If you have been following our series of articles, by now you should have a pretty clear idea of what a sweetheart scam is and how it operates. Let’s now go over some of the telltale signs and some ways in which you can protect yourself from those who are not after winning your heart, but rather after stealing your wallet.
Uncanny good looks / professional pictures. If the woman or man who is corresponding with you looks like a model in their profile pics, chances are they are stolen pictures from a real model who has nothing whatsoever to do with online dating (or you). Really, *really* beautiful people do not often date online… and let’s face it, if they did they will probably look for others as beautiful as them, not an average Joe that’s over 15 years older than them.
Scammers have been known to use pictures of actual celebrities including Heidi Klum, Rebecca Romijn and actress Katherine Heigl, along with lesser known Eastern European models and pageant queens such as Adriana Sklenarikova, Julia Zharkova and Larisa Chernikova. If the person looks beautiful enough to be on TV, and the photos have magazine quality, beware.
Vague profile. It is a fact of life that beautiful people are very sought after, and it follows that they will be very picky about who they communicate with online (and in real life). So if the beautiful pictures are accompanied by a very vague profile and description, and loose requirements about who they want to meet, beware: this could be a scammer casting a wide net.
Unabashed sexuality. Women like to have sex as much as men do, but they do not voice it in public as freely for fear of being seen as wanton or “easy.” If your beautiful online date can’t wait to get her hands on you and is extremely vocal about what she’d like to do to you, beware: this could be a professional, someone trying to hook you on an 800- number, or a scammer setting up a honey trap. Sex talk should be left until well after the first date, definitely not in the second or third email.
Foreign location. We are not saying that people outside the US are any less honest. What we are saying is that many countries lack the legal framework to penalize online crime, and so it is easier for scammers to set up their operations there. If your prospective date’s profile claims to be in California, but they later tell you a story about why they happen to find themselves in Africa at the moment, beware. A fake money order could be looming in your near future.
In our next article we will go over more telltale signs of an online scammer, and some ways in which you can protect yourself, your wallet and your heart.
Write a Review