While the Internet has helped so many people meet new friends and find love, unfortunately, the Internet is also full of scammers. Many dating sites are full of them and many don’t bother to get rid of scammers – because scammers look good… scammers use model photos, have nice profiles, and that attracts more members.
Date Classic.com is different – we make every effort to get rid of scammers. Scores of suspicious profiles are deleted every day, however, scammers are smart and some slip through the scam screens. You can help by reporting them to us, so we can remove them.
Typical Scammer Tricks
Scammer asks you for money for bus fare or gas to travel to meet you.
Scammer may exchange emails with you for days or even weeks, you may talk on the phone, until the two of you decide to meet. Then the scammer says he or she cannot afford it, but offers to drive to meet you (or take a plane or bus), and requests money to help pay for this. After you send the money, you never hear from them again – or you will receive ongoing excuses to delay or cancel the visit.
Scammer has a very sad hard luck story and asks for your help.
Scammer claims to be sick or has a sick parent or child, or is stuck in a country and they need your help. They are very good at making you feel sorry for them. You may feel inclined to help them and send them money. This is a scam!
Scammer says he/she is starting a charity and needs your donations.
This is a scam! Real charitable organizations do not join dating services to collect donations! Think about it!
Scammers offer you money.
Scammer is planning to visit your city or country and wants to send money ahead for use while there. They are going to ‘trust’ you to cash the checks for them. They may want you to buy something with the money and send it to them – or their trip falls through and they ask you to send the money back. Scammer sends you counterfeit cashiers check and you end up losing the money you sent to them. In this situation you may be found guilty of cashing bogus checks.
Another scenario is that the scammer finds out that you have a need for money and loans you a large amount of money using a cashier’s check. The scammer may threaten you when you are not able to pay it back.
Scammer pushes you for your email address, phone number, or other personal information early on
Scammers typically use the excuse that they cannot upload a photo to the site for some reason but want to email you some photos. Fact:If they can email a photo to you, surly they can email a photo to the dating site to be added to their profile for free. The scammer could be creating email address lists, which will be sold worldwide and used for all sorts of purposes.
Warning signs to watch for to identify scammers:
- Scammer’s photos look like a model from modeling sites or from magazines.
- Scammers often ask for your email address right away, or give you theirs. They want to communicate off site as soon as possible. Beware that some are building email lists.
- The scammer has a very sad hard luck story, they make you feel sorry for them, and they ask for help or money, or get you to offer it because you are ‘such a nice person’.
- The scammer offers you money. They do this to gain your trust. They will send you counterfeit cashier’s checks, which will eventually bounce at your bank and get you into trouble.
- The scammer is from Africa (especially Nigeria). There are large banks of computers with people paid to sit at the computer all day long and scam innocent hard working people. It is a $100 million dollar business!! Africa is not within the DateClassic membership area, but sometimes they slip through our approval process. Report them if you are confronted by one!
- The scammer is from Russia or Ukraine. There are agencies that enter large numbers of fake profiles on dating sites. They use good-looking pictures of women to scam lovesick men into sending them money to come to their country or to help them with their personal or family problems. The scam could also include credit card fraud, excessive charges to an affiliated travel company, etc. The photo is a fake and is not the person you are writing to. The girls are not real and you will never see the person you are writing to. Russia and Ukraine etc. are not within the DateClassic membership area, but sometimes they slip through so please Report Them!
The scammer speaks or writes in very broken English. A lot of scammers will run their profiles through automated translators, and their profiles and emails will sound very strange using very poor English.
Example:
I rather nice girl. Me brown eyes, light hair. My growth of 170 centimeters. I
like to carry sexual frank linen of a house. As I very strictly look at work. I like
to vary. I can be strict, impudent as I can be very gentle and tender.
Example:
Am humble and god fearing man and am soughting for a woman that can
Really makes me go distance. And she needs be ready to cope with me asap.
Example:
About itself I never thought that appearance of the person has the big value. I
can tell about myself only that I attractive. For me that most important in the
person – soul. I like to communicate, learn something new. I never stop on
achieved. I always go forward, not looking that in life there are failures.
For whom I search I always dreamed of strong family. Children in family will
be not important how many, whether there will be children in general. What
loved did not betray each other that they would trust is important for me and
understood each other. It is important to love really. It is important to give the
second half all love to give itself. Probably, I search for the one who thinks as
well as I.
- Scammers, who don’t know English, often do not even know what their email says. Sometimes, they will put the same letter in their profile narrative that they use to mass email people with.
Example (of a fake profile NOT AN EMAIL)
Am Bill Tim, a 49 years, single and am from the state.I saw your
Profile on here and love to be a friend at least to know how things go.Am an
Operator and also a father of one grown kid.searching for a real relationship
Felt may be u could help as a friend cos I can just resist not getting to know
More better and I would love to meet you in person to talk more on my
Yahoo.com I.D if you have one you can addmine… so we can talk and get to
know more of eachother …Will be waiting for you reply or through an offline
with my yahoo i.d cos my SON said “Dad you need someone after some years
of being alone”…please I will be waiting for your reply. Best Regards Bill
Example (an actual profile!)
Hello seller. I am Julia ann.am interested in your Accordions and I will like to buy it.
I would not mind sending u a cashier cheque through my shipper I would like u to
give me your full name and address and phone number okay hope to hear from u soon
bye.
- Scammers also copy profiles from other real profiles so they will sound perfect.
- Scammers often write flattering letters to people out of their age range, to those
Who have stated loneliness in their profile, or to recently widowed
- Scammers give you a lot of personal information right away making you comfortable and willing to share your own personal info with them. They will
often make up a first and last name and put it in their profile, to make you feel safe. They will often use common names like “David Jones” or “Jane Miller”. If someone puts their first name and last name in a profile, it is probably a scammer!
Example (taken from a scammer profile)
Am Henry Elvis from Fairfax, Virginia USA. I am really from Mahe-
Victoria, Seychelles. Am Graduade of Anglia Polytechnic University, Essex,
UK and also a Diploma Holder in Graphics Design from Brooks College, Utah,
USA. Am cool and Handsome, Nice to be with and I like Travelling, Swimming
And Playing Football and at the same time like surfing Internet and Programming,
As part of my Job.
- Scammers usually want you to leave the site to use personal email or IM because “it’s so much easier”– they may actually say they will not accept responses through the dating site.
- Mail to you is often poetic, pretty words with no meaning, general flattery, generic expressions, does not directly answer questions or concerns you have voiced or remarks you have made, uses a lot of seductive or pet nicknames for you instead of your name. They keep things general so they can send the same letter to many people (mass mail).
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