Internet Dating Scams
For the past fifteen years I've used the internet as a means to meet people for friendship or a date, depending on my relationship status at the time. I started with Bulletin Board Systems (BBS), moved to forums and chat rooms, and then eventually online dating sites and social networking applications. Needless to say, I've run across my fair share of scams during that time, but haven't fallen prey to one yet. Knock on wood.
Yet every single day I receive an email from one source or another telling me about someone who has lost thousands of dollars in an internet dating scam. Whether its a press release extolling the virtues of a site that does background checks, a news piece warning the public or someone asking for advice, I get get just as upset each time. Like the 65-year-old woman in Brisbane who was duped out of $60,000 and forced to declare bankruptcy because she was targeted by not one, but two Nigerian internet dating scams. Even a former flame of mine was targeted by a Russian dating agency, who eventually figured out it was an internet dating scam, but not before he shared some very personal information with the "lady", first.
These kinds of stories infuriate me for several reasons:
- The more that internet dating scams occur and/or are talked about, the more the singles are leery to meet anyone online, much less create a profile at an online dating site;
- People who are net savvy are being taken in by these scams as well as newbies to online dating, although perhaps not with the same frequency;
- Many of the people targeted by these internet dating scams don't report them because of fear, shame or guilt.
I'd personally love to stamp out all internet dating scams if I could, but the only way I know how is to inform people of what a scam looks like and what kinds of questions to ask yourself before getting involved with someone online. That's why I've written an article about it (How To Avoid Internet Dating Scams).
For those of you who meet people online, how have you avoided internet dating scams? Or, if you've had the unfortunate circumstance of knowing first hand what an internet dating scam is, what did you do? What were the signs, if any, that it was a scam?
Comments
thank you so much for the info. its really a help for us who are interested finding someone online..
Based in the uk, we run a free dating site and get a shocking number of scam profiles created each day which become ever more realistic. Fortunately we’re small enough to check each profile by hand to make sure the person is genuine.
We use google to search for the username used, we trace route the ip address of everyone who joins and just generally have a good read of what they’ve written! We pray for the day that these is an easier way to police this, it’s such a shame people have to try and spoil things.
For those interested, our website address is singleletsmingle.co.uk
We go a long way to protect our uk members…
Thank you for posting these important warnings. African scammers seem to target Christian dating sites in particular. Fortunately, by upholding a few basic guidelines you can make your dating experience scam-less. Most important rule? Never ever send money. On our Christian singles site you can read more safety guidelines we drafted.
this is not neverland, run by peter
pan. most sites are all bunco.
matchmaker sites, out to con a fast
buck off people’s gullibility and
loneliness. if its too good to be
true, it probably is. it would be great if the world was totally benevolent. it has a lotta malevolence.
the world before 1995 was much different. virtually yours, tc.
Hey Chris, I found Funky Fish also very interesting.
Thanks for your imput on Internet Dating Scams. I wish we could just get rid of them for good, but unfortunately, they will always be out there. I’ve just seen to many guys fall victim to these “Russian dating” scams.
Lets educate the public and send these scammers packing!
My daughter’s father committed suicide because of these scammers. While he obviously had a mental illness, he was so desperate to find love that he sent money not once, but many times, to four different ‘people’. I knew of once he had been scammed but did not think he’d let it happen again. He was that desperate. And this was an intelligent man. This is a man who never paid a credit card late, and a year later has sent about $50,000 to a series of four scammers. How can we stop this?????