Dating Sites and Scams
Here’s a recent posting on Mark Brooks’ OnlinePersonalsWatch.com:
CHICAGO TRIBUNE’s RED EYE—Oct 24—The online dating industry has learned to cut off scammers at the pass. Nelson Rodridguez, CEO LoveAccess, employs a full-time staff to look for suspicious behavior, like a member sending out hundreds of e-mails a day or posting the same photo on multiple profiles. The effort results in the removal of 20 to 30 profiles a day. Match (15 million users) has staffers personally review each profile and photo before posting them to the site. ~15% of profiles are rejected each month. A security team seeks and weeds out people who compromise the user experience for others. Some dating sites simply block all IP addresses from Nigeria, said Mark Brooks, an online dating industry analyst. But with scammers changing tactics, it’s a constant game of cat-and-mouse. 419eater.com encourages people to bait scammers. Romancescam.com, posts the photos, e-mail addresses and usernames that scammers have used. The FBI hopes to tackle the problem by educating people about scams, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said. The agency helps fund a Web site called www.looks toogoodtobetrue.com and encourages people to report scams to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, at ic3.gov.
And my comment:
I’ve written regularly about online dating scams in my blog postings on safety http://www.find-a-sweetheart.com/blog/C15/ I used to think that scamming was very rare, but I have been hearing more and more about it lately, and not just in the press (which I tend to distrust because of it’s “If it bleeds, it leads” mentality). In particular, my clients and newsletter readers have been telling me about getting scammed themselves. I plan to get much more vocal about scamming self-protection, but I certainly am glad to read that the dating sites are actively pursuing scammers. Even Western Union (often used by scammers to transfer money) is apparently helping out: one client told me of trying to send money to an online contact through Western Union. She was thoroughly grilled about whether she was SURE that the recipient was not a scammer. Yea, Western Union!
From Your Romance Coach, Kathryn Lord
I have received an e-mail message on SinglesCircle .. I’ve tried to report this to them but they will not respond.. I am not a member but did post a profile.. the sender is miracle22, abidjan, ivory coast a return e-mail is listed miraclekomol_love@yahoo phone 22501718102.. they are saying they have 10 million dollars tied up and want someone to share..
Posted by Sandy on 12/16 at 07:50 AM