How to Identify an Online Dating Scammer

Investigative Report: Dating Scammers-How They Work

And How You Can Avoid Them. Don’t Get Ripped Off by a Phony!

Dating scammers know exactly how to capitalize on human weakness, where to find their “marks” and how to make your fantasies into their paydays. Here’s how:

Regardless of the dating or matching website you choose, you will undoubtedly run into dating scammers. They are present even on the most legitimate websites that make every-possible effort to screen and eliminate them. Their only goal is to find new “marks,” people who are anxious to establish a relationship with a member of the opposite sex (or their own). Once they target you, they will be patient, careful and appear to be looking for precisely what you are. Don’t be fooled. The only thing they are seeking is your money and they have a seemingly-unending repertoire of ways to get it.

How scammers work

Dating scammers primarily target older men between 40 and 65 years of age. Your profile on the website tells them everything they need to know to target you, namely that you are anxious for a relationship, that you prefer younger women, that you are into fantasies and that you are probably financially stable.

In a great many cases, the scammers post a profile that states that they are in the same area you are. They will also post photos of some extremely-attractive woman that isn’t them at all. However, you can’t know that, so they will use photos that appeal to men’s fantasies. More often than not, these photos are copied from the Internet without the owner’s knowledge. On highly-explicit websites, they are often copied from X-rated videos or promotional materials. That’s all it takes for a scammer to set the stage for the upcoming con if you bite.

The next step in the scammer’s master plan is to get you off the dating website and onto an Instant Messenger. More often than not, they will be using a Yahoo IM so you may get talked into downloading that system. Once you’re there, it begins. Expect a continuing series of IM chats during which you will be amazed at just how much you and the scammer have in common. How does she know? Simple! The more detailed your dating website profile was, the more she knows. It doesn’t take a 180 IQ to figure out the rest.

As things progress, you will receive much evidence that suggests how much she cares for you. She will comment about how honest and open she is, extol her belief in God and being a good person, etc. She may even tell you she is in love with you and how desperately she wants to be with you.

Now for the ‘hook’

Once it’s clear that you’ve taken the bait, it’s time for her to set the hook. There may be a sudden medical emergency in her family or perhaps she is overdue on her Internet ISP bill and is upset because she may lose contact with you. She knows that’s the last thing you want and that it’s likely you will offer to help. If you do, she will want the money only by Western Union, not a check or credit card that you can place a stop payment on. And if you send it, she will be eternally grateful. Once you’ve gone this far, you have established yourself as a patsy and are totally hooked. She has your money and you don’t really know who you are actually chatting with or what they look like. I may even be some man.

The next step in your ongoing Internet love affair will be getting her over here to be with you. If you offer to pay her one-way air fare, she will make it quite plain that she’d prefer you to Western Union the cash so she can buy her own ticket. There are numerous excuses you can be given for this. The reality is that she wants to be able to have your cash, which if she is overseas, can be as much as several thousand dollars. If you are foolish enough to go for this scam, I guarantee that you will never see your money again and you will most assuredly never see her!

This may seem like a dramatic portrayal that will never happen to you. Wrong! When I began the research for this article, I purposely set myself up as a typical ‘patsy’ , invested $150 in help for her Internet bill but absolutely refused to send anything but a prepaid, non-refundable ticket for the air fare. As I anticipated, I was accused of mistrust and never heard from the lady again. No surprise there at all!

How to avoid being scammed

The first rule you should follow if you are hell-bent on using a dating/matching website is to limit your interests to people within 50 or 60 miles of your home. In this way, if a real connection is in the offing, it will happen. Make that a MUST statement in your profile under “what you are looking for.”

Second, Never and I mean never, get involved with someone overseas, especially in Ghana, Nigeria or anywhere in Africa. These are almost always scams, particularly if their dating website profile claimed they were close to you and in this country. This is just the first in a series of lies you will be subjected to. Want proof? Merely type “dating scammers /Ghana” into your browser and review the many websites that list scammers and the stories from people they have scammed. That will convince anyone.

Third, while it isn’t a guarantee, you’ll be far better off if you can have a real-time webcam chat with each other. This is hard to fake. And if the person you see doesn’t look like the person’s website profile photo, run like a thief.

Fourth, never send someone money or give them your credit card info, bank account information or any other financial data. Ditto for passwords and user names.

Finally, don’t be a chump. The odds that some outrageously-beautiful young woman is going to develop a relationship interest with a man 20-40 years her senior are about equal to or greater than winning the Mega Millions Lottery. Impossible? No! Unlikely? Absolutely. The odds show that these are either scammers or hookers and you don’t need either one.

And don’t allow yourself to be in love with the idea of being in ‘love’. This requires real people who know each other and takes time to develop. Anything less is most likely just a pipe dream for a guy who wants to recapture his youth.

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