How to Spot an Online Dating Scammer?

So you are desperately looking for love. We all are. Now, you meet someone on an online dating site who seems too keen on getting to know you. They say you all the right things and chatting for long hours with them seems enjoyable to you. Over time, you start developing strong feelings for them. They too seem interested. But then out of nowhere, they start having financial issues and you are compelled to help them. Eventually, your new true love disappears with your money and you are left heartbroken. Does this story seem relatable enough? You might have become a victim of Online Dating Scam.

An online dating scam usually involves a scammer who is using online dating sites disingenuously in order to trick other members with the intention of scamming them, generally by asking for money. It is astonishing to know that hundreds of people every year fall victim to such online dating scams.

So how to spot an online dating scammer before falling prey to them?

Look out for some of these common descriptions in their profile:

• a professional working overseas (an engineer, probably), or self-employed

• a widower (or just widowed) having a child

• they might claim to be a citizen of your own country but away for some work

• claim to be traveling frequently

These people almost always refuse to meet you in person or talk to you over the phone.

Often the grammar of such people is poor and make many spelling mistakes in their messages and even in their profile. When the scammer shows you that they carry an advanced educational qualification such as a Masters degree, such poor grammar and spelling mistakes can make you spot them instantly.

Usually, such people avoid any conversation leading to questions about them.

You can also track a scammer by doing a photo check. For this, you just need to save a copy of their profile display picture and use a Google image search. Now check the results if they are already marked up as a scammer. If you find the return to be illegitimate in some way or the other, report to the online dating website providing all the evidence such as website links.

Observe carefully any signs of discrepancies such as:

• They claim to be away, but their profile shows them online. They most likely would be chatting up with some other online victim.

• Their profile often shows inconsistent geographic locations referring to places not even in proximity to where they live.

In case you receive a message from someone who says that they fell for you the minute they saw your profile, it’s time to beware. These scammers generally claim they read your lovely profile and found you looking really cute or beautiful in your picture. They would claim that they want to meet you (but will never do so in real). Some people have also complained of getting messages saying they look beautiful when they actually haven’t even posted a picture!

Finally, if you feel that you have been scammed by some ‘online lover’, then it’s time for them to contact the online website and report to them as soon as possible.