Online dating scams are especially cruel because they prey on people’s emotions. This short review outlines the warning signs of a romance scam and how to protect yourself from online dating con artists.
Warning signs of romance scams:
- You receive a picture from a lady you met online that resembles a model from a fashion magazine more so than an ordinary selfie.
- The woman wants to contact you by email or instant chat right away, not on a dating website.
- She shows you a lot of love. To entice potential victims, con artists frequently bombard them with messages, emails, and phone calls.
- She keeps saying she’ll see you in person but always finds a reason to back out.
Do’s
- Take it gradually. Ask the lady you met on a website a lot of questions, and keep an eye out for discrepancies that might indicate a fake.
- Check out the image using Google’s “search by image” tool. If the identical image appears elsewhere with a different name, it is possible that a scammer stole it.
- Be careful of emails that are overtly flirty or flattering. Enter the phrase into a search engine to see whether identical terms appear on websites that expose romance scammers.
- If you believe the woman is a con artist, discontinue communication immediately.
- Notify the dating site where you met the scammer.
Don’ts
- Don’t have a false sense of security because you made the first contact. Scammers overload dating websites with phony profiles and wait for victims to approach them.
- Don’t give out too much personal information on a dating profile or to a lady you’ve just spoken to online. Scammers might use facts like your last name or place of employment to deceive you or steal your identity.
- Never email a lady you met online intimate images that might be used for extortion.
- Don’t transfer money to ladies you’ve just talked to online because you won’t get it back.