Content

• Steps
• Advice
• Warning

This article teaches you how to avoid getting scammed on dating sites. Scammers on online dating sites often target people who provide a lot of information in their profile to cheat money, credit card information or personal information of the victim.

Steps

Part 1 of 2: Identifying scammers

1. 

   Find out how to cheat. Scammers often look for people who appear vulnerable (such as widows or single people, or elderly people). When the scammer becomes close to the victim, they will say that they need money to deal with an emergency (such as paying for hospital fees) or unexpected events (like buying a plane ticket to see you). ).

   Advice: You can avoid being scammed on the online dating site by not sending money to people you haven't met.

   
   

2. 

   Realize that anyone can be scammed. Although middle-aged widows are often the target of online scammers, there is no exception for any international dating site user.

3. 

   
   
   Watch out for fraud. Although not all scammers act the same way, nearly all scammers through dating services engage in the following behaviors:
   • Don't want to chat over a dating service (just want to text or email)
   • Repeatedly asking for personally identifiable information (such as your address)
   • Showing tragic expression, acting out of the ordinary, or in other words behaving strangely (normally, you won't want to date these people)
   • Prove early or inappropriately

   

   
   
   Maya Diamond, MA
   Advisor on Love and Marriage

   Anyone can be the subject of scammers. Dating and love consultant Maya Diamond said: "If you haven't met someone and they have confessed to you, they are probably a scammer, especially since they have never made an effort to meet. Another obvious sign is when they say they're working in another country and need money to visit you. Unfortunately, this is a trick that leaves many people trapped, including smart people. , understanding and success. "

4. 

   View object's profile. Scammers' profiles often have different information depending on whether they are male or female, but it's easy to spot the following characteristics on their profile:
   • High income
   • Average height
   • There is attraction
   • Don't care about politics
   • Career engineer (for men) or students (for women)
   • From 45 years old and above (for men) or under 30 years (for women)

5. 

   Note the age gap when you are an older person. Scammers on online dating sites often target people older than them.

6. 

   Find a copy of your avatar. Simply save their profile picture, then upload it to Google to find out if there are similar photos. If you see multiple pages displaying their pictures in the results, it means they are not using their own pictures.
   • If you determine that they are not using the "righteous" photo, confront them. This will also reveal some other suspicious behavior.

7. 

   Thoroughly analyze what they say during the conversation. During the conversation, the scammers' messages lack consistency, often misrepresenting your own name or your name. Messages are composed carelessly or with repetition. You should pay attention to the following signs:
   • Their use of words gradually got worse. They don't even care about grammar or punctuation.
   • They make a few mistakes that make their "story" contradictory.
     • Or, they never give out personal information about themselves.
   • They have confusion between pronouns (he / she).
   • They mention things that are completely unrelated to the information on the record, or "don't hit but tell" and are not even reliable.

8. 

   See you. Scammers will never meet in person, and they will often appear unhappy when you ask.
   • If the person you're talking to frankly refuses to see you or breaks a promise multiple times, they are probably a scam.
   • Or, that person asks you to pay for an airline ticket or travel expenses for meeting.

9. 

   Offer to reach the person by video or voice call. If the audience doesn't want to meet in person, you can offer to call their number (don't let them call you) or get in touch through a voice or video calling app like Skype. If they agree, pay attention to their tone and wording; If their attitudes seem to contradict what you know about them, it's best to stay away from them.
   • Again, if the person refuses to chat with you over a voice or video call, they are probably a scammer.

10. 

    Beware of "bait". When scammers think you've “hooked”, they go into action. Usually they will "agree" to meet you or chat with you, but their plans will be disrupted due to financial problems.
    • Note, anyone asking for money in any context is a scam.
    • Don't get discouraged by statements like "For good results, we need to trust each other" or "I think you love me"; this is emotional manipulation.

    "Don't send money to anyone you just meet online, no matter who they are or how much they like you."

    

    Maya Diamond, MA
    Advertising Love and Marriage Advisor

Part 2 of 2: Prevent phishing

1. 

   Keep your profile as secure as possible. One of the first steps in building a phishing-avoidance profile is to limit information sharing. If possible, you should avoid publishing your country / region, phone number, email address, work and other personal information on profile.
   • Most online dating services ask you to provide an age, a brief description of yourself, and a photo. In addition to this information, you should leave the rest blank.
   • Scammers need to know your information before "releasing the bait"; therefore, you should stop their motivation in the first place by limiting information that could be exploited.

2. 

   Don't give scammers the chance to intimidate you. Scammers often employ a familiar tactic of saving sensitive photos, videos and / or messages you send them, uploading them to community sites and using posted content to blackmail you. Therefore, you should avoid sending messages that reveal personal information, at least in the novice stage.
   • That doesn't mean you can't interact with the person at will; however, keep in mind that strangers on the Internet may use what you send to attack you.
   • Avoid sending photos or videos with friends or relatives, or revealing your whereabouts.

3. 

   Keep the conversation going on the dating site. If you use a dating site that has a built-in chat widget (which most sites do), then you'd better just chat with the audience right there.If the person asks to switch to email or texting, decline.
   • This is a way to allow dating sites to see the content of a message when you report a phishing scam.
   • Chat on the dating site also allows you to block your audience (if necessary) without worrying about having to block additional emails or phone numbers.

4. 

   Avoid revealing your real phone number. If you have to transfer your chats to your smartphone, do not reveal your phone number. That doesn't mean you have to give them a fake phone number; You can use many free texting services over the phone such as WhatsApp, Skype, Google Voice and Facebook Messenger to comfortably text someone without having to worry about revealing your real phone number.
   • If the person you are talking to refuses to use other forms of chat and only wants your phone number, they may be more interested in the phone number than the conversation.

5. 

   Keep a conversation between you and the person. If you suspect the person you are talking to is a fraud, there are a few things you can do to make sure you have evidence against them:
   • Avoid deleting chats and other forms of communication.
   • Take screenshots of the conversation.

6. 

   Stop talking to the person if needed. There's nothing wrong with cutting off contact, especially when you think they're a scam. If it feels bad to interact with the person online, don't spend more time with them.
   • Many dating sites allow you to block the people you are chatting with. If they don't yet have your email address or phone number, this will prevent them from continuing to contact you.
   • If the person is unreasonably angry or intimidates you, take a screenshot and report their profile to the dating service management team.

7. 

   Send fraud information to the Internet Crime Complaint Center. In the event of a scam, you should report to the FBI Internet Criminal Complaints Center information reception page at https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx, select File a Complaint (Submit complaint) and fill out information.
   • Of course, you should also report the scammer right at the site where you have the problem.
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Advice

• Unfortunately, encountering cyber scammers is unavoidable. Emotional abuse is the leading cause of money fraud, with about 12% of online dating service users reporting encountering scammers.
• When they first talk to a scam, they often ask what your profession is. Avoiding answering this question (or answering "even capital" like "going to work") will often make them impatient with clinging to you.
• Searching for that person on job sites like LinkedIn will help you find someone who has been stolen by scammers.
• Their writing can also be a sign that they are a scam. If they are not good at English and often use nonsense words, they probably are not from the English-speaking country as the information on file is on file.

Warning

• Always remember the golden rule of online interaction: unbelievable perfectionism is not believable.
• Do not disclose the password of your dating account because even the staff of the dating service will never ask for your password.
• Do not accept mail or money from suspicious scammers, as this could get you into trouble with money laundering.