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More of us are searching for love online than ever before.*
Our message: Be cautious.* Fake dating profiles set up by scammers to commit financial fraud are a hazard of online dating. In 2011 we learned over 200,000 people in the UK were victims of online dating fraud.
The flip side is that Internet dating is a brilliant way to meet new people and with an alert, common sense approach we can keep our hearts and our wallets intact if we know how to spot a fake dating profile.
James Varga, CEO of online identity company miiCard has listed some tips to help you recognise if a dating profile isn’t the real thing:
1) Beware of fake photos
Model shots, risqué or suggestive photos should ring warning bells. Generally real people won’t post compromising pictures or glamour shots of themselves, they are more likely to post a couple of photos of themselves in their normal surroundings. Watch out for photos that are exceptionally small or have blurry corners where a watermark may have been removed; you can try a reverse image look-up online to see if a photo has been taken from a website or stock photography. Check that the photo and profile description are a likely match too.
2) Incomplete profiles
Very little or missing information on a dating profile can be another important clue something is not right. The big draw card for online dating is the ability to find people who share the same ideas, interests and hangouts. Real people will complete their profiles and include this information. Scammers are lazy and rarely do their research, particularly when it comes to location, to create a truly convincing profile.
3) Spell check
If the online profile reads like a poor translation there’s a good chance it’s a fake. Many romance scams come from countries where English is not the main language so watch out for poor spelling and grammar. Anything that reads like it came out of a web translator is a sure sign of a fake dating profile.
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4) Too good to be true
As with most things online, if something seems too good to be true, it usually is. Check to see what the person in the profile is looking for in their date. Are they very accommodating? Do they just want someone special to love? Everyone has something they're looking for in a potential partner. It might sound vain but studies show women are picky about height, and men often have preferences on weight. Remember this is why we use dating sites, to find the kind of person we would like to be with.
Be your own Sherlock Holmes on Internet dating sites. Keep these tips in mind when looking at profiles and learn how to spot the fakes before taking the next steps and consider using an identity verification service, like miiCard, to make sure your date is the real deal.
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