Beware of Romance Scams

When something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I'm writing this article as a warning to everyone that scammers are all over the internet, and they are getting more efficient by the day. Recently we've seen an increase in the volume of these scams on our site, and many others as well.

It might start with a single female or male (with believable, attractive photos) writing to you out of nowhere, complimenting you, expressing interest in you, and possibly providing their Yahoo email address, urging you to write them back. This is the beginning of the Romance variant of Advance-fee Fraud. The person writing to you is not attractive, single, and interested in you, in fact, they are a scammer after your money, and their photos are taken from modeling sites, or even other dating sites. This happens far too often, and you need to be aware of the dangers of falling into these romance scams.

After only a few emails, they might tell you that they love you, or desire you. Their emails might be poorly written, with bad spelling or grammar. The scammer will soon tell a desperate story about a sick relative, or needing assistance to get a sum of money, or goods into the country, or needing to pay medical or legal bills, etc. Whatever the sob story, they will ask you for money.

Do not fall victim to these con artists. If someone seems to fall in love with you, and then asks you for money, it is a scam. Report them to us immediately.

It may be difficult to spot these scammers right away, their first email may seem rather innocuous, vague, or innocent.
The scammer's true intentions will become clear, however, after the scammer has gained your confidence, and your sympathy. It might start small, for instance with the cost of a plane ticket, then their requests for money will grow larger and more urgent.
We hope that by providing these real examples of what getting scammed looks like, we will help people become suspicious soon enough, and report these scammers as soon as you realize something is amiss.

Sometimes, the scammer will be brazen enough to come out and ask for your bank account information in the very first email, without even the common courtesy of falling in love with you first.
As you can see, there are many ways in which these scammers will prey on your sympathy, and your heart, in order to gain your confidence, and finally, your money. Every message you read on our site has a Report Abuse button on it. Use it if you think you are dealing with a scammer. It's ok if you're wrong, don't be afraid, we appreciate the alerts, and it is the most important step in removing this unwanted element from our community.