Avoding Scammers On Free Dating Sites

One thing you should always look for when joining a free dating site is the threat of scammers. Since many free dating sites don't charge their members, this makes it very easy for anybody to join their site. While you might find it impossible to get scammed on a dating site, there are many different ways that online scammers have found to rip-off unsuspecting members.

The most popular dating site scam usually has to do with foreign brides. The usual victim in this scam is a man but can sometimes be a woman. Basically what these scammers do is post a fake profile on a dating site with images of an attractive woman or man. When somebody contacts them who is truly interested in forming a relationship, they will communicate with that person for months to earn their trust. Some of these scammers will even go as far as to contact their victim over the phone pretending to be the person in their profile. After months of contact they will usually start asking their victim for money or gifts. In the end they will normally ask for money for an expensive plane ticket to meet you in the country you live in. The easiest way to avoid this scam is to not send anybody a single cent until you meet them face-to-face. If they ask for money for a plane ticket you should offer to fly to the county that person lives in to personally meet them. If they refuse your offer there's a good chance you just outsmarted a clever scam artist.

Like the foreign brides scam, this scam often starts with a fake profile of an attractive person on a free dating site. After months of constant contact these scammers will ask you to cash a check and to keep a percentage for yourself. After the check is cashed and the scammer receives the percentage they asked for, you will often find that the check was actually stolen or is completely fake. You may also find that your bank charged you the amount on the check, and in worst-case-scenario you could be looking at some serious criminal charges.

The simplest dating scam is for members on a free dating site to send you offers either through PM or email. While these offers may sometime be considered "spam", a small percentage may be an attempt to collect your personal or financial information. You may even receive an email from a scammer pretending to be the administrator of the dating website you joined. In this case you should contact the administrator on the free dating site to verify that the email was sent from them. If the offer was not, then chances are the administrator of the free dating site will send out a mass email to all their members warning them of this scam. Be very cautious though because the owner of the dating site could be a scammer themselves!