on the internet. Here’s a good trick to check if the person you’re suspicious of is using his or her real photo or something grabbed from the internet: Google Images has a reverse image search, so you can give it a photo and it will do a search for matching photos. If your scammer just grabbed something from somewhere then that should reveal itself pretty quickly and alarm bells should go off in your head.

online dating scamsTake at look at their stats. If they say they are 6’1 and 100 LBS, chances are they are lying; that’s essentially not possible. Look to see if things “add up” and if they don’t, its more likely that the profile is a scam. Sometimes these people could be real and just lying about there “numbers” in order to appear more attractive, but that too is a form of deception that you should be wary of. If the stats are way way off or just downright weird, then it’s likely that the person just entered a bunch of crazy numbers in order to get an account and there’s a good chance that that person is a scammer.

Take a look at their occupation and how much money they make.  Sure, it’s possible that she is a Victoria’s Secret model, but chances are she’s not. If their occupation seems unlikely, you should take that with a grain of salt and chances are its a scammer. Most people on online dating sites have careers that are relatively normal, it would be rare to find a real supermodel or Fortune 500 CEO on any of these sites. Granted occasionally they might show up, but more often than not, those people with the super careers in their profiles are faking it.

Take a look at their grammar and spelling. If it looks like they just copy and pasted something from an online translator, then chances are it’s a scam. While there can be plenty of English speaking scammers, there are some parts of the world where internet fraud is a major industry. That also doesn’t mean that that person that you’re chatting with who seems to have imperfect English is necessarily a scammer. He or she might just be a recent immigrant or have poor typing skills, not a reason to condemn them. However, online translators do have a certain way of phrasing things that can be a tell that you’re talking to someone who is trying to pull the wool over your eyes. If you don’t understand a word or phrase, ask them to clarify it. If he or she is speaking through a translation robot, then chances are communication will completely break down once you start talking semantics.

If they write you first and then you never hear from them again. If some sexy woman sends you a sexy message, you respond, and then you never hear from her again, chances are it’s a scammer from the dating site itself trying to lure you in. Lots of scammers will blanket message everyone they see in the hopes of getting some responses. Rather than being someone who genuinely wants to find a date, like you, they might be somebody in a basement office somewhere looking for people to bait. Or it’s possible that you could be talking to a machine that’s set up with an algorithm to message anyone and everyone. Often less than reputable dating sites will start sending you messages from gorgeous women the second you sign up in order to bait you into buying a membership at which point those beautiful women abruptly vanish. This is the site itself scamming you.
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If they ask you for money. If you receive a message from anyone asking you for money, you should immediately report them. Most scammers don’t waste much time to getting to the point. They aren’t on the site to actually meet people for dating like you are, but rather that’s simply a ruse to get something out of you. By setting up communication with them, as far as they’re concerned they’re most of the way there and they’ll try to close that deal as quickly as possible before you realize that something smells fishy. There are very very few legitimate reasons for anyone on a dating site to ask anyone else for money, especially before they even meet in person. If this happens to you, red flags should be shooting up all over the place and you should end that conversation immediately and report them to the webmaster.

All in all, you can never be sure if someone is trying to scam, cheat or lie to you. But you should acheter du viagra, online pharmacy inhalers. make sure you are aware of all of the red flags in order to prevent yourself from being their next victim.

Online dating is definitely one of the easiest ways to meet great people, but just like in real life, there are always going to be those not so great people, so keep your eyes peeled.

1 Comment

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  1. March 13, 2013, 9:01 pm

    Good post, thanks Ken!

    Reply

Respond to Robert Belland