How to Identify and Avoid Scams on Dating Sites

Online dating have gotten really popular in recent years with millions of people on the various dating sites. Virtually every category of people on planet earth has a dating site made specifically for them. There are several examples of people that met their current lovers online. However, wherever there are positive things, there is bound to be negatives ones as well. Despite the countless number of positive stories, there are still many people who have reported getting duped or cat-fished. Even worse, there have been cases of people getting physically harmed, raped or murdered by someone they met on the internet.

The problem sometimes isn’t just fake people claiming to be who they are not. There are fake sites and apps as well. Some of them are simply trying to steal personal information. Given all these potential dangers, how exactly can you sift through and find genuine sites, real people and potential lovers online. Anyone can fall victim to online dating scams regardless of their tribe, color, or gender so you need to be careful. Here are some red flags for you on any dating site you might want to try out.

Profile red flags: This can be majorly identified through their photos. A typical dating site scammer will have not more than two to three pictures on their profile. They never upload pictures and when they do, the pictures are never casual. They are typically in model-like shots. Also, their area of interest and country of residence are always contradictory even if they are in search of singles. Most times a fake users will have no other social media account or may have the same pictures on every online platform. For more thorough analysis you can do a reverse image search to verify if the picture on a person’s profile is really who they claim to be.

Conversation red flags: if you are smart enough, you can identify fake people easily from your conversations with them. To begin with, a fake person will not on any occasion accept video calls. This is commonly the case when they are not who they claim to be or in a different location as claimed on their profile. They would rather chat through text. In some cases, they might agree to a video chat but want you to do so on a different platform entirely.

Another red flag is when someone you are chatting with profess their love or emotional attraction too early in your conversation. This is done to manipulate your own emotions and get you to do things you would otherwise be opposed to. Such people target emotionally vulnerable people like widows, seniors, physically challenged people and so on.

Requests for help or financial assistance: this is another major red flag you should look out for. Typically, after chatting with you to get familiar for a few days, the person might come up with stories about an emergency, sudden accidents, trouble with their bank accounts and so on. While this isn’t to say real people don’t have challenges. You should try to check the story and see if it matches the circumstances. Probe further for details and look for loopholes in their claims. Also, those that are into illegal dealings might ask you to help transfer money to another persons’ account with a promise of financial re-numeration to you as well. This may put you in trouble. Avoid any form of financial transaction with anyone you met online.

Meet up red flags: after chatting online for a while, you may get to a point where you meet up with the person personally. Knowing how to approach this stage of the relationship is essential for your safety. Typically it is easy to detect those are trying to be dubious here. Fake people will out rightly refuse to meet you physically so that they don’t give away their false identity. Some may ask you for money for reasons like completing their ticket fee or claim they were detained by the authorities and request for money to get out.

If a person eventually agrees to meet. Do not go to a stranger’s home or invite them to yours. Choose a public place to meet up. Do not go to secluded or far away locations to meet up with anyone you met on a dating site. Instead pick somewhere midway between your location and the person’s location and meet out in the open. Do not enter into a stranger’s car. Keep your phone or and notify a friend. A simple trick can also be to post it on your online account that you are meeting up with a specific person. This is a romantic/friendly gesture but it also ensures your safety as well.

Conclusion

In your interactions online, you should assume that the person on the other side of the screen is a stranger no matter how close and intimate you have gotten. Do not let your guard down until you have met up several of times and you are convinced that the person is indeed real. Stay safe and stay happy.