Ok I’ve been going through a divorce for a while and a friend suggested I try online dating. So I signed up for Match.com a couple days ago. A couple things set off my very strong bullshit detector. If you don’t know on match you can “wink” at someone. I have received several winks from women that all seem to fit the same pattern. They are very attractive but not impossibly so. Their criteria for matchs seem overly broad (men 30-60 nonsmoker). They come from further than it would make sense to look for a match (a couple of states away). In a few cases their profile disappears in a couple days. Everything screams scam to me.
So my GQ question is what scams are being run on dating sites? I can see no benefit to anyone from what is being done. How is the scam supposed to progress?
There is the third kind that a friend of mine once experienced. She went on a date only to find herself the subject of a mid-level marketing scheme pitch.
That is not a helpful GQ answer. If you have any credible sources please link. A google page is not. A quick look at the first few show that they are just speculation and not answers such as “My theory MAtch.com employs people to repost old disabled accounts…” I come here to read factual answers not speculation and not to get linked to google.
Another scam that happens frequently outside the dating services themselves is to do with their referral programs. Some dating sites pay a few dollars for each new user you refer to them. So scammers pretend to be pretty girls on Twitter, Facebook, blog comments etc to trick people into signing up.
There may be a variant on that operating within some dating sites, I don’t know.
In the past, I’ve seen my profile on websites that I’ve never joined. I think some of the fake users are bots meant to increase the ratio of male-to-female on the websites, as well as to generate income, as there were always adds on the fake profiles.
They’ll direct you to another site. Often times, somewhere in their profile you’ll see something along the lines of “I’m not a full member yet, if you want to message me, your best bet would be at a place call serious dates (or a handful or other sites).”
Even if they don’t have that line the other dead give away is a empty profile. One short paragraph about themselves, nothing down the left side and the “About My Date” section is blank. The pictures will be attractive, but generic. Also, if they wink at you without ever having viewed your profile that’s another clue.
