Romance Scammers - A Serious Comment

I have  already written about the positive sides of Internet, but on 14th February you can find a slightly ironic post making fun of some of the more amateurish romance scammers I came across. But there is a serious background to it and I want to comment on it here.

Like already mentioned in the Valentine's post,  romance scamming is no fun for the victim. I read heart-breaking stories of women or men for whom the material loss was not the most terrible thing, but who suffered for a long time from what can only be described as a traumatic experience. They had opened their hearts to someone, they had trusted him/her, had fallen in love, had thought they had found happiness - and then suddenly they found out that the "someone" did not even exist.

And that brings us to the negative sides of Internet. It is easy to pretend to be someone you are not - everybody can pose as someone else. The only solution is to be careful, never give away too much information too soon and ask questions. An honest person does not mind if you are suspicious, but beware of those who talk of "trust" and "confidence" as an immediate must when meeting a stranger.

By the way, you are not on the safe side when you avoid dating websites. Scammers can be found everywhere: Facebook, for example, is full of them, and I was contacted by several scammers on a site where I practise languages. So be careful who you add as a friend and who you talk to.

There are sites on the Internet that help when you have become a victim of a romance scam or if you want to get further information.

All in all, I have found more friends than scammers online - and I wish you all the same good experiences !!!

Scammer Cat ... I don't know who owns the copyright for this, but I found it on this blog.

Romance Scammers

It is Valentine's Day today - the day of lovers and loved ones. The Internet message boards I am member of are full of romantic Valentine wishes for those who are in a relationship and even more wishes for those, who are not. So I am writing about something romantic, too : romance scammers. They pretend to love you, but are only after your money.

After I personally  have been bored by so many amateurs, I thought it is high time someone writes a guide for young men who want to try this as a living. So here are some points a professional should consider:

- Check your English. Chances are you come across a teacher of English who gets very suspicious if you claim to be an academic and native speaker, but can't write a single complete sentence without mistakes.
- Check your victim's age. If she is older than 50, she might have children of her own and thus might  not be interested in becoming the step-mother of a motherless 11-year-old girl, who will be a bitchy teenager faster than you can say "puberty".
- Particularly  don't say you are widowed with a pre-teenage kid when she is a teacher ! She deals with them in her job, she doesn't want to have any at home  as well.
- Don't move too fast: it is very suspicious if you say you cannot stop thinking of her and she is the woman of your life after half an hour of chat and a blurry photo.
- Don't be too insistant on getting her mobile phone number, a better photo, her real name, address, job information, income and things like that too soon, and particularly don't ask for this at your first "date".
- Don't ask for money after all together a few hours of contact. And the argument : "Yes, you are clever to be careful, but if you give me the money, you will see that I pay back..." is not very convincing. In fact, a professional scammer doesn't ask, but waits until money is offered.

In other words: LEAVE ME ALONE and don't bore me with your stupid stories !!

PS:
Sarcasm alert ... yes, the obove is meant ironically. There are  warning websites on the Internet  and if you never heard this term and are single, you should go and study them. Romance scamming is no joke for the victim, but maybe the above helps to raise awareness.

And: I still  wish you all a lovely and enjoyable Valentine's Day  !!!