# Purpose of Dating Site Phishing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 20, 2016, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876 "2016-06-20T08:11:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/21 "2016-06-22T15:52:50Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > No, _absolutely_ wrong. Every-single-girl I’ve ever talked to about this issue has no idea what Im talking about or even heard of it before. It may happen occasionally to women on dating sites but with nowhere near the frequency as on the guys side. Its practically an industry there. It is extremely common with women. I know that both personally and professionally. Sorry but your anecdotes don’t hold enough weight to declare someone absolutely wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/22 "2016-06-22T16:31:23Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I’ve had several friends get spoofed on Facebook - I’ll get a friend request and think “Hmmm, thought I had l already friended her”. In both cases someone had cloned their profile, including photos, and sent friend requests to all that person’s friends. I haven’t figured out what the point is except maybe to set things up for identity theft or to rip off your friends down the line. My FB profile got cloned in this manner a couple of years ago. Apparently they tried to use it to scam some of my friends with a banking type scam. “Hey, did you get that refund check from XYZ corp? No? Well, I can help you with that!” sort of thing. Of course, a large majority of my friends on FB are seriously skeptical types, so the scam didn’t get very far. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/23 "2016-06-23T19:12:29Z")
My experience with these types of come-ons all followed this pattern: 1. get you off the dating site to text, whatsapp, or some other form of communication 2. try to get you to sign up for a differnet site/app where you can watch the person you were just “talking to” strip on a webcam This has happened to me about a dozen times on different dating sites. I think the urgency involved is because you are on the site now, you must be horny now too. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/24 "2016-06-23T19:16:15Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > My experience with these types of come-ons all followed this pattern: > > 1. get you off the dating site to text, whatsapp, or some other form of communication > 2. try to get you to sign up for a differnet site/app where you can watch the person you were just “talking to” strip on a webcam > > This has happened to me about a dozen times on different dating sites. I think the urgency involved is because you are on the site now, you must be horny now too. The urgency is that the profiles get reported and removed quickly so they have to move rapidly. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/25 "2016-06-23T19:36:59Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > My experience with these types of come-ons all followed this pattern: > > 1. get you off the dating site to text, whatsapp, or some other form of communication > 2. try to get you to sign up for a differnet site/app where you can watch the person you were just “talking to” strip on a webcam > > This has happened to me about a dozen times on different dating sites. I think the urgency involved is because you are on the site now, you must be horny now too. Fool me eleven times, shame on you; fool me twelve times… I’ve seen quite a number of profiles that are obviously circumventing the rules (embedding a disguised gmail address, that sort of thing), and I’ve gotten messages from women who pinged my scam meter. I do wonder what the success rate is after that. I mean, how many guys respond to the initial message, but then stop short of sending cash? It’s got to be some, right; or is the scam so obvious that anybody who takes the initial bait is hooked all the way? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/26 "2016-06-23T23:55:33Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > It is extremely common with women. I know that both personally and professionally. Sorry but your anecdotes don’t hold enough weight to declare someone absolutely wrong. Mmkay. This stuff “happens all the time” to women _on dating sites_? If so, i’d like some evidence please. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/27 "2016-06-24T15:23:06Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Fool me eleven times, shame on you; fool me twelve times… I do admit to stringing some of them along out of a software developer’s curiosity to see if I could determine which ones were bots and which ones were actually people doing the heavy lifting. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/28 "2016-06-24T16:13:49Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Mmkay. This stuff “happens all the time” to women _on dating sites_? If so, i’d like some evidence please. Actually, we were wondering the same thing about your “evidence” as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/29 "2016-06-24T23:49:36Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Actually, we were wondering the same thing about your “evidence” as well. I could easily copy and paste several of these types of scam profiles and point out all the similarities they share. They all follow the same M.O. I’d like to see someone say that about mens fake profiles. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/30 "2016-06-25T00:22:54Z")
As an experiment, I challenge a woman to create a male profile and see what happens. I think it would be illuminating. ---
**Author:** ![cg16](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@cg16](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cg16)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/31 "2016-06-25T01:58:21Z")
That’s why I stick to OKC and Craigslist since I never experience this. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/32 "2016-06-25T02:00:09Z")
I’m still wondering what the purpose of this phishing is? Is anyone willing to admit they fell for it and then lost money/ended up married to a green card seeker/were laughed at/ or other consequence? Once we figure out what the intended purpose is, then maybe we can explore the gender issue (or perhaps it will become obvious once the purpose is revealed). ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/33 "2016-06-25T05:59:35Z")
I think a couple of different scams have been mentioned. One is to get you to go to, and spend money at, a cam site. Another is simply to tell you a sob story for money. For example, they’re doing volunteer work in Ghana and were robbed and have no money to get home. I had one offer me work involving cashing and depositing checks and making payments, an obvious scam. To me they were all obvious scams, and I turned it into a game of guess the scam, but I suppose that there must be people who fall for it, just as people fall for the 419 scams. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/34 "2016-06-25T06:42:35Z")
heh I tried a Russian site just for kicks years ago and was sent auto messages for 2 weeks that read like rambling run on esl sentences and it ended when I was told she needed 500 dollars to come see me … and once I said I was broke and such I never heard anything from the "girl that was so in love with her soul mate " ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/35 "2016-06-25T08:28:59Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Mmkay. This stuff “happens all the time” to women _on dating sites_? If so, i’d like some evidence please. I offered links, but evidently that was too difficult to see. Here’s one that actually ended in court. Based on my experience it’s the tip of an iceberg, but you’re free to ignore everyone else in the thread and dismiss it as a one off due to your wast knowledge of the online dating world for women. Or you could of course move the goalposts again. > **[Fake soldier pretended to be a US Army Captain in Afghanistan](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3162240/Fake-soldier-pretended-Army-Captain-Afghanistan-online-dating-site-trick-lonely-women-400-000.html)** > > Tosin Femi Olasemo, 37, was allowed into Britain on a student visa, where he set up a Match.com profile from his Cardiff home, pretending to be an American serviceman. > [@](#): > > A Nigerian fraudster masqueraded as a US Army captain serving in Afghanistan on an online dating profile to scam lonely women out of more than £400,000. > > Read more: [Fake soldier from 'US Army in Afghanistan' defrauded women of £400,000 | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3162240/Fake-soldier-pretended-Army-Captain-Afghanistan-online-dating-site-trick-lonely-women-400-000.html#ixzz4CZtSMfD6) > Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/36 "2016-06-25T15:58:47Z")
It definitely happens with fake male profiles targetting women too. I’m on the most popular site in the UK (with little luck, I might add!) and every now and again you get the same thing. A slightly-too-good-to-be-true profile sends me a very generic message like “Hi, you’re gorgeous, want to chat?”. The photo is usually of a successful-looking bloke in a suit, and the income stated is usually quite high. I always reply with a “So, what else did you like about my profile?” just to check if they are a real person who wants to go hiking with me. There is usually no reply, and the profile quickly disappears with a “This profile has been deemed fraudulent or unsuitable and has been removed”. I honestly don’t know what they are after. Cash, presumably. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/37 "2016-06-25T17:44:15Z")
> [@naita](#): > > I offered links, but evidently that was too difficult to see. Here’s one that actually ended in court. Based on my experience it’s the tip of an iceberg, but you’re free to ignore everyone else in the thread and dismiss it as a one off due to your wast knowledge of the online dating world for women. Or you could of course move the goalposts again. > > [Fake soldier from 'US Army in Afghanistan' defrauded women of £400,000 | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3162240/Fake-soldier-pretended-Army-Captain-Afghanistan-online-dating-site-trick-lonely-women-400-000.html) Please tell me how I moved the goalposts? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876/38 "2016-06-25T17:55:24Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > . It may happen occasionally to women on dating sites but with nowhere near the frequency as on the guys side. Its practically an industry there. > [@naita](#): > > Or you could of course move the goalposts again. As you can see, I never said it **never** happens to women, just that it happens with nowhere near the frequency that it happens to men. And I really think a simple experiment would show any doubters this is true. A woman could make a male profile and watch what happens when they begin mingling online. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-dating-site-phishing/757876.md?page=1)