Online dating has been promising since the arrival of mobile and smart phones. Dating applications like Tinder started to become more popular among young and even older people. And just like any other things that you find on the Internet, online meeting is not safe from fraudulent activities. 

Fake and fraudulent dating applications have victimized young, old, men and women. But the most prominent victims are the older people, individuals who have little to no idea how the Internet works. Not only that, isolated and vulnerable people like men in uniform working overseas are also one of the biggest targets of long-term Catfishing scams. 

POF or Plenty of Fish scams are usually the most common scams today because of the extensive nature of the network. But scams only exist in more prominent and most popular relationship websites. Because of the rise of dating applications, scammers are starting to cast a bigger net to catch potential targets and use automation to their advantage. 

They are now using smart bots to lure unsuspecting victims into their scams. If you want to know more about online dates, you can visit popular dating sites like this website link.

Ways to detect an online dating scammer

Profile any warning signs

There are some telltale signs that you can look out for when you are looking at a possible match in an online dating site. Some of the few traits you need to look out for in a scammer’s profile will include:

A profile that has few pictures or profile that uses images of models or beautiful stock photos. If you are a uniformed man stationed outside the United States and you are looking for a single lady, you need to be more careful because scammers on dating applications have limited profile information. These profiles usually use only one or two visible photos and don’t link their profile to their social media accounts. 

They try to divert your attention to other topics

Online dating scams, especially people doing Catfishing, will ask you to move to another platform outside the dating app where you met the moment they start talking to you. Usually, scammers want to communicate with you using platforms with chat messaging features like Facebook Messenger, SMS, Whatsapp or Skype. Be cautious of anyone you have not met that wants to move your conversation to these platforms. There is a big chance that you are talking to a scammer.

The match that you found will profess their love to you early on

Dating scams on the Internet tend to have a quicker pace when it comes to professing emotional connections. During a short period, they may say they feel a deep connection with you, and they love you. This act is all part of their manipulation of people’s feelings that are involved in Catfishing using online dating. 

It is also why a lot of people, especially military men stationed outside of the United States who are isolated and vulnerable are a very easy target since they are emotionally weak and yearning for a good companion. You have to look out for matches that are very flattering and overly devoted early on when they have not even met you.

They agree to meet with you, but they always cancel it at the last minute

A pervasive line among internet dating scammers is they agree to meet with you, but cancels it at the last minute because some unexpected problem came up. Because scammers are not the person they claim to be, they do not want to meet with you in person. 

That is also the reason why a lot of scammers claim that they are based outside the United States or on a military deployment since it will give them a reason for not meeting with you. In fact, a lot of these scammers use photos of soldiers, cops, firefighters or uniformed personnel on their dating site profiles — the inability to meet maybe their first reason why they want to ask money from their victims. 

There are tons of reasons they need the money as they needed it to buy a ticket to meet you, their parents were in the hospital and needed money for medication, or there is something important they need to attend to. Sometimes they will say that the immigration officials had them detained and they need money for bail.

To know more about online dating services, you can visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_dating_service for more information. 

They avoid video chat like a disease

According to BBB or the Better Business Bureau, most scams in the dating world trace back to people living in Africa or Southeast Asia, specifically Nigeria, Ghana or Malaysia. So, in case you receive an invitation, a chat or an email from these countries, there is a big chance that they are scammers. 

Although you can detect the accent from a simple phone call, scammers can fake their accents so they can back up their claim that they came from a specific country. But no matter what, people who do Catfishing will not appear in a video chat because they are using fake profile pictures. 

Be very cautious if the match online dating sites will give you is not willing to appear in a simple video chat, especially if they always make excuses about their broken camera. Because of today’s technology, all smartphones have at least a built-in, low-resolution camera, which makes it easier to do video chat with other people. If they hesitate to appear in a video chat because they claim they are timid in front of a camera, then you have to consider it as a red flag

They ask money from you

Naturally, people who catfish will ask money from you, since this is their primary goal why they are doing this in the first place. There are different scenarios that they may formulate – from health issues, health problems, travel issues or family emergencies. 

Usually, inventive scammers may even scheme, you in giving them money by purposely sending you gift and packages that require fees. They do not necessarily work on their own. Some of them are working in groups and pose as a third party that request fees. 

Some of them even have the guts to ask financial investment or financial help that is related to their fake business. If there is any financial request the comes from your suitor, there is a big chance that they are scammers and you are a target of their fraudulent scam.