Officials in the St. Louis Better Business Bureau and the FBI have established guidelines that will help keep you safe. (CBS St. Louis)
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• A fraudster’s profile will often be fictitious. They may present a photo that looks “too good to be true.”
• Before communicating with someone online, make every attempt to verify their information. Use various search engines to check their name and address(es). Run their name through online sex offender databases.
• Copy and paste the text of messages and even photos to see if similar information has been used before.
• Only use online dating services with “nationally known reputations.”
• Find out of the dating services does background checks or “fraud scans” on their clients.
There are always people trying to take advantage of you, so it is vital to make sure to use secure sites and use your knowledge on how to prevent from being scammed.
Sources
http://www.foxcharlotte.com/news/local/Dating-Website-Fraud-On-The-Rise-140390893.html
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/02/29/dont-be-taken-by-online-dating-service-scams/
That's to bad about scammers being out there, but it doesn't surprise me. One of my friends runs an online dating service that is local to this area. His is a valid company and I am sure this is giving him bad press, luckily his company is already successful.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I hate online dating. I hate the fact that it even exists. Yes, it may attempt to provide some convenience for "finding true love", but I would rather travel across the world to actually meet her than to create a dating profile online. Again, that is just me. I do not really see the positives as clearly as I see the negatives, but I am open to learn more. I just do not understand nor completely trust the internet to provide me with "the woman of my dreams".
ReplyDeleteNowadays its hard to meet people. I actual met my husband over 8 years ago from being on Match.com for less than a week. I was working 6 days a week, in a new area and knew no one. Plus, everyone I had ever gone out with just seemed to be a waste of time.
DeleteGoing to a site like Match.com allows you to screen people to see if they meet certain characteristics and see if you think you could be compatible. In my opinion it saves a lot of time.
This is so true!! In high school my english class got together and created an online dating profile acting as our teacher. It's scary how easy it was to make it and convince other people that this was really him searching to find a girlfriend.
ReplyDeleteI will never understand the purpose of online dating due to the fact that the person you think you are talking to might be someone totally different. People can post fake pictures along with other things online and can tell you anything. Yes, there are some long-term relationships that comes from online dating, but I think that majority of relationships online doesn't work becuase you really don't know that person. Me personally will never be able to find my future husband online. I would think that he had different motives prior to meeting me. Many movies on Lifetime prove that what you think you love about a person is not true at all because the person you love has been a hypocrite the entire time. Sad but true.
ReplyDelete