I’m not idiot when it comes to spotting a fake profile, but this has me a little confused. I have been talking with a girl from a dating website and everything seems smooth so far. One thing has come up that seems a little strange.
She sent me a picture message, and the email came from (hername)nieuwstadt@pm.sprint.com. So I Googled nieuwstadt… and it’s is a city in the Dutch province of Limburg.
What does this mean? Anything at all?
:smack:lol
If everything else seems kosher, I wouldn’t worry about it. Maybe she likes that place, maybe she visited it, maybe she spent some time there, maybe she went to school there, maybe it’s her last name, maybe… how about a simple “Sooo, what does your email address mean?”
Now, if it had been (hername)@pm.sprint.com.de, I’d be more worried, but at least your working with a US domain.
It is also a surname.
Good point.
Maybe she smells like cheese.
So she emailed you a cellphone pic and it came from (let’s make up a name) “sallynieuwstadt@…” or was it “sallyjonesnieuwstadt@…”; the former suggests she’s not too tech-savvy and just gave away her full name. rThe latter has multiple interpretations - she has a hyphenated name, jones is her midle/maiden name, she likes Limburg cheese, she was using an alias, etc. The fact that (I assume) he name is attached to her cell phone suggests it’s a more reliable indicator it’s her true name, or a full and elaborate fake. Sprint.com suggests she’s at least a local, not some scammer from Europe, East or West.
Meh, I have a GMX.net email thanks to a German buddy.
If someone’s going to construct an elaborate fake identity, then you will have to be far more vigilant. I’ve no experience with dating sites, but I would assume either people wing it or have a matching email account on Gmail or something to prevent geographic tracing. Going through the trouble of setting up a phony account on a cellular network too takes impersonation to a whole new level. In that case, if they’re that tech-savvy, why give it all away with an odd picture message? Send it to yourself at Gmail and forward from there…
Check the header of the email. If it’s the kind with “X-originating IP”, run that through an IP lookup service. It won’t pinpoint anything but may give you what ISP, and a vague area.
For all the people worried about a fake email address as part of a fake online dating account, that’s usually taking it a bit too far. I’m sure there are people out there that use fake dating profiles to run identity scams and have to get rather elaborate with them, but 99% of the fake online dating profiles exist for no reason other then to try to get you to sign up for a pay site.
I work with someone whose name is {first name} Cleveland. “Spelled just like the city.”
So I’m sure it’s possible that people can share names with cities. After all, many cities were named after their founders, so…
You haven’t worked with him on two non-consecutive occasions?
OTOH, doesn’t Nieuwstadt mean “new town” in Dutch?
Why not just ask her about it?
TinEye the image.
I don’t think this is anything to inherently worry about, but just keep your eye open. If she seems reasonable, her picture looks normal, and she isn’t trying to hit you for money or asking you to cash money orders and wire 90% of the proceeds to her “mom” in Nigeria, I wouldn’t worry too much right now.
Yeah, do that. I posted in the “strictly platonic” section of craigslist once and got bombared by hot girls in slightly suggestive photos. Tineye revealed that they were all from porn sites. They were the first photos where the girl still has her clothes on. I mean, if you’re gonna spam me, have the common decency to send the good stuff.
Also, consider googling the text of any message she has sent, especially anything with particularly unusual spelling or phrasing. I have found dozens (well almost that many) of messages sent by scammers that way. Of course, another big clue is if she never directly answers a question that you ask her, never responds to anything you say, but instead always starts off with new conversation-starters and questions.