(Last Updated On: September 17, 2022)

Online dating scam

Online dating can be a very satisfying and rewarding experience. The majority of people who use dating websites encounter only minor irritations, most of which could quickly occur within any dating scenario – offline as well as online.

In this article, I want to help you identify and avoid the various online romance scams that have sprung up to not only deprive you of your money but also your happiness. After all, being scammed or taken for a ride is a pretty miserable experience.

Scammers can sign up to most dating websites for free, and because of the anonymity of the internet, they can set up the perfect fake profile with no-one asking questions or becoming suspicious.

Online free dating is an excellent process for making new friends or searches sex buddies, but you should know the essential points to guard you against social, financial, as well as emotional disasters, which are now more popular as online romance scams.

The scammers in the usual course are highly cunning people and can well-read the thought processing of the person on the other side. These scammers are found in various online dating sites, and they pose a head turner in their first meeting. These people are a good poser and can manipulate the situation diplomatically in their favor. While you are doing your online dating, it is necessary to know about these people and some simple solutions to tackle these rogues.

These scammers are usually adorable personalities, at least they project their profile in that manner. They seem to possess an excellent sense of decency, the integrity of nature, and a moral sense so that all of a sudden, you cannot frown on his/her attitude. Some scammers show great value for family bonds which is usually alluring for a profile for a safe date. You should always avoid these bragging people in the first instance.

How to avoid sextortion scams, read our article.

However, most of the online romance scams start with ardent love proposals and the scammers claim a complete surrender to your irresistible appeal after one or two days’ online chatting. These scammers usually want to leave dating chat rooms and start communication via a separate e-mail ID; on the other hand, they may ask you for your e-mail ID to take the connection to a personal level. It is always wise to avoid this type of overseas contact for double protection at your side.

The first thing that you should watch out for is people asking for money. Asking for money is a common online romance scam. This usually takes the form of women asking men for money, but in any case, how do you know that “she” isn’t a “he” or vice versa? They have a picture of their profile that could have been “borrowed” from anywhere, a profile that could have been written by anyone – man, woman, or a trained monkey.
You communicate by email because “she” says that the phone isn’t working. “She” is reluctant to give you her address, or gives you a post office address where “she” can be contacted. Your overseas friend may ask you some favor like some contribution for airfare or arranging some amount to make Visa etc.
If there is any proposal where the money is involved, it is better to block the person from accessing your mailbox with an instant effect.

Anyone seeking to part you from your cash will only use an anonymous payment provider such as PayPal or Western Union. They will never share their bank details with you, and under no circumstances should you share your bank details with them.

They talk much about themselves. They never ask for money straight away. Likewise, they will form a “relationship” with you first and then ask to “meet” you, but they don’t have the money to travel, or they have a severe medical condition but don’t have the money to pay for treatment.

If you have met someone online and want to make sure that the address you have been given is valid, why not send flowers or some other small gift? The initial outlay is small and if it can’t be delivered, you have your answer. If it can be delivered, the gift will be well-received by your potential partner and will be money well-spent.

Another scam to be aware of is someone who immediately asks for your email address. Once you give out your address, you are swamped by spam and never hear from that person again. It is tough to avoid this scam as email is your initial point of contact, but it might be a good idea to use an anonymous email account, such as Hotmail or go.com until you are confident that the person with whom you are communicating is genuine.

The purpose of online dating is to make new friends or searching for a soul mate. It is always recommended that you should communicate with local people and hardly with overseas people unless the overseas member comes from a reliable reference.

It is always wise to guard your privacy while you have posted your profile on the net. Furthermore, it is never recommended posting your phone number or house land number online; you should give this information to a new friend either.

It is always wise to depend on your gut instinct if something you can smell wrong it is still sensible to avoid the contact. However, these scams are more frequently experienced on free dating sites.

Paid websites for dating personals are a rather authentic and safe way of finding soul mates. If your intention is matrimonial, it is always better to avail of a paid membership in singles dating site. Here you can protect yourself easily from common online romance scams.

I have outlined a couple of scams that you should be aware of, but remember that the vast majority of people that you meet online will be genuine and look for similar things to you.

There will always be a few who spoil things for the rest of us, but this does not mean that we should treat everyone we meet online with suspicion. Caution is all that is required because there are always signs to alert us to danger if we know how to identify them.