Online Dating Scam pt. I: Fraud Types
August 31, 2009 – 12:53 pm, by Irene @ SkalfaRunning an online dating or a social networking site is a very specific kind of business with its own ‘highs and lows’. One of the pitfalls both site owners and members have to be aware of is online dating scam.
Briefly speaking, scamming is swindling someone for financial gain. When it comes to online dating sites – ’someone’ is usually a single man (almost never a woman) searching for his destiny in the World Wide Web. He is usually trusting and unsuspecting, which makes him almost a 100% confirmed candidate to fall for online Internet fraud.
Since scam is not something new in the world of online dating industry, there are tons of articles on the Internet describing ‘red light’ symptoms indicating that you are being fooled, and suggesting solutions on how to avoid such traps. People read them, become more educated and careful… and they stop trusting online community sites.
In order to make your website a secure place for acquaintance and entertainment, you should know how scammers typically act, what tricks they use to swindle dating site members, and obviously how to ‘catch’ such impostors before they cause any harm.
Below you fill find some common scammers’ fraud schemes description. As they say, ‘forewarned is forearmed’.
There are three generally known online dating scam types: a ‘Telephone scam’, a so-called ‘Russian Bride scam’ and a ‘419 Nigerian scam’.
Telephone scam ‘works’ pretty easy. A scammer gives you his/her phone number and asks you to call. You do so, which seems pretty logical if you are unprepared for a negative result. You hear an automatic voice machine (sometimes even a live person). You hang up. You get a phone bill that makes you stiffen in surprise. What is the trick? Scammers use so-called ‘premium rate’ phone and fax-back numbers usually starting with 190. The cost of a call to such number can be about $5 per minute or even higer. One more telephone fraud scheme involves a scammer asking you to dial 90# and hang up the conversation (he/she will definitely provide you with a trustworthy reason why you should do that). As soon as you follow the instructions, the cheat will get access to making long-distance calls using your telephone balance. This 90# scamming technique is no longer popular these days (since telephone communications have become more advanced and difficult to hack), and initially it was targeted for business and governmental numbers (requiring to dial 9 or 9-0 to access an outside line). But still, you should keep it in mind.
‘Russian Bride scam’ is very typical for online dating sites, so give it proper attention. Here is how it usually works. Imagine that you are registered on a dating site or a social network. You are lonely and dreaming to find a soul-mate, who is beautiful, young and naive. And one day you receive a message from a profile that looks very similar to your dream. The only drawback is that the girl who sent it lives in Russia (Ukraine, or one of the other former USSR countries). The message would usually be written in broken English, but have vague content anyone would like. Such letters typically start with a brief description of a potential
bride’s personal qualities (such as being honest, loving, not mercenary etc), and of how much she was impressed with your profile. She will promise to send her photos in case you are interested. And most likely you will receive pictures of a model looking just too good to be a real person. In some cases there will be a real girl on those pictures (and they will look more natural). The only problem is that she has nothing to do with the love messages you receive. No doubts that her photo was stolen from the Internet. But let’s get back to your correspondence. Once you start taking serious interest in your new friend, ’she’ will let you know about her feelings for you. Of course, she is in love. You’ve been chatting for only a week or so? You have never met or even talked to each other on the phone? Well, there are no barriers for true love, and you were definitely meant for each other – this is what she will tell you. Then the most interesting part starts. This girl from a country where there is no job, and winters are too cold will want to come and see you, because her love for you is so strong. But she will need some money to get her visa done (maybe about $300). Once you send it – she will definitely need more…. There can be hundreds of reasons: booking tickets, sick relatives, telephone and Internet connection bills (she can’t imagine even a day without communicating with you!) and so on, and so forth… She will never reveal her bank account details, and will ask you to send funds via some money transfer system. Finally (better sooner than later), you will understand that you are being fooled. But by that time you might become broken-hearted and a few hundred dollars poorer.
‘419 Nigerian scam’ named after the section of the Nigerian law pertaining to fraud unifies several methods of advanced fee fraud. It includes lottery scam, bank loan scam, romance scam and many other kinds of scam (if you are interested, you may check them here http://www.419hell.com/Nigerian_Scam_Baiting/Types_of_419_Scams.html). I will tell you about the specific dating or romance scam. As a rule, you will receive a letter from a profile with an attractive picture. She or he will not be so pushy at first. Following one of the fraud schemes, a scammer will tell you that he/she actually lives in the US, but is currently working abroad… say, in Nigeria. Your communication with such scammer may last for a couple of months or even up to a year before a standard process of sucking out your budget starts. A fraudster will become your friend and make you believe you can trust him. But one day something will definitely happen – your ‘friend’ will completely run out of finance just a week before the salary, or he will get to a hospital (or even to jail), he will need to buy a ticket, cash the money order or save a dying aunty who needs an urgent operation…. By the time the cheat asks you for money, your vigilance will most likely be completely lulled, as scammers are very good at psychology, and they know tons of ‘it-sounds-like-truth’ stories. Once you send the money
– you can forget about it. Most likely, the scammer will disappear too… unless he feels that he can ‘milk’ your wallet for a bit longer.
These were the typical Internet fraud schemes applied on online dating sites by scammers, and earning millions yearly to the ones using them. As an online community site owner, you can add your share to the hard work of fighting against Internet criminals by making your site free from scam and thus, safe and reputable.
In my next article I will introduce a few easy ways to prevent (or get rid of) scamming on your site using tools provided by SkaDate dating software.
For now, feel free to leave your comments and share scam stories you’ve been into or ever heard of. Your experience is very important.
Best wishes,
Irene
Image sources: http://i197.photobucket.com , http://onlinedatinginuk.com , http://www.russian-women-info.com
2 Responses to “Online Dating Scam pt. I: Fraud Types”
Thank you so much we really needed this information, because is affecting alotof people
By admin Rightmate on Sep 16, 2009
Dear admin Rightmate,
I am glad my article provided you with some useful information on how to detect scam on your site. In my next article devoted to online dating scam problems I will give a few pieces of advise on how to fight against scammers using the dating software tools. So be sure to check it out.
Thanks for your comment!
By Irene @ Skalfa on Sep 17, 2009