Fake Profiles On Ashley Madison. Other scenarios include someone who has created a fake profile. The reasons people do this vary. They might have confidence issues or not be the body type or identify the say they are. Sometimes valid affair seekers, do try to meet someone online without revealing their identity, for privacy reasons. Identifying a fake dating profile and spotting these scammers first is part of our responsibility as online daters. We need to be aware of our actions to help prevent becoming a victim. The 13 signs that a dating profile is fake on PoF, Match, and any other website will help guide you through your online experience.
Dating and romance scams often take place through online dating websites, but scammers may also use social media or email to make contact. They have even been known to telephone their victims as a first introduction. These scams are also known as ‘catfishing’.
Scammers typically create fake online profiles designed to lure you in. They may use a fictional name, or falsely take on the identities of real, trusted people such as military personnel, aid workers or professionals working abroad.
Dating and romance scammers will express strong emotions for you in a relatively short period of time, and will suggest you move the relationship away from the website to a more private channel, such as phone, email or instant messaging. They often claim to be from Australia or another western country, but travelling or working overseas.
Scammers will go to great lengths to gain your interest and trust, such as showering you with loving words, sharing ‘personal information’ and even sending you gifts. They may take months to build what may feel like the romance of a lifetime and may even pretend to book flights to visit you, but never actually come.
Once they have gained your trust and your defences are down, they will ask you (either subtly or directly) for money, gifts or your banking/credit card details. They may also ask you to send pictures or videos of yourself, possibly of an intimate nature.
Often the scammer will pretend to need the money for some sort of personal emergency. For example, they may claim to have a severely ill family member who requires immediate medical attention such as an expensive operation, or they may claim financial hardship due to an unfortunate run of bad luck such as a failed business or mugging in the street. The scammer may also claim they want to travel to visit you, but cannot afford it unless you are able to lend them money to cover flights or other travel expenses.
Sometimes the scammer will send you valuable items such as laptop computers and mobile phones, and ask you to resend them somewhere. They will invent some reason why they need you to send the goods but this is just a way for them to cover up their criminal activity. Alternatively they may ask you to buy the goods yourself and send them somewhere. You might even be asked to accept money into your bank account and then transfer it to someone else.
Warning - the above scenarios are very likely to be forms of money laundering which is a criminal offence. Never agree to transfer money for someone else.
Sometimes the scammer will tell you about a large amount of money or gold they need to transfer out of their country, and offer you a share of it. They will tell you they need your money to cover administrative fees or taxes.
Dating and romance scammers can also pose a risk to your personal safety as they are often part of international criminal networks. Scammers may attempt to lure their victims overseas, putting you in dangerous situations that can have tragic consequences.
Regardless of how you are scammed, you could end up losing a lot of money. Online dating and romance scams cheat Australians out of millions every year. The money you send to scammers is almost always impossible to recover and, in addition, you may feel long-lasting emotional betrayal at the hands of someone you thought loved you.
Reverse image searching
One way to find out whether a person's profile picture has been used elsewhere is to do a reverse image search. You can do this via Google images by clicking on the camera icon on the desktop version of the site’s search bar. Alternatively you can use Tin Eye. A reverse image search can help you identify if the image has been taken from someone else, or belongs to a few people with different names.
Chances are you've landed on a fake dating profile or two over the course of your online dating career. They look a lot like real profiles with real, bonafide people behind the screen. But because they're created by catfishers and scammers, they often have a few qualities that scream 'fake,' once you know what to look for.
About 10% of dating profiles fall into this category, so it's good to know the red flags, especially if you spend a lot of time swiping and scrolling through all your matches. 'A fake profile is anywhere the person is misrepresenting their true identity,' Jonathan Bennett, a relationship and dating expert at Double Trust Dating, tells Bustle. Fake profiles are created for a variety of reasons, he says, including catfishing for attention, marketing products, or even scamming people out of money.
The whole reason they work is because they look legit. But according to DatingScout, you can often tell what's real from what isn't by looking at the photos. If the profile only has one or two pictures, consider it a red flag. And the same is true if the photo is one with a white background, as that could indicate it's a stock image yanked from the internet, and not actually them.
Should you spot one of these telltale signs, take a beat and examine the rest of the profile. 'If a person seems too perfect, it's a red flag you could be dealing with a fake,' Bennett says. This might mean they have extremely professional looking photos, he says, versus ones where they're just casually hanging out with friends or family. Or that they're bragging a bit about things like wealth and status, which could be a ploy to lure unsuspecting daters in.
Of course, it's not just people making these profiles, but computer programs. 'If the wording and grammar on the profile seem off ... it is a sign you could be dealing with a fake or a bot,' Bennett says. These profiles are created with the goal of scamming you into sharing private information, as mentioned above, or tricking you into clicking on malware links.
If someone's profile answers seem all weird, disjointed, and robotic, don't bother engaging. And the same goes for profiles that seem like they're trying to sell you something, which is more common than you might think. 'If the profile is focused on sending you elsewhere to contact the person in the profile, like a website, it's likely a fake trying to scam you or market to you,' Bennett says.
The ultimate test, though, is seeing if they'd be willing to hop on FaceTime or meet up with you in person, Emily Pfannenstiel, LPC, a licensed professional counselor who specializes in relationships, tells Bustle. 'If you are speaking on a dating site,' she says, 'the assumption is that you are planning to meet up and go on a date at some point.' So you'll definitely want to back away and move on, if they refuse.
Another way to ensure you're chatting with a real human, and one who wants to go on a genuine date just like you, is by checking to see if they've included their social media pages. 'Many dating profiles allow linking to social media,' Bennett says, since it can serve as further verification.
Even though you should be focused on meeting new people and having fun conversations, online dating is all about keeping an eye out for these red flags, too. You obviously won't want to click on random links or wire money to strangers, and you won't want to chat with folks who have stock images for profile photos, either. Look for social media links along with real photos and human-sounding info in profiles. And if something seems off, trust your gut.
'If you're pretty sure the person is a fake, then I would recommend reporting them using whatever mechanism is available,' Bennett says. 'Scammers, marketers, and other fakes take away from the true purpose of dating apps and make finding love that much harder.' You can also choose not to engage in a conversation if something seems strange, and instead save all that energy for the real folks who have good intentions.
Once you feel the conversation is rolling, and you'd like to see who is on the other end, it can also help to plan a date. 'This way, you can know right away if the person is who they say they are (if they aren't, they'll be likely to not follow through), and if you like them and want to date them in the first place anyway,' Pfannenstiel says. 'So set up that date early on and you will be less likely to be catfished,' and way more likely to find a great partner.
Experts:
Jonathan Bennett, relationship and dating expert at Double Trust Dating
Are There Fake Profiles On Facebook Dating
Romance Scams
Emily Pfannenstiel, LPC, licensed professional counselor