Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Online Dating: How Can You Know Who's Real?

By Kristaria Dawson

It used to be that like-minded people from different countries had no way of meeting, unless one or both of the parties had enough money to travel internationally. With the invention of the internet, this method of communication has facilitated an environment where meeting a love interest from other parts of the world is not only possible, but highly likely. Many unions that started through online dating have resulted in marriages and happy families. Though the potential for finding a mate is great, there is also the possibility of dangerous situations- there are stories about online dating that point out negative situations that occurred when meeting someone the first time.

It is good to know, however, that you can prevent yourself from becoming a victim of an online dating catastrophe by informing yourself of the warning signs. If you are educated with knowing the red flags early in the process, you can prevent yourself from being one of the negative experiences of online dating. The following online dating tips are good to know, and will help arm you against scams.

The first thing that you need to remember is never to fall for an online date that asks you for money. Asking for money is probably one of the most obvious signs that your online partner is out to dupe you. No matter what he or she tells you or how deep you think your online relationship has grown, it is never common or normal to ask money from someone you don't know. And anyone who makes you think otherwise is a scammer that you should stay away from.

Another good warning sign is a person's eagerness or rush to contact you via personal email or telephone. Online dating sites typically offer you email accounts through the dating site for your protection, but allow you to take the relationship outside of their control when you are ready to. When scam artists ask for a date, they aren't looking for a partner, rather a victim. The faster they get in personal contact with you, the faster they can dupe you. Some online dating sites will provide some level of administrative control by blocking or eliminating members who send to many emails to too many people in order to protect honest members from scams.

Another potential sign of a scammer is the photos that they have uploaded to their profile or those that they send personally to you. If these images look like they are scanned in from a magazine, the sender is most likely a scam artist. Sometimes even real photos are used by scammers, so it's not always going to be ovbious; there are real live attractive people in this world, but if all your potential mate's photos seem just too perfect, they could be stolen from someone else.

Another good indication that you are going to fall victim to a scam is the potential partner's requests for information. It isn't out of the ordinary for a person to ask for increasingly personal information as you spend more time in the online dating realm together. If the person you are corresponding with asks you for information that they themselves aren't willing to offer in return, then you should back off- this person is likely trying to dupe you.

Finally, one of the most important online dating tips is to watch out for people who are inconsistent in their stories and messages. Scammers often communicate with a lot of people at the same time. As such, they are bound to forget which stories or identities they used for which potential victims.

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