Internet Romance Scams

From LoveToKnow Dating

Finding love online can be hard enough without worrying about falling for Internet romance scams. However, since they are alive and well, everyone involved with online dating has to learn to be cautious.

How Most Internet Romance Scams Go

The most common Internet romance scams are not too different from the ever popular Nigerian email scam. They follow the same premise, which is as follows:

The scam artist sets up a profile on an online dating site and searches for a person that looks like a promising victim.
He contacts that person through the site and begins a relationship through emails and sometimes over the phone. Usually the thief explains that he is overseas on business or makes another excuse as to why he is out of the country.
Communication progresses as if the thief is falling in love with the victim. Often, he will send flowers, candy, teddy bears, and other presents, usually using a stolen credit card to pay for them.
As the relationship moves forward and the victim thinks he/she is getting closer, the scam artist tells the victim that he/she has come into some kind of financial trouble, has a sick relative, had a death in the family or needs funds for a plane ticket to come visit.
The scammer asks the victim to wire money, often in exchange for a check or money order (that turns out to be fraudulent) or to send money via PayPal.
The scam artist disappears, taking the victim’s money, and begins the process all over again.

If the potential victim says no to the request, the thief often tries to use guilt to bully the victim, such as again mentioning the heartbreaking story of illness or loss or saying that the person has destroyed his or her faith in women or men, or in relationships.

Keeping Money Out of the Wrong Hands

The best way for people using dating sites to protect themselves from this type of scam is to never wire money or give out personal information, like an account number, to a person they have met on the Internet, no matter how much they think they know the person because of online or phone contact.

Thieves have been perpetrating these types of scams for years and know exactly what to say to get the reaction they want and have bilked people into giving up tens, and even hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s important not to take what these people say, or type, at face value. It’s different if you develop a relationship with them, in person, over a long period of time.

How To Tell That a Potential Date is Legitimate

While it may not always be prudent to meet in person right away, there are other things to do to help ensure that online daters are who they say they are:

Have chats over a web cam or via Skype. A lot of scammers use photos of very attractive people to lure victims in. They may shy away from video chats since they look nothing like these images.
Ask a lot of questions about the person’s personal life, including job and family. If the person is not making up a story, he should have no problem answering them.
Be wary of ads that have a lot of spelling and grammar issues, especially if the person claims to be an American that is simply overseas for work. This could be an indication that he is actually not a native English speaker.
Carefully read all emails. Do they seem like letters a person could write to multiple people instead of catered to one person? Do they have no logical flow? Often thieves use form letters to reach multiple victims at one go.

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