Insistence on taking the conversation off of the dating service (e. g. , asking to text or email) Repeatedly asking for odd personal information (e. g. , your location) Disconcertingly dramatic, erratic, or otherwise strange behavior (in all likelihood, you’ll want to avoid dating people like this anyway) Early or inappropriate professions of love
High income Average height Attractive No political persuasion Engineer (male) or student (female) Mid-40s (male) or low 30s (female)
If you do determine that they’re not using their own photo, consider calling them out. This may reveal more suspicious behavior.
Their command of language deteriorates with time. They may even start out having no clue about grammar or punctuation. They make mistakes in that their “story” begins to contradict itself. Alternatively, they never provide any personal details about themselves. They mix pronouns (he/she, him/her). They mention things that seem entirely unrelated to the profile they’ve built up of themselves, or that seem too revealing and even unbelievable.
If the person with whom you’re talking either outright refuses to meet you or bails on your plans multiple times in a row, they’re most likely a scammer. Alternatively, the person may ask you to pay for their ticket or means of transportation.
Again, if the person outright refuses to talk to you over an audio or video connection, they’re most likely a scammer.
As a general rule, if the person to whom you’re talking asks for money in any context, they’re a scammer. Don’t fall for phrases like “For this to work, we both have to trust each other” or “I thought you loved me”; this is a form of emotional manipulation.
Most services require you to display your age, a description, and a picture. Outside of those items, you should keep the rest of your profile blank. Scammers require quite a bit of information about you before they can attempt to reel you in, so limiting their leverage from the start decreases your odds of being targeted.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t interact with the person as you please; just remember that anything you send to a stranger online can be used against you. Avoid sending photos or videos that show friends or family, or that give away your location.
This will usually allow your selected dating site to review the contents of your messages if you decide to report the other person as a scammer. Keeping discussions within the dating service will also allow you to block the person later (if needed) without having to block them in your email or on your phone as well.
If the person to whom you’re talking refuses to use any mode of conversation except your phone number, there’s a decent chance that they’re more interested in the number than in the conversation.
Refrain from deleting conversations or other forms of communication. Take screenshots of the conversations.
Many dating sites will allow you to block the person to whom you’re talking. As long as they don’t have your email address or phone number, doing this will prevent them from being able to contact you at all. If the person becomes unreasonably outraged or sends threats your way, be sure to take screenshots and report the person’s profile to the dating service.
Naturally, you should also report the scammer to the site on which you were scammed.
Naturally, you should also report the scammer to the site on which you were scammed.
