It’s true that you can date and find romance online but it’s also true that you can get conned in the name of love. The rise in the number of online dating sites and social platforms has made it easy for scammers to prey on innocent and vulnerable members of the community. In most cases, the victims are elderly women (mostly widowed or divorced), successful people, and individuals who have suffered terrible crisis such as an abusive relationship.
Often, scammers look for people that they can extort money from. There are others who look for someone to aid in a crime that they are a part of. There are also a selected few who target to cause physical harm to their targets. The clear thing though is that a scammer is a criminal and shouldn’t go unpunished. However, most people are too embarrassed to come out and speak about their dating scam or even make a formal report.
To ensure that you are not part of the statistics, it’s important to know how to spot and avoid the scammers.
image source: capitalchoicecounselling.com
Contents
1. A Profile That Looks Too Trusty
Online scammers usually use fake profiles to try to earn your trust. They’ll create their profiles with names of people who inspire confidence such as military personnel, diplomats, humanitarians, and medical professionals. They’ll even steal an image and use it to make different profiles on different dating and social sites.
Solution: Run the image on Google Search or TinEye.com to see if the image has been used before in a dating scam. You can also visit scam watch sites like Scam Digger or Romance Scam to see if the person you are dating is listed there.
2. They Ask Money from You
Most scammers are not that obvious when asking for money from you. They’ll start innocently by requesting you to cater for their travel expenses when they come to visit. Others will ask money in the name of medical costs or a possible investment idea.
Solution: Do not send money to anyone that you are dating online and have never met in person. Also, do not share bank details.
3. They Easily Get Emotional
There are scammers who will claim that they are in love with you just after a few days of online chatting. Such individuals will text you a lot during the day. Others get mad when you ask some personal things that they don’t want to share. They’ll even suggest that you leave the chat room to a different one.
Solution: Do not continue entertaining someone who gets too angry over trivial matters or one who is not ready to share. You should also not move to a different chat room because someone asks you to.
image source: vogue.com.au
4. They Express Common Interest
Whether it’s a sport, a social like, a profession or a religion, scammers always like to show that they share your interests. Some will even claim that they are widowed or divorced just to get your attention.
Solution: Be careful with the information that you post on your profile as this is where they learn about your likes and dislikes.
5. Doesn’t Want to Meet
A scammer will never want to meet you in person. They’ll always cook up excuses to avoid personal contact. Some will even avoid a video chat.
Solution: Just avoid such a person. If they continue pestering you, report them. You can file the complaint with Action Fraud if you are in the UK or the FBI if you are in the US.
The internet can be a safe place to date and find romance if you know how to operate. The list of the best sites for adults to date is growing rapidly but not all of them are trustworthy. Aim for the popular sites and those who are paid. Scammers mostly stay away from the paid websites Nevertheless, scammers are real and they are more than the real dates. Just use the above tips to your advantage and good luck in finding love online.
