Image source: https://cache-blog.credit.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/dad_on_phone.jpg
The reasons that people decide to try online dating are as many and varied as the people that are registered on the multitude of dating sites worldwide. Many people do find love on the internet and go on to find that happiness that they have been seeking. Unfortunately many others find disapointment and heartache by being the victims of unscrupulous scammers who prey on people that they percieve to be lonely and vulnerable.
Because of the magnitude of the online dating world and the nature of it,scammers are attracted to what they see as easy money. However if you are involved in internet dating and you are worried about the possibilities of this happining to you there are some things that you can watch out for to protect yourself, here are five clues that you can watch out for. Now I am not saying that any one of these clues on their own is determinative of a scammer but more than two or three of them together should be enough to put you on alert.
1. Women With a Free Profile
I have to be careful with this one as most people will register on a site for free to get a feel for it,but after a few days or so will decide to access the wider functions by becoming a paid member. What a scammer does is register as a free member and stay that way. They will not register as a paid member for the simple fact that payment is by credit card and credit cards can be traced, the last thing a scammer wants is to be traced. As for the woman part, the vast majority of scammers are women or pretending to be women to try and attract lonely males.
2. You Start Getting Emails From Russian Women
This one is also probably a little controversial, however the majority of online dating scams originate from Russia and the former Soviet states. This is not to say that there are no genuine Russian women looking for a western husband but they are generally registered on the specialised Russian dating sites rather than the more general sites. Also, if you are a middle aged westerner getting emails from a twenty something Russian woman be extermely vigilant about what information you share with this person.
3. Your Online Emailer Starts to Profess True Love For You
This one is a real clue that you may be getting scammed. If your email correspondence suddenly turns to proclamations of true undying love after three or four emails that is a fairly good clue that something is amiss. How many times have you met someone say at a party and two days later they are professing that you are the one, I am betting not very often. It is the same on the internet it simply does not happen.
4. You Start Getting Asked for Money
If your online correspondence suddenly turns to requests for money for an operation, airline tickets or to get a visa to come and visit you, cut the correspondence immediately, you are being scammed.
5. The Name Suddenly Changes
I had this one happen to me, thankfully long before I was asked for money and even before the claims of undying love. I had a few emails from someone who called herself or himself (who knows) Katerina, after about four emails the name suddenly changed to Svetlana. What the problem with the scammer is, they may be doing this with a hundred or hundreds of people and they forget which name they are using on a particular mark. This one is a definate.
As I said at the start when you start to take these things as a whole it is highly likely that a scam is in the offing. One and Two are probably mostly innocent but take evreything together and be aware. Please make your online dating a safe and fulfilling experience, always be aware that the scammers are out there and anyone in the right situation can fall prey to what they do. It is not necessarily unsophisticated or not very bright people who get caught out, anyone who is in any way vulnerable can be a victim.
