Fake Dating Sites Cheat on You
According to a warning issued by the Better Business Bureau, a whole series of fake dating sites are extorting money and personal information from people. What makes this scam so insidious is that these sites are functional and well thought-out, with hundreds of fake profiles, various side purchases, and customer service representatives. Here’s how you can spot and avoid them.
How dating site scams work
People usually find these sites through online advertisements or search results. At first glance, everything about them seems legitimate: they have automatic registrations available through your Google and Facebook accounts, testimonials, an “18+ only” disclaimer, and links to other pages you might see in real business. for example, describing the company’s privacy policy or terms of use.
But this is just the beginning: Once you create a profile and provide your billing information, you will be contacted by other members of the dating site who are supposedly interested in your profile. To answer these people, the dating service charges you a certain amount in credits or coins, for which you will have to pay extra. Of course, none of this is true. All profiles are fake. If you don’t want to complain, you can, but the customer service representative will be fake too.
( A similar scam exists with travel booking sites , with seemingly functional flight or hotel booking systems.)
How to recognize a fake dating site
The closer you look at these sites, the more red flags you will notice. Chances are, you’ll get dozens of messages right away (“bombarded,” as one user put it), even if you’ve barely completed your profile and haven’t posted your picture. You will also notice that many of the people trying to connect with you don’t even live in your city or are far beyond your dating age.
Another way to spot fake sites is that they almost always have weird, sloppy text that often doesn’t make sense, be it other profiles or the landing page itself. A marketing copy of one fake site, for example, reads, “Virtual live flirting is a lot of fun and gives a very personal perspective on things.”
The Better Business Bureau recommends checking BBB.org for reviews and testimonials from previous clients before subscribing to any unfamiliar site. It would also be a good idea to search the Internet for the word “reviews” and “scam” for the name of the dating site. Also double check the URLs before entering your credit card information, as you should see both “https: //” and a padlock next to it in the address bar.
If you’ve been the victim of a fake dating site scam, please report your experience at BBB.org/ConTracker .