Online Dating Scams: Protect Yourself from Fraudsters

Online Dating Horror Stories: Protect Yourself from Dating Site Scams

Learn how to avoid online dating scams and protect yourself from fraudsters. Follow these tips to stay safe and find genuine matches.

Online Dating Scams: Protect Yourself from Fraudsters

Search Your Matches Online

If you want to avoid getting involved in the worst dating site scams, you need to take some initiative to protect yourself. Even the best dating sites have a few shady characters and with some research you can avoid them. Start by heading to Google and searching their name. You should be able to find at least one social media profile. Make sure that the information on this profile matches the information they shared on their online dating profile. In fact, when you are learning to craft the perfect online dating profile it is a good idea to make sure that yours matches with the other social information you share online so others can confirm that you too are legitimate. You can also search websites that record online dating scammers to see if others have reported them.

Do a Reverse Image Search

One of the easiest ways to avoid online scams on dating sites is to take the photos they have posted and do a reverse image search. If you find these photos on other profiles with different names and locations, there is a good chance that someone stole the photos and they are not who they claim to be. This is something you can do for free in a matter of minutes and it is one of the most effective ways to determine if someone is lying or not. Tineye is one of the best websites for this and it is very easy to use.

Take Your Communication to the Phone

Dating site scammers often try to avoid talking on the phone because this makes it easier for you to determine that they are lying about something. On average, you should expect to move your communication from the dating website to the phone in about a week. If they keep coming up with excuses as to why they cannot get on the phone with you, it is time to cut them loose and focus on the matches that cannot wait to talk with you on the phone.

Make Sure to Meet Them in Public in a Timely Manner

When someone runs scams on dating sites, they will never have any intention of actually meeting you. Now, most people will not feel comfortable enough to meet within a week of meeting, but if they are not ready to meet you within about a month of communicating regularly, something is wrong and they are probably not someone you want to meet in person anyway. Another reason people do not want to meet is because they lied about their location and they actually do not live anywhere near you. Nine times out of 10, when someone lies about their location it is because they are a scammer.

Question Anything that Makes You Suspicious

Dating site protection in Quebec City, Canada means that if you are suspicious you should take a minute to consider why. If something they say makes you question them, do not be afraid to ask questions and get to the bottom of why it is bothering you. When you are venturing into the waters of online dating, it is critical to pay attention to your intuition to protect yourself from problems. If they get defensive about your questions or just flat out refuse to answer them, it is time to move on because they are most likely hiding something that could have negative effects for you.