How to understand that you are being cheated on a dating site

How scammers work on dating sites

As a rule, users of dating sites who dream of marrying a foreigner become victims of scammers.

The first letters of the swindlers are very different from all the others: they are polite and thorough. They will tell you in detail about their hobbies and work, hint about financial well-being, make some pleasant, but not vulgar compliments. Next, you will be showered with confessions of feelings and will soon be offered to transfer communication from the site to e-mail.

You should be wary if:

The interlocutor does not address you by name, calls you a bunny, a cat and other diminutive words, as well as English-speaking counterparts if he pretends to be a foreigner.
The new acquaintance immediately insists on leaving the dating site and continuing to communicate via email or social media.
Doesn't write new stories, doesn't talk about how his day went, and the like.
Immediately after meeting, the fraudster confesses his love.
The swindler does not answer your questions, writes lengthy letters with an abundance of compliments and confessions of his feelings.

Remember: sometimes cheaters correspond with several victims at the same time. They usually use the same templates without even bothering to read the victim's letter.

The main task of a scammer is to convince you of his sincerity. A fraudster is willing to spend weeks, and sometimes even months, communicating with you. He will not ask you for money until he realizes that you are in love with him. And only after that he will come up with a false situation or problem and present it in such a way that you immediately want to help him.

The most popular ways to scam online dating sites

Expensive gift

After several weeks of acquaintance and stormy correspondence with love confessions, the potential groom sends the victim an expensive gift: a phone, laptop or jewelry. Then the man “accidentally” forgets to pay for the delivery, as a result of which the present cannot reach the addressee, and invites the lady to take these costs upon herself. Who would refuse to pay a couple of hundred dollars for an expensive laptop, given that a man promises to return this money upon meeting?

The victim receives an invoice by mail or SMS with a link to the courier service website, but after sending the required amount, the fraudster disappears along with the non-existent gift.

Despite the fact that recently the effectiveness of this method has decreased, an expensive gift remains one of the fastest and most popular ways to deceive a user of a dating site. In addition, it was recently improved: now, as a gift, the groom can send a bouquet of flowers or a souvenir, and also promise that he invested money in the package to cover unforeseen expenses. The amount for the delivery of such a parcel is, accordingly, small, so people do not suspect anything.

Air ticket

If in the course of your relationship the idea of a joint vacation appears, then sooner or later the question of buying an air ticket will arise. As a rule, the groom comes up with various excuses such as a blocked account or the absence of an ATM nearby in order to force the woman to pay not only for her flight, but also for it. Upon meeting, of course, he will immediately give all the money, and even with interest.

To help organize the trip, the groom sends a link to the airline's website to buy a ticket, but, unfortunately, the resource turns out to be phishing. The money for the tickets will go to the fraudster's account, and the victim will not see the tickets or the groom.

Don't fall for the bait, even if the tickets on this site are much cheaper than the ones you found. It is better to overpay than to lose money altogether.

In trouble

Women love to help, and this is actively used by scammers. For several months they correspond with the victim, even make an appointment and buy an air ticket themselves, but at the last moment the long-awaited date breaks down because the groom is in trouble: he is arrested, is not released from the country without paying a fine, doctors discover he has a terrible disease, and so on. … There can be many reasons, but the goal is one - to ask the bride for money.

Typically, in such cases, we are talking about thousands of dollars. The groom's “relatives” are often involved in the scam, as some scenarios involve long-term sponsorship.

In order not to fall for the bait of such scammers, never send even small amounts to a person with whom you do not know personally.

an officer

The fraudster poses as a military man who serves in a hot spot. As in previous cases, the relationship begins with fervent letters and promises to marry as soon as the contract ends.

After several weeks or months, the officer shares the find: he allegedly got a trophy antiques, which he wants to send to his beloved for safety. Regular mail will not help here - you need a diplomatic one that does not pass customs control. But the problem is that this will require a bribe of a couple of thousand dollars. The officer does not have this money.

A similar scheme is applied with a large amount of money allegedly received over the years of service or as an inheritance.

Such scammers are easy to spot: just do an image search on Google. As a rule, swindlers use photographs of real military personnel, information about which is available on the Internet.

Blackmailer

The simplest, but nevertheless effective, method of fraud is blackmail. The most common victims are young girls. The guy enters into trust, often sends messages and calls on Skype. After a while, he offers to move on to a closer relationship, send him candid photos or dance for him during a video call.

As soon as the fraudster receives a video or photo, the second stage begins - blackmail. The swindler threatens to send pictures to all subscribers of the victim on the social network or post them in the area where the girl lives if he does not receive the required amount.

The only way to protect yourself from this is to avoid sending explicit photos and videos to people you don't know personally.

How to protect yourself from scammers on a dating site

Be careful and don't lose your head.
Check information about a new acquaintance on the Internet, enter a name and a photo into the search engine. Fraudsters often use pictures of other people that they have found on the Internet.
Pay attention to spelling, especially if the groom is posing as a foreigner. If he makes a lot of mistakes, then this is a signal: your groom is not who he claims to be. With "Russian" suitors, a good grammar knowledge can also save you. Often foreigners pretend to be them, therefore, if you look closely at the letters, you can find mistakes and expose the swindlers.
Don't send intimate photos to someone you don't know personally.
Never send money, bank card details, account details, as well as passport.