# Friend met an online girlfriend. What's the probability it is legit?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-met-an-online-girlfriend-whats-the-probability-it-is-legit/970599
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [August 30, 2022, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-met-an-online-girlfriend-whats-the-probability-it-is-legit/970599 "2022-08-30T13:08:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2022, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-met-an-online-girlfriend-whats-the-probability-it-is-legit/970599/81 "2022-10-09T14:19:50Z")
I think met on a dating site is a subset of met online.
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2022, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-met-an-online-girlfriend-whats-the-probability-it-is-legit/970599/82 "2022-10-09T15:06:24Z")
[https://ph.usembassy.gov/covid-19-and-travel-information/](https://ph.usembassy.gov/covid-19-and-travel-information/)
> **Unvaccinated foreign nationals will not be allowed admission into the Philippines**
So that could be it.
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### Author:  [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2022, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-met-an-online-girlfriend-whats-the-probability-it-is-legit/970599/83 "2022-11-19T03:16:34Z")
oh somehow I missed my pager 😃 while in the air.
The woman from that previous trip actually ended up not working out mostly because my trip caused a ton of drama with my business, crippling my ability to visit for a while. That could be a huge thread of its own…
I actually just got back from being in the Philippines for a month, since I’m basically retired, I have time… Met another one, Going back again in March, this ones definitely a keeper.
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### Author:  [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2022, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-met-an-online-girlfriend-whats-the-probability-it-is-legit/970599/84 "2022-11-19T03:42:54Z")
> [@hajario](#):
>
> The Philippines thing though, very likely to be some kind of scam. There may be some legit dating services out there to connect Americans with foreign women but I wouldn’t trust any of them.
Neither would I. I literally just changed my OKCupid profile to Manila. A little common sense gets rid of 90% of the scammers.
One rule eliminates the vast majority of scams.
Never. send. money. EVER. No matter how good the excuse, no matter how desperate/realistic/sincere the situation may seem. Walk away.
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### Author:  [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2022, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-met-an-online-girlfriend-whats-the-probability-it-is-legit/970599/85 "2022-11-19T03:50:13Z")
The biggest piece of this fraud is, it is relatively rare for average Philippine citizens to be approved for a US tourist visa. Barring some pretty strong ties to home, they tend not to come back.
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### Author:  [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2022, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-met-an-online-girlfriend-whats-the-probability-it-is-legit/970599/86 "2022-11-19T04:39:08Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> It sounds to me like he has on online girlfriend who lives in the Philippines. So here’s my question: what’s the probability this girlfriend is legit? What do you think will happen if he travels there?
If he travels there and actually meets her in person, the odds of outright scam drop dramatically. As to the current state, don’t know without asking a ton of pointed questions. Details matter. Things like if she is coming from some remote area half way across the country, more suspicious as such travel can easily be outside the affordability of many, thus may be scammy. Any given person in the manila metro area can cover a lot of ground on a dollars worth of jeepney fares. Has he done video chat with her? Video chat does not eliminate all scams but it skims off the most obvious catfishing. You can learn a lot from attitude, body language, intonation.
Culture there does lean a little more conservative and superstitious. Enough so that garden variety republican voters will find a lot of political peers.
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