[fairydustgirl]

Hey all of you fellow online daters,
this is for the females, although I suppose there could be some males who have come across this.

one profile or person to watch for, and I have come across it a few times since the first one that made me do the research.

my experience.
the man is a nice looking white man, he says he is widowed...then tells of having a son (or sons) who are staying in Norway, Sweden, Belgium, London...where he is originally from...with a nanny/family member/boarding school. he lives in CA (even though his profile says he is from my state) and a friend/colleague/acquaintance showed him how to join the website and make a profile. he is an 'engineer' of some sort...one even told me he was an 'expert engineer', when I asked what one of those did, he told me he repairs oil pipelines (the first guy designed and repaired/installed oil rig platforms)

oh the thing about CA...the first guy I actually spoke to, he had an accent that I first thought was German but after speaking for quite a while (about a month) I realized it was not one I could pinpoint. anyway, the area code he called from was in Redlands CA...research says that is a common area code for scammers to use.

With the first one, I wasn't really buying what he was selling but I thought what the heck, I'll let him talk...and eventually he did get around to the point of the whole interaction...MONEY. As soon as he said he was running out and was going to have to call his sister for money, I blocked him.

The reason I even post this, I met my 4th one of these guys tonight on POF...the first I met on Zoosk. I kind of thought it was funny to be honest tonight...cause he was starting to tell me things that were sounding familiar...so I asked him..do you happen to be an engineer? and he says, 'why yes'. Well, there ya go. Block and delete.

Anyway, I had been doing research all along the time I have been experimenting on these websites ( I have been on match, zoosk, eharmony, seniordating, and POF) and found this description and lo and behold, those guys exist for real. I felt bad for the one Australian lady who was scammed out of all of her money...these guys are really devious and will play on a truly lonely heart.

So you all, be careful out there!

[divine1966]

I was a victim of online scam. There is entire forum on romance scamming where victims unite in helping others. I forgot the name of it, my daughter found it for me when I was scammed. It is rather dark page in my life.

The thing is those aren't individual scammers fishing for money, those are typically entire criminal gangs placed overseas typically, one is typing, one is calling, one is making to what to write etc they are pretty much professional criminals. Both police and FBI investigators told me that it's extremely common and their network is so well planned so they never get caught.

The whole thing is still very triggering to me. Thank you for posting this. Continue to be careful

I think the whole online dating scene is pretty scary, I would never send any one any money that is for sure, I have been played before and never again, I always do a criminal back ground check on these people also, You have to these days, I also heard pof is a terrible dating site, Perverts and Predetors

My advice is first stick to those services you pay for. While it won't weed out all of them, it will significantly reduce the scammers and predators. Question it when things seem to move quickly - even to the point of googling phrases of posts and emails (many professional scammers use form letters of which a lot can be found with a simple search). Research key things (I will use military ranks as an example; ie. a true military man would know that an airforce/army captain is not an equal rank to a navy captain). Take note of the manner in which they write. Do they write in a manner you would expect of their level of education and employment. This is a very big indicator. Poor writing should set off alarm bells. Try to meet the individual as soon as possible and always in a crowded place. If they always give you an excuse - STAY AWAY! And research the name on the internet. DON'T give out your email,personal information, or social media presence if at all possible.