This is a topic that comes up in social nets all the time. Time to strike back!
INTRO: Scamming (i.e. fishing for contact details to extort money) has become a widely popular feature of virtually any dating site and also affects us here. As much as we wish we were, were are not immune to fraudsters.
WHO: Scammers rely on secretive and hidden action. They use fake accounts which no-one can trace back or pinpoint to any person. They receive money through unprotected transaction services, money transfers or blank cheques. The amounts that they extort are staggering: ranging between 120-600 € or $US.
SAFEGUARDS:
1) One primary feature is that they insist on these very unreliable and unsafe means of payment. The moment you mention a possibility to agree to send money to a personal pick-up point they get irritable, find excuses (“my parents are too sick – I can't leave the house”), make accusations (“you don't love me at all! I can see how you don't care”), even become aggressive (“are you stupid?! My friend who just got married did this many times!”) or blackmail (“I don't want to communicate with somebody stupid! Send me the money or we're through!”).
If you read any such or similar lines, such as these the probability that you're in fact dealing with a scammer is very high.
2) To protect their monetary interests, they remain incognito and hide. Ask them to skype and they will find more excuses than the heavens have stars.
Here's a typical pattern that evolves when you ask a scammer to skype:
“I have no skype”
- then register
“I don't have time to register on skype!” - but you have time to register on several dating platforms and upload photos, fill in forms, wait for confirmation and write long letters???
Scammer: “My computer is too old” (but you can send and process pictures, edit material, browse the internet, but now your computer suddenly is too old... aha!
- suggestion: “go to an internet cafe.”
Scammer “There is no internet cafe round here” OR “wifi cafes are expensive – I can't afford to go there.” (show me the place on earth without internet cafes)
- suggestion: “go to a friend”
Scammer: “I don't know you enough! How can you ask me for my skype?!”
UPSHOT: Ah, yes. You don't know me enough, but you're sending me topless photos, tell me that you love and ask me to send you several hundred bucks a load... but still “you don't know me enough to skype... I'm slowly getting the picture.
If you really want to push the point:
- suggestion: “set up an alternative account”
Scammer “I don't have time to register on skype!”
(see above for how it proceeds )
3) Ask them for their email address and write to them. They usually instantly reply with about an A4 page of text, saying how much they like and fancy you. These are followed by 4-5 'hot' photos from different settings. If your scammer is a real idiot, they use photos of celebrities in which case you can simply notify the admin and voice your suspicion.
If you want to make doubly sure, contact the potential scammer from a second (unknown) account.
If they reply with the same letter and photos – voilà! There is your scammer. Any reasonably minded person would ask who you are and where you got the email from!
4) passport copies or screenshots are far from safe! They can be photoshopped, cropped and edit as easily as a 4-year-old draws you a rainbow!
5) Handing out mobile phone numbers is a preferred trick of a scammer to pacify your desire to interact personally. These run into dead ends. Scammers have enough money to run several phones.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Unfortunately even all of these criteria above still don't guarantee that you're 100% dealing with a scammer. It may well be possible that some of them even skype, although in my experience that would still be a new feat. I'm still waiting for the scammer that wants to skype...
RECOMMENDATION: A usual combination of caution, care, sensitivity and information is the safest guide to stay the course.
Alternative means of communication are: skype, facebook, VK (instagram to a lesser extent)
unsafe 'proof' are: copies of domestic passports / telephone numbers / twitter accounts / instagram
and scammers will be unable to respond to you personally. Write about yourself, your hobbies, your interests, what moves you and your emotions. Scammers are cold and ignorant creatures. They're unable to respond to any, never mind to say all of these.
I hope, this makes interacting more pleasurable for you. Have a great time and enjoy your communication!
