Is there any effective way to know if someone is a romance scammer? And what can you do to stop them from wasting your time on dating sites, social media, or by reading their annoying emails?
With so many dating apps, websites, and social media platforms, it has become a lot easier to date people, and why not fall in love. Meantime, scammers always find the tool into your life to take advantage of you and give you false hopes. That could happen on Craigslist, Facebook, Tinder, and more. They concentrate on your need for love and romance to catfish you.
Now, by looking closely at popular dating sites including POF, Match.com, eHarmony, or even classified websites, we found interesting facts and tricks that can save you from time and money waste with fraudulence.
So ladies and gentlemen, watch out, and here are the most common signs of a romance scammer.
11 Signs of a romance scammer
To find out who the person behind a username or a dating profile is, use these search options, and you may find out who they are and where they live. And also search their phone numbers, email, and other hidden social accounts and personal information.
1. initiating the first contact.
The first sign of a romance scammer is taking the first step. They are always the first ones to send you a friend request and initiate a conversation with you. That’s no matter if that happens on Facebook dating or any other platform; this is not arbitrary.
In fact, they spend a good deal of time selecting their perfect victim. They can be expert scammers with arrest records in the United States. Or in other countries that always target the most vulnerable and insecure ones, especially lonely and older people.
2. Perfect profile picture
This is the strongest sign of a cat-fisher. They often tend to put ideal profile pictures such as supermodel photos. So charming boys or girls, all their Facebook photos are shot at expensive and luxurious cars, yachts and houses.
These photos actually seem too good to be true. And by zooming in the picture on your smartphone or laptop, you may notice differences in colors and other background issues. Consequently, that can tell you the photo was edited by Photoshop or similar tools.
It’s not surprising that lots of romance scammer photos for males and females focus on body attraction. In addition, the background will include hints about money, wealth and that can tell you that the person is a romance scammer. So, please be attentive to this important detail. Always ask yourself: Why would someone try to impress others and use fake photos or headshots of another person?
3. They don’t use their real names
Romance scammers never use their real names most of the time. They just come up with a random name and use it as their real identity. So here is what you should do in this situation, just search for their username in one of the above-mentioned advanced search tools that reveal the identity of the person behind using sophisticated reverse lookup technologies. On the other side, if the guy has public records on search engines, you may try Google search and see what you come up with.
When looking for someone’s username, people can find his or her hidden social accounts, address, cell phone number, and even other personal information such as his or her age and more. Thus, by copying the username that someone uses on dating sites or in his emails, the system can show you the red flags of a romance scammer. That way, you can spot the scammer that you should stay away from and report it to the authorities.
Don’t be surprised to see different names he uses on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and dating apps. He’ll try his best to pretend to be someone else, and you can catch them in minutes.
4. You have lots in common
Whenever you’re talking you will discover that you share the same interests, he/she will just go with the flow and prove to you that you’re a perfect match. You love the same things, you like the same sport, you watch the same TV series. Even more, you may look at ordering the same food and have common characteristics. Oh, my God! You seem to be a one-person in two different bodies. That’s another sign that can tell you the person you met with is another romance scammer.
If you met the guy on a dating platform such as Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, or similar ones, that’s probably not the place to find serious relationships. Most of their members are cheaters who can play a thousand games just to take your money and run away with your dreams. Keep in mind that online dating is not the same as in real life, but there are signs of fraud that both ways have in common.
5. They confess their love very fast
It’s commonly known that romance scammers confess their love in a very short period of time, most likely in one week or two. They’ll tell you that this is the first time that they feel this way and that you’re so special and precious. The man will make you fly to the seventh cloud, he’ll shower you with love poems and songs. And in other cases, he’ll give you undying promises and swear to love you forever.
Other times, you may receive dating emails from ladies or men looking for love. They attach sexy photos so you can check them out. And that’s not goodwill, they know how to seduce others and even more. Some of them know exactly body language and the psychology of attracting others and monitor them.
Be careful another time and don’t believe what they say over the phone or in their text messages. Nowadays, WhatsApp, Viber, or iMessages are used by both good people and bad guys. And without taking the right time to know each other, that won’t be true love, but a real scam.
It is not impossible to fall in love at first sight. But keep in mind that you’re still talking to a stranger that you don’t know anything about, except the things they tell you about them.
6. Impossible to meet or video call you
So now you’re hooked and you dream day and night of your perfect lover. You can’t wait to see your mysterious lover, the one that made your heartbeat so fast.
But every time you tell him/her that you want to see him/her, they make different excuses. They are busy with work, the camera is broken. Other times, they’ll tell you that they have a family emergency or their flight was canceled. In a few words, scammers especially on dating sites never get tired of lies.
Indeed, it is not that they don’t want to meet you, but they CAN’T meet you because they are simply scammers and don’t want their identities to be revealed.
7. Switch to personal apps
So now since it’s been a while that you’re talking, he/she will convince you that it’s time to move to the next step. Which is ditching the dating app that you met on and switching to your personal social media account such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, E-mail. So, he/she could text you anytime and anywhere. And most importantly, they will ask for your private number in order to call you and know you better.
Please don’t be love-blinded and offer them your personal information because they will use them for their own dirty schemes. You have no idea of the number of crimes committed using people’s identities. And if you visit websites like scammer watch or FBI.gov you may find a long scammer list that never ends. Also, there will be victims talking about their histories with fake romance dating.
8. They work or live overseas
The common fact about romance scammers is that they are always working overseas. They are either U.S Marines, Military, doctors, Astronauts, or of course gorgeous ladies from Russia, Ukraine, or other countries known for their beauty and models. Moreover, the famous oil rig scam is well known; they pretend to be managers or work for big oil rig companies to impress girls.
These are the perfect coverage jobs for catfishers. So, if they say that they are working in one of these important positions and they are living in one of these overseas countries such as Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, India, Ukraine, etc…
Please don’t give them any personal information or send them any money before confirming their real identities, and frankly. It’s better for you to skip this step, otherwise, you’ll waste your time verifying the identity of a scammer that will add nothing to your life except problems and struggles. Just stop talking to them.
Thousands of scammers, sex offenders, and guys with criminal histories send an email every day. And their targets are small business owners they find on social media or LinkedIn, website owners, bloggers, celebrities, and rich people. However, that happens a lot with anyone else.
In fact, there are Robots that send millions of automated emails and messages, and once someone is curious enough to throw his hard-earned money away. They’ll dedicate someone, to take the hunting further, then, they’ll take all of his personal details and every dollar in his wallet.
Many sites and social groups shared the list of some online dating scammers with names, locations, numbers, or even emails. But don’t count on that; they’ll change identities, they’ll create other accounts, and modify profiles completely.
9. Their life is a drama
Whenever you talk, he/she always complains about his/her life. It seems like their life is a living hell; they make you feel bad about them. Since you love them and don’t want to see them hurt and sad, you will offer to help. And of course, he will accept, and he will rob your money easily.
Other times, some common Russian dating scams will request to pay for their plane ticket. So, they can come to your location. Also, they can ask you for money to pay customs fees to retrieve something, or even more, they’ll pretend to be wealthy people but with financial probes to get their funds. Don’t believe whatever they say, it’s a clear dating scam.
10. Asking you for favors
They will ask you to do some favors for them such as wiring some money to a friend, and then reimburse you later, sending a package for someone, or receiving one.
Here is a bit of vital advice: DON’T YOU EVER DO THAT because probably these packages may hold illegal stuff. Of course, the money you sent may be used to pay for dirty jobs such as kidnapping, human trafficking, murders, etc…..You should be vigilant because the law doesn’t protect the fools.
11. Asking for money to solve his problems
The final big step of a romance scammer is to rob a fine piece of your money and leave your account as clean as a whistle. And in order to do that he has to come up with a brilliant scheme so you won’t feel skeptical and hesitant.
As a matter of fact, over the period of time that you were together. He on purpose threw hints here and there to let you know about the hardships he’s facing and how much he’s working hard to solve them. As a result, your mind is subconsciously getting stimulated and ready to help him. So when the right time comes, and he asks for your help, you will be more than happy to save him and send him the money he needs.
Then, as soon as that money leaves your account, you won’t ever be able to reach him or hear from him again. He will disappear forever from your life.
It doesn’t matter how many times you text or try to call him, he’ll just block you or delete his account. He accomplished his mission, and he doesn’t need you anymore.
What to do once scammed?
Don’t worry and don’t panic. The first thing you should do after realizing you’ve been scammed is to go to your bank. Next, let them know what exactly happened. Then go to the police and report the crime.
Also, it’s a good idea to take note of the time of communications, calls, emails, and even add extra details like the IP address found on the scammer’s email. That can help authorities to trace his location precisely, instead of wasting more time while he scams another person elsewhere.
Don’t feel ashamed, you’re not the first victim that suffered from romance scammers. There are over 21.000 who got romance scammed and lost $143 million in the United States alone.
Now, let this be a lesson for you. Next time, never trust strangers and raise awareness about these romance scammers so that they don’t deceive other innocent people like you. Some websites let you report fraud, such as the official website of the US government, usa.gov and others.
Finally, we can all fall victim to romance scammers. But, as long as you follow these tips, you will be safe and avoid being robbed emotionally and financially.
