The more I live the more I realize that inspite of hundreds of warnings and online safety tips there are still too many potential scam victims. These swindlers always create more and more new methods of stealing our money and this is one of the greatest minuses of online dating. How to fight them, there is no universal answer....

I was recently contacted by someone on Facebook claiming to be with the US Army attached to UN Peacekeeping Mission in Darfar Sudan. He was very compelling in his approach. And after a few days od conversation he said he wanted to come for a short leave but didn't have access to his funds in the state to submit the application fee. Being aquinted with military procedure I knew this would never be the case. But I followed his instruction to obtain the application. I navigated to the website and it is basically blank. I told the guy I knew he was a fraud but he continued to pester me until I told him that my boyfriend wanted to meet him!

I've read a lot of similar stories, such people try to use our weaknesses and our lonileness, they also try to apply to our feelings and pretend ill or disabled in order to make us transmit them our money. Just remember NEVER give your online dates any money, NEVER! At least untill you see them offline. The other question is when you run into a scam dating site, here you may spend a fortune on their usless services. So, be aware and be cautious!

In some variations of the scam, the fraudsters may not ask for money directly. Instead, they may ask their victim to cash money orders or cheques and wire them the proceeds. The money orders or cheques will turn out to be fake or stolen and the victim will be left out of pocket and possibly held responsible for receiving stolen funds. The scammers may also try to trick victims into revealing sensitive information such as credit card numbers.

If you begin corresponding with a person with a view to a possible romantic relationship, remain cautious even if the relationship seems to be progressing very well. These scammers are very skilled at building trust and know how to make vulnerable victims fall in love with them. Regardless of the strength of your feelings towards a correspondent, you should view any requests for money as highly suspicious. If you do suspect a scam, you may be able to find information on a dating blacklist websites . These sites publish information and photographs of known dating scammers. Internet dating scammers often used the same names, family details and cover stories in multiple dating scams. Therefore, you may be able to expose a scam by conducting Internet searches on the names used by the scammers or key phrases from their emails.

It seems that the common thread among scams is the request for a random dollar amount so that he or she can help a dying loved one — or better yet fly to America so that you can be together. I have one question: Why do people send so much money to strangers overseas? Just because you’ve emailed and talked on the phone, that doesn’t make it love.

actually, the “airfare scam” is one of the most well known internet dating scams. It's normally used by beautiful foreign women (often Russian) that prey on lonely (or horny) men. You never actually find out if it’s really a woman or some big hairy smelly dude behind the keyboard...

I just can tell you one thing for sure -as long as you give, they will continue to take. When the scam is exposed, you get dumped, then it’s on to the next victim. In fact, more potential victims are probably in the pipeline already. Now you’re left feeling stupid with a broken heart and a lighter wallet. Damn shame. As time passes, the stories will continue to evolve. And improve. I guarantee that.

As for me, I even do not have a webcam at all. Because I'm shy and do not want to look unpresentable. And prefer to meet or to write a few words Am I a scammer??

Be wary of people who claim to be American professionals traveling abroad.

If you lose money in an online dating scam, report it to: * The Internet service provider and/or networking site the scammer used to contact you. * IC3.gov - the federal Internet Crime Complaint Center, which refers complaints to state, federal and international law-enforcement agencies. * Fraud.org - The National Consumer League's Fraud Center, which collects complaints from Internet crime victims and makes them available to law enforcement agencies across the country. * The U.S. Postal Inspection Service - If a scam artist asked you to distribute mail or postal money orders, file a complaint with this agency, the law enforcement arm of the post office

Immediate (within 15 minutes) responses are received every time you send a message, with no discussion beforehand as to when you'll be online.

I met someone on a dating site and actually went to paris to meet him for vacation. He was a dream guy. Spent a week like a honeymoon. Then he wanted to come to the usa and tried to get a visitor visa, when he could not I hired an attorney to get him here, paid the filing fees, and bought another ticket to see him in Paris. We talked every day for 8 months and having met him I was wanting to marry him. When he found out that it would take at least 14 months he found someone else and went to australia.

I joined a dating website seriously looking for a partner. In 4 weeks I have had approx 200 contacts. Of these 3 were real. 2 were US, 3 English the rest Ghana. It is obviously a very well organised system. I am being contacted without my profile being looked at. ???. I have people appearing on my yahoo that I don't know who know my name and details. ??? I have had the same photos from allegedly different woman. I have photos of 4 different woman taken in the same room. I also have multiples of these. The bottom line from Ghana is in love within 3 days. They then need money for passport, visa, medical report and police report. Then the airfare. Then they'll be straight over. The online chatters are usually different to who sends you the emails. Online chatters usually don't know what photos you are talking about. They will not answer questions. They do not have webcam. They are usually around 30 with dark hair and eyes. There's definitely not enough room hear to record everything. It's unreal

I met a man on a christian dating site right from the beginning he talked about his shared interest with my own. He told me that he told his pastor about me and that we need to start praying together never talked to one another. This all in the first few days. Then he says that he had a trip overseas to close a deal and when he landed in London he contacted me... Got here safely of course he would. He asked me if I would open a checking account in my name so that he could transfer money he was getting in the form of a very large check and I spent hours trying to find a bank that would open me up a checking account with a 0 deposit because my red flags were going up and wagging. I was not able to do this in time enough for him as I did not hear again from the man I know his pictures were fake as they were so small you could hardly see him. Advise to the lonely do not give out your heart or you checking accounts to any man or anyone you believe to be one.

I am a 33 year old divorced father of one. I wish to share with everybody a financially and emotionally painful experience I had with an attractive 25 year old hairdresser from Yoshkar-Ola, Russia. On 7 April 2006 I received an email from a lady named Sofiya through an internet dating site. On 24 April 2006 Sofiya asked me for money to purchase an air ticket, visa, passport, insurance etc with a total amount of $1,845 USD which I paid via Western Union on 8 May 2006. Sofiya then gave me details of her itinerary on 11 May 2006. Then on 22 May 2006 whilst she was supposedly in Moscow collecting her visa from the Australian Embassy, I received an urgent email request (from an internet cafe apparently) for $2,300 AUD to prove to the Embassy, her financial capacity to stay in Australia during the one month period. She even telephoned me two times and we talked on the second call and she sounded very distressed begging me to pay that amount via Western Union. I checked the immigration policy in Australia and we actually do have a requirement to pay security bond when application for visa is lodged in certain countries including Russia. I therefore totally believed her and paid $2,350 AUD through Western Union on 23 May 2006. I have not heard from Sofiya since I sent a confirmation to her that money has been transferred on 23 May 2006. I was so naive and silly that I waited for Sofiya for 3 hours at the airport with a bunch of flowers. Singapore Airlines later confirmed that Sofiya's original booking was cancelled by a Russian agent and that she did not re-book her flights.

In one variation a Filipino asks you to send money so that she can purchase a webcam for an online video chat with you. The victim sends the money to purchase a webcam and the lady vanishes with the money never to be seen again. In another variation the Filipino lady may ask the victim to send money so she can hire a private room in an internet café. Once again, the lady vanishes with the money. In the final variation of this scam the Filipino lady may explain that she is a student and is moonlighting as a webcam girl at an adult chat site. The Filipino lady sends the user a link to an adult chat site and states that the service is free and a credit card is only needed for age verification. Several weeks later the victim looks at their credit card statement and sees billing for adult chat services.

The more that internet dating scams occur and/or are talked about, the more the singles are leery to meet anyone online, much less create a profile at an online dating site.

Many of the people targeted by these internet dating scams don't report them because of fear, shame or guilt and i am one of them..

I'd personally love to stamp out all internet dating scams if I could, but the only way I know how is to inform people of what a scam looks like and what kinds of questions to ask yourself before getting involved with someone online.

I tried a dating service once. (This was before the internet, in prehistoric times :) ). A woman got in contact with me. She loved to adopt children - a red flag for me - but i wrote to her several times anyway. Finally, she told me that her ex wasn't providing enough child support. She did not ask for any money, but when i simply told her that I wished her luck in getting her problem straightened out, she quit writing. Truth to tell, I was not sorry. In fact, I was relieved. I didn't relish having a wife or girlfriend who adopted kids all the time.