So many people are looking for a boyfriend or girlfriend online these days, but it turns out the internet is full of scammers. What exactly do they do and what should you watch out for?
When I joined a popular dating site a few years ago, I immediately realized something was off. This handsome guy would message me, very polite, interested in talking, and then after a week or two he'd start telling me about some business idea or investment opportunity. Or he'd ask for money help - like he's stuck without access to his account because he's on a business trip abroad. Classic scam, basically. Now I know the red flags and I spot them from a mile away: the profile pic is too perfect (often just stolen photos from Instagram or model shots), the account was just created, he talks like he's following a script, he rushes to move the conversation off the site to personal contact so he can disappear with the money.
Here's the thing - if someone asks you for money, even with some crazy story about a kidney or a debt, that's 100% a scammer. Real people don't ask strangers for money when they've known them for two days. I also check via video call - scammers often refuse or make excuses for ages. If a guy won't do a video call within the first month of talking, that's a major red flag. I also pay attention to how he talks: sometimes you can spot bad translations from English right away, weird phrases, grammar mistakes that a native Russian speaker wouldn't make.
I'd also suggest reverse image searching the photos: you throw the picture in Google and often find it's being used by five accounts at once or it's actually a photo of some actor. Don't be shy about suggesting to meet in a public place after a week or two - an honest person will agree, a scammer will make up reasons why it has to be in a month and only indoors. And honestly, trust your gut: if something feels off, it usually is.
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