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Clues to IDing a Dating Scam on the
Internet
When you’re out on the Internet, looking for love and wearing
your heart on your sleeve, you hope that you are making putting
your best foot forward to look like the potential perfect mate
for your fellow daters. Unfortunately, you might also look like
a great target for con artists. Far too often, Internet daters
with love in their eyes have gotten swindled by people who have
played their heartstrings to milk them for cash and more.
Finding love online has worked for tons of people, but if you
want to be one of them, you have to be savvy about spotting red
flags of a bad or dangerous situation. When you are evaluating
your new online friends, keep an eye out for these clues to
help protect yourself from falling victim to the scammers.
The first big clue you should look for is inconsistencies in
the stories your new online friend emails you. You do this
naturally when you meet people in the real world, but with time
and space between emails, it might take a closer look for you
to do this when you have met someone on the net. Does the
person the other end tell the same stories over and over again,
but with a little difference each time? Does the tone or voice
of the email seem to change? Does the person you talk to seem
to better at spelling or grammar in some emails than others?
All of these things can be clues that you are not just talking
to one love sick person but rather a team of con artists
setting you up as the perfect mark.
The next clue is if the person talking to you online is
interested in asking question after question about you but
actually reveals very little about them. Sometimes, when you
have stars in your eyes and are enjoying the attention it can
be a little difficult to realize that deep conversation has all
been one sided. After a conversation, ask yourself what you
could tell someone about your online love. If you can’t come up
with anything personal about them beyond where they live and
their name, you might have been milked for the kind of
information that makes it easier to swindle you.
This next clue is a little touchy, but it is an important one.
Check out that picture that your online friend sent to you. Are
you a little bit in shock over just how attractive they are?
Gorgeous people need love to, and sure, some of them do look
for it online. But Internet hustlers often turn photos of
bikini models and body builders into personal photos for their
online profile. Does this photo really match who you think this
person is? If you’re suspicious, trust your gut.
This last clue seems a little bit obvious on the surface, but
in practice it may be a little harder to apply than you think.
If your online dating friend asks for money, you should
definitely run the other way. It can be easy to scoff at the
idea that you would even consider handing over your cash to a
stranger online. When a person has been showering you with
attention and affection, engaging in long, in depth
conversations with you, seemingly eager to invite you into
their life, and then they have a little “emergency” and need
your help, it is much less easy to say no. You may feel like
you are lending money to a friend in need. What you’re really
doing is giving money to a stranger. If they ask, you should
cut them off.
The bottom line for online dating is to look for these signs,
but above, listen to the alarm bells that go off in your own
head. If you think it isn’t right, it probably
isn’t.
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