Many online daters feel they are too smart to get caught out by a dating scammer, they believe they can easily spot a bogus dating profile or photo.
It’s time to think again.
We have answered the question “what is an online dating scammer” and looked at the No 1 internet dating scam, the 419 scam.
But as online daters have become smarter at recognising scammers, scammers have been evolving at the same pace.
While beginners still use the old basic tricks, the more advanced scammers are a lot more subtle.
One question to ask yourself is “does the online dating profile photo look too good to be true?”
If it does then it probably is, they simply steal them from modelling agency websites.
However, the better scammers are now wise to this .. here’s an illustration:
I bet you thought they were going to be of women!! Scammers will try anything to get cash out of both men and women.
Clearly the picture at the top is of a male model and has been stolen from a model agency website.
So not only are you being scammed but the poor model is having his work stolen and used for illegal purposes.
The picture at the bottom is clearly not of a male model. This poor man obviously put his holiday photos on something like facebook or flickr and is now being touted round the internet by a dating scammer.
The ip address for two profiles with the above pictures displayed both originate in Nigeria.
Here’s one for the men .. just so you don’t feel left out.
This is Karla Spice, an adult film star. There is a great deal more to this photo but I shall leave you to find it for yourself.
Scammers will use photo’s like this so your large brain switches off and your small brain takes over.
Her portfolio of photo’s has been on online dating profiles all over the world and men are still falling for it.
Another way for scammers to get hold of photo’s to use on dating profiles is to capture images from daters they are chatting to online. If you are chatting to a scammer using webcam they simply take a still picture of you while you are online.
In 5 tips to spot a Nigerian dating scammer I told you how to trace a photo back to it’s online origin using a reverse image search engine.
If you start communicating with someone on an online dating site then always check their photo through a reverse image search engine or database.
As the photo’s of men above shows, it’s not only the too good to be true pictures that scammers use on online dating profiles.
March 23rd, 2011 at 3:59 pm
Hi Sally,
Can you please give me your email address, thanks
Mary
March 23rd, 2011 at 11:49 pm
Hi Mary
Thanks for the email address, now if anyone googles his email address they will find your comment.
I have emailed you from my personal account so you can send anything you want to that address.
March 26th, 2011 at 12:36 am
Can I get an email address. I would like to talk to someone for fraud help
March 26th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
Hi Sissy
I have sent you an email, you can reply to that email address and I will help you if I can.
April 8th, 2011 at 11:35 pm
please give me your address i need to check a profile picture , sure to be fraud.
April 9th, 2011 at 2:31 pm
Hi Eve
I can’t tell you if somone is a fraud by simply looking at a picture, of course the picture is of somone but we need more information to decide if the picture is of the person you are talking to.
Tineye appears to have stopped working, as I have checked photos I know are on popular websites and tineye says there are 0 results .. so you can’t even check that way.
April 21st, 2011 at 6:25 am
Can you please give me your email address, thanks i want to ask you about fraud
April 21st, 2011 at 5:35 pm
Hi Kenneth
Just use the Ask A Dating Question link at the very top of this blog and it will send me an email.
May 4th, 2011 at 3:58 am
There are different levels of scammers. There are those that try to get money from you, and then there are those that are simply not who they claim to be. Either way, you really have to be on guard when communicating with strangers. Nothing is as it seems…
May 17th, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Hello Sally..how are you ? i am fine.need a little help here.i haven’t been on any dating sites lately thank (GOD).but i met this guy on bearshare.and he seems to be really sweet.hes 28 years old and of course i am 40 years old.he says he really cares for me but i never really been into younger men,that is of his age.i told him that i wanted a guy that was 30 years or older.he feels like now that i am making him pay for the things that my ex husband did to me in the past and the guy that i was with after him.i tells him thats not the case but he doesn’t believe me.he says,hes wondering how could i want him now and not at the beginning when he first tryed to talk to me.i told him that it was just that i wasn’t use to dating a younger man.he says he really has strong feelings for me and so i for him.we have been talking since Feb..but now he says that he thinks of me differently now.is this worth working for ? and if so how can i make him believe me…. helplessly waiting
May 20th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
Hi Tonya
Relationships with a large age gap can be very difficult to navigate and shared interests can be a problem but my marriage shows it can work if you are open, honest and both prepared to weather the storms together.
You say he says he thinks of you differently now but don’t explain why he thinks of you differently. Did you share too much baggage or did he simply feel rejected by you? If he just feels rejected then persue him, send romantic messages and in time he will see you are serious about changing your mind. If you shared too much baggage then I would move on, words can never be taken back and once you give negative information it’s a constant uphill battle to turn that around.
First of all though be sure you are ready to get into this relationship and not just wanting something you can’t now have.
May 21st, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Hello,Sally yes he says he feel like i rejected him right off the bat because of his age.he says he feels like he can do what a 30 year old can do or even an 45 year old can do.he says he feel like he can do it better.but i told him that i just never was really intersted in younger guys but i feel like now we could have something special.he calls me all the time just because.that is what i love about him.he keeps me laughing about something.he says he feels differently about me a little because,he says hes trying to figure out,i didn’t want him in the beginning and now i want him.i told him that i wasn’t looking at things the way then as i am now.i am beginning to fall for him alot and he knows that.he tells me that he really loves me and cares for me and wants to make this work.and so do i.i told him that i was scared at first but now knowing how he feels now,i am fine with it.he has a 5 year old daughter that he takes care of and he says he wants ne there but i need to change somethings.i am willing to do whatever it takes to be happy.thanks for the help that you have given me over the course of time.you are greatly appreciated.Ms.Tonya
May 24th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Hi Tonya
Glad you sorted it out and the very best of luck in your new relationship.
Just remember that a relationship is a two way street, it is not right for one partner to have to do all the changing … compromise on both parts is needed.
Always here if you need me.
May 25th, 2011 at 8:55 am
Can you send me a contact email as I need some help please. Thanks very much
May 28th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
Email sent to you Sunny Day
July 28th, 2011 at 5:45 am
Sally I really need your help. I started talking to a man on match.com and he claims he is from Houston, Texas. He also claims he is working on a “gas station construction site” in England. I tried to check his IP address on a email he sent from England and if I did it right it came back to Dallas Texas. Problem is he has given me a supposed international phone number and we have been texting one another. Is it possible the “international” number is actually a US phone number for me to be able to text him? I don’t have international calling on my cell phone. I am confused and not sure if I can believe anything he has said. No mention of money yet. He has also given me a US address which he claims is his but when I do a reverse address lookup it comes back to a womans name. Could I possibly email you his name, address, and phone number along with one of his emails and you see what you can find out for me? I would really appreciate your help.
He goes by the name Albert Donato, Houston, Texas.
I am hoping that what he is saying is the truth but the doubt is there.
July 28th, 2011 at 11:08 am
Hi Jane
Go to the Ask a Dating Question link at the very top of the blog and send me the phone number, I’ll check it and let you know what I find.
August 24th, 2011 at 2:27 am
Hi Sally,
Need help. I’ve been also corresponding with a sweet guy I met at singleparentmeet.com We have so much in common, and we seemed to really have some connection. But the last email I got from him, he asked me if I wouldn’t mind talkng on the phone with him (this was about 10 days ago). I said I didn’t mind and gave him my cell phone#. He hasn’t made any contact by phone or email ever since. He had mentioned that he was moving from Washington DC to California this month. At first I got a bit concerned that maybe something oculd have happened to him, so I emailed him after a week of not hearing from him, asking him if everything was okay. Still no response. It’s been about 10 days sine he last wrote and now I’m thinking what if he’s been leading me on, or lying to me all along? Is there a way to figure out by his name and email address whether this is a valid name and legitimate email address? I would be extremely disappointed if he lied all along, because we seemed to be so compatible….
Any help would be really appreciated…
August 24th, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Hi C.
Sorry but there is no way to check if someone is real by just a name and email address.
If you think logically you said he asked to call because he is moving, so he may not have got your email if he’s had his line disconnected. Be patient and give him time, house moving is a stressful time and life may simply have taken over for a while. Alternatively he may have got cold feet, only time will tell but there is nothing to suggest he lied to you is there?
August 24th, 2011 at 5:39 pm
Hi Sally!
Thank you for your response! It absolutely makes sense.
Regards,
C.