Online dating has become one of the most popular ways to meet soulmates and establish life-long relationships. However, the online dating protection issue worries many people who’ve never tried it but would like to. Find out how to detect an online dating scammer and deal with it in this article.
What is an online dating scam?
An online dating scam is an unwanted interaction with suspicious profiles on dating platforms that leads to a user’s data stealing or direct money theft. Sometimes, it may also imply blackmailing of victims to make them voluntarily give money to the online dating scammer.
Also, online dating scams include the misuse of personal information and manipulations with the identity when scammers pretend to be people they’re not. It’s done by creating fake accounts on online dating sites and using them to fool naive people for fun or benefit.
Tips to protect yourself from scammers on dating sites
So, how can you avoid being fooled and robbed, and how dating sites protect you? That is the issue to be tackled step-by-step:
- Choose a safe dating website for meeting your girlfriend or boyfriend. Although it may not be the easiest task if you’re new to social networking platforms for dating and know little about scammers on dating sites, you should put effort into finding the best app for yourself. Read the reviews made by dating experts.
- Learn safe dating and protection rules the dating platform establishes. They’re likely to be outlined in the terms of use section or the privacy policy on the website. Also, prominent online dating spots post safety tips on their blogs, so feel free to check them before interacting with anyone there.
- Find out how dating services use protection protocols and encryption of the customer data to help you avoid scammers on dating sites. Use only those dating apps that have safe HTTPS websites and don’t collect your financial information. To find out what card data is needed to make payments for your membership or communication services, always check the FAQ section and payment policy on a dating platform.
- Understand how a typical online dating app scammer interacts with users. They may ask you to send them cryptocurrency to help them with certain financial issues. They may make up never-ending stories of a sick family member and the inability to make their own money for some reason, and deny all invitations to a real date by all means. If you happen to communicate with such a person, remember that you shouldn’t give them any money, nor provide any details regarding your money matters, including your credit card details. The latter is very popular among Russian dating scams.
- Let your close friends know you’re dating someone online and tell them about their behavior. It’s often tough to distinguish between your wishful thinking and reality when you’re charmed by someone, so be sure to tell your buddy how your online love acts and what they ask for. If you see that they’re concerned about what you’re saying, it’s better to pay close attention to an online girlfriend and refrain from being too outspoken. Scammers in the online dating industry are sneaky so looking at them with a fresh eye can be life-saving.
- Use reverse image search for pictures you see on dating profiles. Since online dating scammers often use photos from the Internet to publish on their accounts, you should know how to check the photos’ authenticity. The Google reverse image search tool can help you: just upload your picture of interest in the engine and see whether the information matches the one stated on a dating site. If it doesn’t, feel free to report online dating scammer to the dating app administrator.
What to do if you’ve been scammed on dating sites?
In case it’s too late to avoid online dating scams and you were already robbed, here are the steps you should take:
- Stop any communication with the person. Don’t answer their messages and don’t show up on the online calls to not accidentally share any new information about yourself.
- Make screenshots of your conversations and save the content they shared with you. All of that can be used later in court if you decide to file the case to restore your reputation legally. Also, the police can add them to their investigation to move the inspection forward.
- Don’t believe the scammer when they blackmail you and try to cut you off from your friends or family so that you couldn’t tell anyone about the fraud. They can’t harm you unless fraudsters feel that you’re afraid and ready to pay them even more for not disclosing any information, e.g. nude photos, etc.
- Contact the dating website support team. They’re the first online dating protector for you: your report will be passed to the moderators’ team who will check and block or flag the profile you claimed to be a scammer. Also, feel free to request the money return for all unused services.
- Report the case to the police. If you know that you’ve shared too many facts about yourself with a scammer that can harm not only your financial situation but also your good name, be sure to call the police and open the case.
- Let the Federal Trade Commission handle the case. While using online dating sites, you purchase the service of communicating with people from all over the world by many means. Thus, if you were abused during this service, the FTC will take care of you as a customer who lost their money and reputation. Scams on dating sites are too serious to be ignored.
- Check an online dating scammer list and report the person who fooled you to be added there. Such lists of mail-order bride dating sites are available online via a quick Google search. Also, reporting them to the FBI may speed up the process of restoring your reputation and getting your money back.
As you can see, safe dating and protection of your personal information are possible in case you’re attentive and cautious right from the beginning of your online dating experience. But if you didn’t manage to do it then and got scammed, it’s still possible to get your money and fair name back. Follow the tips above step-by-step to have a safe online dating journey and find your true soulmate.
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