Dating Site Scammers

I read with interest the article in issue 266 about web scams. I like to think I am pretty savvy and avoid most of the nasty stuff that’s out here, but I would add dating sites to your caution list, especially the free ones, which are often riddled with scammers waiting to relieve you of your cash.

The worst in my experience is Match doctor- nearly all the messages I have received from people on the site seem to be blatant scams. Messages from alleged members come from various foreign locations (I recently received dozens from members claiming to be from all over the US). There is invariably no picture or occasionally one that looks too glamorous and professional to be true. The language is one extreme or another, either extremely flowery or with bad grammar, spelling and punctuation. The age range people claim to be looking for is often ridiculous.

It’s common for the profile to read exactly the same as the message, with certain phrases repeated over and over. Most times, an email address or Messenger contact is offered far too readily, and the tone is really OTT and way too gushy for a first genuine contact. I imagine theses scammers end up asking an unsuspecting member for many to fund a visit, Said by David perriman through email.

We asked Matchdoctor to reply to claims of David. The company said, “Spammers / Scammers are an unfortunate part of online dating sites. However, we do not support them. They in fact hurt our business. We have safety warning on our site to inform people of scams. We allow users to report scammers to us directly and have background tools that help us catch the scams quickly. We are also adding CAPTCHA to our website this month to help prevent spam / scam emails and sing-ups.”