Real schemes of scammers on dating sites - scams for money, photos, phone numbers

The number of victims of online dating scams is increasing, and every year the total amount of monetary losses amounts to millions of dollars. Deception schemes are also improving, and now, instead of simply sending phishing emails, attackers are increasingly implementing long-term scenarios.

If you are a regular on online dating services, and suddenly your interlocutor begins to meet one or more of the criteria discussed later in this article, you should at least be wary. We'll also look at how to avoid these types of scams in general.

Safety rules on dating sites - how to avoid falling for scammers

Fraud on dating sites is now at the peak of popularity. Not only women, but also men are scammed. There are many resources where you can communicate with people, and you can register from any city or country.

Through the World Wide Web they are recruited into sects and criminal organizations, but sites where men and women look for potential spouses do not cause much concern.

Fraud on the Internet is subject to criminal liability, according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, namely:

Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with the latest amendments and additions “Fraud”

Part 6 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Fraud in the field of computer information”

To avoid becoming a victim of a scammer, you need to know the basic precautions:

1. Register only on trusted resources. When filling out the form, you must indicate your phone number, but you should not write it to every new acquaintance.
2. It is better to create a nickname rather than provide personal information. If a stranger asks for your name, contact information and address, this should raise red flags. It is naive to believe that he is interested with the intention of getting married in the future and living happily ever after.
3. Do not post personal photos on such resources, especially in which you can determine your exact place of residence or habitat.
4. When dating online, don’t expect the truth; 90% of all information, especially in personal correspondence, is a lie.
5. Scammers are looking for lonely and naive people, so you shouldn’t believe in the fairy tale about a prince on a white horse. Even after a long conversation, it is difficult to understand the true intentions of the person on the other side of the screen.

The main criterion for being on a dating site: be vigilant. Scammers immediately try to take over and grab attention. Remember that free cheese is only in a mousetrap.

Social networks are full of calculating scammers

Research shows that more than a third of couples met online. And by 2040, the share of such unions will be 70%. Of course, we are talking about dating not only on specialized sites. People find each other on thematic and professional forums, on social networks. But let us remember that the largest social network in the world, Facebook, was originally a dating site for Harvard University students. So sites specializing in finding soul mates or, at least, fleeting love are an everyday reality. However, the popular Internet environment is filled not only with lonely hearts, but also with calculating swindlers.

Signs of a swindler

There will always be scams on dating sites. It is a proven fact: only four categories of citizens use such resources:

1. Unconfident people who are embarrassed to meet people on the street.
2. Men who are looking for meetings without obligations.
3. Women who sell their bodies. They earn a living from this and quite consciously take risks.
4. Fraudsters who enrich themselves at the expense of others through deception or identity theft.

A scam can lurk even with harmless correspondence.

The main signs that allow you to recognize a fraudster:

1. Registration of the page takes several days.
2. No photos or notes.
3. The status specifies offers of income, assistance or services.
4. Promises of “mountains of gold” or an instant desire to meet.
5. A person wants to know as much personal information as possible: phone number, residential address, bank card details, income, etc.

You can identify a scammer on dating sites by their photo on the page. These are pictures downloaded via the Internet that attract the attention of other users. You can get divorced even on old resources where people meet - Mamba, Friend around or Loveplanet.

Swindling money

Scammers skillfully lure funds via the Internet. Marriage agencies work through prepayment and promise the woman to find a rich husband. More often than not, candidates are also in cahoots with scammers. There may be offers to provide personal data of young men and women who are desperate to meet. As a result, it turns out that this information is unreliable.

Gifts and payment for services

On all resources where people meet, they offer gifts for a symbolic price. This is completely legal. But when paying for a gift with a bank card, on the other side of the computer, scammers will be able to use the plastic data and withdraw all the money. You should be wary of tempting promotions and subscriptions that promise gifts with reduced fees or long-term subscriptions.

Virtual sex and blackmail

If a person offers virtual sex from the beginning of communication or persistently asks for a real meeting, then you should refuse correspondence and immediately block the contact. The person will suffer not only financially, but also morally.

Virtual sex can be accompanied by intimate photos, which will be the main weapon of blackmail after communication. There are often cases when unfree people register on portals out of boredom or for fun. It is they who can then be blackmailed and threatened with exposure to their relatives.

How foreigners scam girls on dating sites

Meeting a foreigner can end sadly. Most Russian women dream of marrying a citizen of another state and moving abroad. You never know who is really communicating on the other side of the screen and what their true intentions are.

Remember, real foreigners who want to get a Russian wife contact agencies, but will not look for a potential spouse on their own. American citizens should be especially wary of Russian-language resources, because most US residents recognize only one portal for communication and that is Facebook.

Above the abyss in... lies, or Where online dating leads

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Dating services have seen an increase in the number of active users since the start of the pandemic. According to analysts of the largest search resources, visitors to such portals, at least in Russia, make dates twice as often as before. Every third Internet user knows what a dating service is. Not surprising. Many people are switching to remote study, work and feel loneliness. Demand creates supply, so the World Wide Web will offer dozens of convenient mobile applications for finding your soulmate. But is communicating with strangers so harmless? Let's find out together.

The perfect swindler

Just a few years ago, searching for a match on the Internet was considered a sign of insolvency. Users were often embarrassed to tell their loved ones that they met someone on a dating site or through an app. Now no one hides this fact. An increasing number of people find relationships on the Internet. The range of sites and applications is significant - you can find more than two dozen offers on the play market - download and plunge into the abyss of passions.

It would seem that this is a good thing, but... as police practice shows, it is very easy to get entangled in such love networks. Deceiving users of dating sites has long become a profitable shady business.

“If you find an ideal person on the Internet, most likely he is a scammer,” state experienced soul mate seekers. Regulars of dating sites have long despaired of finding their destiny on the Internet. At the same time, they note that such fun acts like a drug - it addicts you and makes you look for something new every time.

At the same time, of course, many online dating stories end in a happy ending. According to a colleague, about 18 years ago a friend of hers found her destiny on a specialized website. On the Internet, a woman met an American military man and married him. She is happy to this day, raising her sons with her husband and waiting for her grandchildren.

Marry a foreigner

But more often than not, the dream of a foreign prince and a beautiful life pushes our compatriots who do not speak foreign languages ​​into the network of marriage scammers. Correspondence usually begins with the same phrases, which are read somewhat clumsily through an online translator. Template text, as a rule, goes to mass mailings. The scammers are sure that out of a hundred someone will respond. They continue to “work” with such people. The compliments in these messages are impersonal. Scammers don't think much of anything. If they praise you, it will definitely be your eyes. You see, everyone has them!

Photos of grooms are most often fake. As are promises. The main purpose of correspondence is money. The bigger, the better.

It is surprising that, having become a victim of a deceiver, many women later admit: they knew about the existence of scammers on the Internet, but for some reason they were sure that their gentleman was not like that. He is honest and decent.

So a 46-year-old resident of Tula, having made an acquaintance on the Internet with a foreign military man, hoped that she would finally arrange her destiny. The couple's relationship developed rapidly. We spent a month communicating via messenger in English through an online translator. A dear friend has mentioned more than once that he is on an international mission in Afghanistan. Finally he announced his imminent demobilization, offering his hand and heart. He admitted that during his service he collected a large sum of money. He asked for help in transporting the accumulated funds to Russia.

Instructions on how to receive the funds were sent to the bride via email. The message indicated that it was necessary to thank those who would not inspect the diplomatic mail. Transfer details are attached. A happy woman took out a loan from a bank and made three payments in the amount of 1 million 170 thousand rubles. Immediately after this, the groom stopped communicating. Realizing that she had contacted a swindler, the Tula woman contacted the police. Law enforcement officers were able to identify the attacker. He was detained in Moscow. As it turned out, he had nothing to do with military service, and when meeting the victim he used someone else’s photograph. The police also found out that this was not the first time he had used a scheme to scam single Russian ladies out of money. Law enforcement officials are establishing the defendant’s involvement in committing similar crimes.

Pressure for pity

Many Russians are kind and sympathetic women. They are used to taking care of men, helping, solving problems for them and - what is important - listening to their interlocutor. Attackers skillfully take advantage of this weakness. The crooks present themselves as widowers with young children who suddenly lost their jobs or were involved in an accident - there are a lot of options, the imagination of criminals knows no bounds. They gain the trust of the ladies, and then press for pity.

It was in this way that the swindler managed to make money from a resident of Yaroslavl. The woman admitted to police that she met her betrothed on a dating site. He wrote that he lives in the Leningrad region and is raising a seriously ill child alone. Once I asked for help - I asked to talk to a healer.

The woman agreed and contacted the clairvoyant. During the course of the opera, I learned that a friend and his child were allegedly hexed. As a result, she transferred more than a million rubles for psychic services. I had no savings of my own, so I had to take out several consumer loans. The man did not interrupt contact with her and reported that his health had improved, and promised to come and return the money. But soon he wrote back briefly: “The child has gotten worse” and stopped communicating. The worried woman desperately tried to find her beloved, but to no avail. Having calmed down, I realized that I had become a victim of deception. Yaroslavl police detained a false psychic and an ardent lover. After the investigation is completed, they will be tried for fraud. There are suggestions that they used the criminal scheme more than once.

A resident of Rostov-on-Don also suffered from a swindler who played the role of a single father. We met on social networks. The man claimed to be a successful businessman. He runs a construction company, everything is fine with him, but here’s the problem: he’s raising a child alone who needs a caring mother. He proposed to marry him. Got consent. He said that he dreams of building a common house for them. The lady, lost in happiness, believed in the temporary financial difficulties of her betrothed. I sold my own apartment and invested money in construction. The swindler even brought her to the construction site, showed her her future home, and talked about how good it would be for the three of them. As a result of this love story, the Rostovite lost six million rubles. As it turned out during the investigation, three more ladies who wanted to arrange their personal lives got into the marriage swindler’s network.

Operatives of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Rostov Region detained the gigolo.

Good old blackmail

This year, Khabarovsk police neutralized a criminal quartet of Don Juans. The attackers looked for their victims on dating sites, and the case was brought to a screeching halt. Statements to the police were received from 14 women. Luring the ladies on a date to the apartment, the accomplices switched to the language of extortion.

The most talkative of the four talked to the ladies. He was generous with compliments, courteous and good-looking. Yielding to the call of passion, the women agreed to meet a new acquaintance on his territory. The owner of the apartment greeted us with flowers and champagne. When the lovers indulged in passion, friends of the ardent Romeo appeared from the next room. They said that they filmed the love scene with a hidden camera and threatened to release the footage on the Internet. They demanded money. If they were refused, they were robbed on the spot.

Criminal investigation officers of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Khabarovsk Territory detained members of a criminal group at the time of committing another illegal act.

— The accomplices turned out to be 19-20 years old. “Everyone studied together at the technical school,” says captain of justice Evgenia Shafrygina, senior investigator of the investigative unit of the Investigative Department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Khabarovsk Territory. “They didn’t want to work, but they definitely planned to get rich.” The friends were confident that none of their victims would contact the internal affairs authorities, since the statement would need to indicate the purpose of the meeting. Who would want to discredit their reputation... They thought so in vain. The victims had a desire to punish the offenders.

Accomplices will be held accountable for extortion and robbery. The articles are serious and imply up to 15 years in prison. The investigation continues, police are trying to find other possible victims of the unscrupulous four.

What if the worst thing happens?

Your virtual acquaintance may turn out to be not a typical marriage swindler, but a repeat offender. This happened, for example, recently in Rybinsk. A divorced woman with two children, believing an online “groom,” moved to live with him from Siberia to the Yaroslavl region, and with two young daughters. Her partner, it turned out, had a criminal record for murdering a woman and attempting to rape her friend. It is not surprising that the idyll did not last long, only about a month - that’s exactly how long their “love” stood the test.

As a result, the chosen one, allegedly jealous of his partner, killed his stepdaughters in the absence of their mother.

Such tragedies, however, are not so uncommon. Overshadowed by the Rybinsk case was a similar crime that occurred almost simultaneously in Ryazan. Here, too, a 26-year-old woman frivolously invited a young man whom she met on social networks to visit her. He lived with her for several days, and then there was a quarrel and he was asked to leave the apartment. This served as a signal for aggression: the guest with a knife attacked his friend, her grandfather and young son, inflicting many stab wounds on them.

Only a miracle and the prompt intervention of the police saved the tragedy. They managed to quickly apprehend the criminal, who confessed to everything. His social portrait is not original: a 24-year-old unemployed man from the Moscow region, previously convicted of theft. And this crime could have been avoided if we were more attentive and selective in the selection of acquaintances and life partners.

Men suffer too

Representatives of the stronger sex often become victims of deception. As a rule, they fall for the bait of scammers in attempts to obtain services of an intimate nature. For example, police from the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra detained a priestess of love from the Ulyanovsk region. The moth asked for an advance payment for her visit, but never came to her clients. And how to overcome such distances! The statements were written by eight deceived men from different parts of the country. Among them is a resident of the city of Langepas, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra. All of them transferred from 5 to 10 thousand rubles to the attacker’s card. A criminal case has been opened for fraud. The defendant faces punishment in the form of a fine and imprisonment for a term of 2 to 5 years.

Due to the active search for a life friend on a dating site, another resident of Ugra also suffered. A 48-year-old Surgut resident offered to spend the evening with a 36-year-old woman. She agreed to the meeting, but asked to go to the store to buy alcohol. When paying for a purchase with a bank card, the man did not hide his PIN code, which the attacker later took advantage of. The couple retired to a rented apartment. After drinking a large amount of alcohol, the man fell asleep. Meanwhile, the guest invited a friend. Together with her friend, she borrowed the sleeping man’s card and headed straight to the nearest ATM. They withdrew 100 thousand rubles, returned to the apartment, left the card and disappeared. Having discovered that a large amount had been written off, the victim contacted the police. As a result of operational search activities, law enforcement officers detained citizens born in 1984 and 1997. As it turned out, they had previously been convicted of committing similar crimes.

There's no need to rush here

Psychologists and sociologists are sounding the alarm, because the destruction of traditionally and historically established public and social ties, the refusal of tactile contact and exchange of information “eye to eye” affects the health of citizens who themselves often do not understand the causes of internal discomfort, terrible depression, psychological disorders and similar mental illnesses. But people still remain people and, in spite of everything, continue to look for their soul mate in the hope of finding quiet family happiness.

It is useless to deny the positive role of online dating. After all, we often met and even fell in love before by correspondence or by telephone! But the problem seems to be that virtual - essentially surrogate love - replaces real meetings and communication, reducing the distance necessary for better recognition of a partner and impoverishing the emotional palette of feelings. So don’t rush into such a serious matter as building your personal life!

Safety regulations

Scammers often hide behind other people's names and photographs.
An elementary way to check where an image was first published is to upload it to one of the search engines. In the same way, you can “punch” a person by his full name. It is worth gleaning useful information through correspondence. Don't hesitate to ask questions and double-check suspicious information. Pay attention to the manner of virtual communication of your interlocutor. Often scammers conduct numerous correspondence, so they address their partner impersonally, avoiding names - “bunny”, “pussy”, “baby” and the like.

Pay attention to the manner of virtual communication of your interlocutor.
Often scammers conduct numerous correspondence, so they address their partner impersonally, avoiding names - “bunny”, “pussy”, “baby” and the like. Never, under any circumstances, share intimate photos with strangers. This will help avoid blackmail.

Figures and facts

According to an international company specializing in the development of protection systems against computer viruses, spam, hacker attacks and other cyber threats, the average age of dating site users is 33.8 years.
63% of those looking for love online work full-time. Most of them are men. 51% of online daters admit to using a work computer, knowing they could be putting sensitive company data at risk. A quarter of those surveyed admit to publicly revealing their full name on their dating profile. One in ten are willing to share their home address and intimate photos.

57% hide their true names, marital status and appearance.

63% are worried that the device they use for online dating will become infected.

61% think their data will be stolen. These concerns are well founded.

55% have encountered some kind of threat or problem while dating online.
People who use online dating are twice as likely to experience IT security incidents as those who don't. This happens due to their increased level of online activity in general. Only 27% use a security solution for their device, and 16% do nothing at all because they don’t see the risk

Competently

Head of Department No. 7 of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Rostov Region, Police Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gorlov:
- It is difficult to prove fraud in such situations. It is necessary to confirm that the victim lost money precisely under the influence of deception.

Law enforcement officers working on the application rely on the facts reported by the victims. That is why people who have suffered from attackers will have to remember all the circumstances of what happened.

The difficulty of proving the guilt of a suspect in committing such crimes is that victims sometimes truly fall in love with their offenders and, despite significant financial losses, cover them up in every possible way.
Losses of at least five thousand rubles are considered significant. The value of property exceeding 250 thousand is recognized as large, and especially large - one million rubles. The deceiver faces administrative liability for damage not exceeding two and a half thousand rubles. But, as a rule, swindlers neglect such amounts and go for broke, and therefore are subject to criminal prosecution. The most severe punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of up to 10 years with a fine of up to a million rubles is imposed for fraud committed by an organized group or on an especially large scale or resulting in the deprivation of a citizen’s right to residential premises.

Expert opinion

Practicing psychologist Inna Illarionova:
“In my opinion, desperate people go to dating sites to find a couple. Those who have failed to build relationships in reality or are too busy to spend time on improving their personal lives. Most users spend time on such dating sites out of boredom or in search of new experiences. Many of them are married people. They usually conduct active correspondence, but avoid meeting in real life or offer communication in secluded places.

So to truly find a long-term relationship, be prepared to put in the work. It is possible that you will have to communicate and correspond with several people, meet in reality, and often say “no”. This is the hardest part. The situation is stressful. Online, everyone uses masks, screens, and hides behind fictitious names. After an unsuccessful first date, many people become disappointed and say that there are no normal people on the Internet. I advise you to approach this experience as if you were looking for a job. After all, out of the sea of ​​vacancies, you will be personally interested in a couple or three. The employer also selects according to its own criteria. So, if you meet a person online who is ready to do anything, be wary.

In order to avoid negative experiences in finding a life partner, act with a cool head - clearly define the purpose of dating and try to move from the virtual space to the real world as quickly as possible.
Having seen a person, you can trust your intuition, feelings, and impressions. In reality, it is easier to recognize deception. Make appointments in decent public places. It doesn't have to be a cafe. Go to an exhibition or to the theater - this way you will understand what is interesting to your partner. The most important thing is not to get involved. The illusion of availability is bad. It seems to you that the choice of a partner is huge, but this is an imaginary hope. Don't forget that there is an alternative to online dating! Despite the fact that the busyness and economic depression of residents of megacities do not allow them to actively spend time at cultural events, exhibitions, concerts, and creative evenings have not been cancelled. A good place to meet people is communities of personal or professional interests, just like conferences, seminars, workshops, and any educational projects. Live communication, unlike virtual communication, requires more self-confidence, the ability to communicate and make contacts, so dating sites can be considered as platforms for training and developing the necessary skills. Return to section

Classics of the genre

Most often, scams on girls' dating sites begin when they ask for a phone number. The ladies believe that they simply interested the young man, and he wants to get to know each other better.

The portals are most often inhabited by men with complexes, convicts or those who want to scam naive girls for intimate photos, sex or money.

Classic schemes include marriage swindlers, doctors, military men and millionaires who are disappointed in love.

Exaggeration of facts

All people are prone to exaggeration and overestimation of their qualities. If a person writes that he is fabulously rich and dreams of finding a spouse via the Internet, then most likely this is a hoax.

Everything that is written through a dating site should be divided into two and it is better to immediately translate communication into reality. There are many virtual people on the Internet who live online. Such interaction will only bring disappointment.

Ideal man

Internet users share their personal experiences and ladies of different ages are sure that a prince on a white horse does not exist, especially if the acquaintance took place through the World Wide Web.

A successful man will not waste his time searching on the Internet. Such cases are extremely rare and most often they occur in films. Invite your ideal man to contact you via Skype and dispel all doubts.

"Help, good people"

It is necessary to help people in trouble, but on the world wide web, scammers most often take advantage of the kindness of others. Citizens sometimes help with things and send parcels by mail, and then extort money for their help.

If you have sent a link from a charity foundation, then you should make sure that this enterprise is legal. Posts about help are common on social networks and not all of them are true.

An old soldier who doesn't know love

Many military men use dating sites because they work in isolation and have nowhere to look for wives in real life. First, you should make sure that the communication is taking place with the soldier.

You need to look for an assistant through the contact’s photo gallery or video. It’s a common area where scammers pose as brave soldiers, ingratiate themselves, and then scam people out of money or photographs.

Single father wants to meet

Another trick of the scammers, when they tell a tearful story about a man who became a widower and is looking for a mother for his orphaned children. The female sex is susceptible to such statements, because there are a lot of lonely girls.

This type of dating has led to disappointment for many ladies. Carefully study the page of a potential suitor and make sure that the messages are truthful.

How to check a candidate?

To make sure that this is not a fan of yours, but simply a scammer out of money, give him a check. How to do it:

• Ask a persistent fan if he is on other similar sites or social networks. If he avoids answering, then check it yourself: look for it through a search engine. Typically, scammers use a fake first and last name and create one profile on one site just to commit fraud. Most likely, you are unlikely to find your “chosen one” anywhere else.
• You can check a candidate for gentleman through simple questions. Look at the profile information about what the person writes about themselves. Ask him questions regarding his profession (usually the activity of a businessman), family, etc. Most often, scammers ignore questions, replacing the answers with another stream of compliments, or answer vaguely.
• Fraudsters download photos from the Internet and pass them off as their own. Typically, these are photos of successful people living a luxurious life. To bring your gentleman to clean water, periodically ask him to send you fresh photos taken at the current moment. The deceiver will find a thousand reasons to justify the impossibility of sending a photo now, but promising to do so in the near future.
• Pay attention to the manner of virtual communication. Fraudsters are not known for their sincerity in their feelings, so they use carbon copy text and template impersonal compliments - dear, dear, beautiful, etc. However, there are also imaginative deceivers who know how to write beautifully and truthfully.

How men are scammed on dating sites

Every second single man has a profile on resources where people look for potential spouses. Remember that there may be a bot on the other side of the screen, not a real person.

Main methods of fraud:

1. If a woman is relaxed in communication and ready for a close relationship, then you should be wary. Many ladies sell their bodies and seek financial gain from communication.
2. You should not transfer money, but rather offer to meet in a cafe.
3. A virtual matchmaker will always demand a money transfer for her services, and then most likely disappear.
4. There is a punishment for communicating with underage ladies. Many girls under 18 correspond via the Internet. Then it is difficult to prove that the guy did not know about the real age of his friend.
5. A man may appear behind a woman’s profile and openly extort money. If the victim conducts intimate correspondence, then he can be blackmailed by what his wife finds out.

Don't take online dating seriously. Relationships need to start with real communication. If a man decides to write a letter or give a gift, then it is better to make payment through online wallets that do not receive third-party income.

Is it possible to get money back from scammers on Odnoklassniki?

Theoretically, you can get your money back if you were deceived at OK. In practice it is difficult. There are only two options:

• try to cancel a bank transaction using the chargeback procedure;
• contact the police and file a report against the scammers.

Police rarely take reports related to online fraud because such cases are usually complex. Finding the attackers is almost impossible - they use services that change the IP address and cash out all the money through dummies.

Have you encountered fraud on Odnoklassniki? Tell us about your experience in the comments!

Psychological portrait of the victim

Identifying a person who is easy to deceive is as easy as shelling pears. Fraudsters pay attention to the following factors:

1. Online 24/7.
2. The status talks about a great desire to meet your soul mate.
3. The profile contains photos that indicate that the person is financially secure.
4. The page contains information about preferences, dreams and hobbies. This information will allow you to quickly find a topic for communication.
5. Ease of dialogue.

Experienced swindlers, even taking a quick glance at a profile, already know exactly whether they can scam a person or not. They will write what everyone wants to read: the desire to find a soul mate and have a strong family.

Youtube scam

Youtube scammers usually try to steal data from different users. This was reported by the Californian company Proofpoint, which specializes in data protection.

YouTube scammers periodically create channels and train people in phishing attacks. That is, Internet fraud, the purpose of which is to gain access to confidential user data. They are actually making a trap. Below the video there are links to create phishing pages. If a person follows this link and enters the scammer’s website, then his data is sent to the author of the scam.

How to protect yourself on a dating site (sample complaints)

Many are looking for spouses even in other cities and willingly send money to meet in reality. More often than not, the meeting does not take place.

Key factors that will help you protect yourself from scammers:

1. Do not post photos that reveal your place of residence or work.
2. Cards with children should be in a family album, not on a dating site.
3. Carefully check the page of the person you are communicating with. Details are very important: photo, “about yourself” section, interests and statuses.
4. The date the contact was registered is also important. Most often, scammers constantly create new pages and their stay on the site is very short.
5. Do not transfer funds to strangers and do not provide bank card information.

Offer your interlocutor closer acquaintance only in real life and meet in crowded places. Long correspondence can already indicate the seriousness of intentions, but this does not exclude gigolos.

A sample complaint form to the prosecutor's office is located here

Information about the interlocutor

You can distinguish a swindler from an ordinary user who is looking for love by the completeness of the data and real photos on the page. If the profile appeared a few days ago, then you should carefully study the person.

Anyone could be hiding behind a completely blank page and a picture from the Internet. Offer to talk via video conference - look at the manner of communication and those facts that interest the interlocutor most.

Black list

At the slightest suspicion, without hesitation, send the person to the blacklist. In this case, the fraudster will completely lose access to the victim’s data. It would be a good idea to write to support and demand that the scammer’s account be blocked.

How dangerous is a marriage swindler, and who is he really?

Thinking that a marriage swindler only targets rich ladies is a common mistake. Some guys want free housing, food, clothes and some pocket money from a woman. For example, part-time students. True, they can still make a duplicate of the keys and rob their beloved. But this is a fairly easy option. Most often, women are left completely without a livelihood, lose apartments, cars, reputations, incur multimillion-dollar debts and get involved in dangerous games with the law.

For example, a girl becomes pregnant by a foreign scammer, issues a foreign passport for the child, and the new father takes it away for selfish purposes. These are real stories.

It's getting creepy, don't you agree?

The most common case, of course, is when a scammer scams you out of money. Most of the stories of the victims of the girls begin like this: “He asked me for a loan, promised that he would return everything with interest...” and further down the list. I have already written how to recognize that a guy only wants money from you, and here you will find a way to competently refuse a man’s request for financial help. However, those who extract money from you are not always the real swindlers. They could just be gigolos, lazy people, losers. Have you met anyone like this? Share your experience in the comments.

Who are these notorious marriage swindlers?

These are real scammers, slippery types, subtle psychologists and calculating professionals rolled into one. They often enter into a fictitious marriage or live with their victim for criminal purposes. In most cases, they have more than one episode of fraud behind them; foreign swindlers, for example, are experienced polygamists. They also often have partners who play the role of sister, mother, or fake friends. However, it is almost impossible to punish a marriage swindler under the law. After all, the woman herself voluntarily gives everything to him, signs the necessary papers in her right mind and sober memory, believes that he will improve and certainly truly loves her. And many are simply embarrassed to go to the police and advertise their love relationships.

Who usually easily falls for scammers?

Girls who are unsure of themselves, trusting, who are tired of loneliness and want simple family happiness. They can work in simple jobs and not have their own home and still get burned.

There are certain feminine traits that, like a magnet, attract losers, gigolos and scammers. The swindler will easily force such people to take out a large loan, will draw out small amounts, will ask them to pawn their last jewelry or something else. And women with income risk all their property and business. So, how can you tell if a guy is a real swindler?

Danger in reality

If a person has become a victim of a scammer, then it is worth contacting the site’s support service so that they can take action or immediately report to the competent government authorities. Online marriage agencies, fortune tellers, highly paid jobs and businesses without investments should be especially wary.

Do not send photos with intimate content; most likely, they will later end up in the public domain. Do not provide bank card details or residential address. Meet people in reality, and correspond only on trusted resources.

What else to read:

• 8 online ways to check a website (online store) for fraud, reliability and trust
• How to protect yourself from scammers on VKontakte - scams on VK, sample complaints
• A detailed review of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - liability for fraud and deception on the Internet in 2022
• How to recognize scammers on the Internet - types and schemes of fraud (samples of complaints about fraud)

How to protect yourself from scammers and recognize deception in time

Calculating divorce is difficult, especially if you do everything in a hurry while doing other things. For example, if you conduct several correspondence at the same time, you can automatically send a small amount to a scammer who writes from the hacked page of your old friend.

To protect yourself from scammers, always be attentive to any suspicious messages from friends. If a friend asks for money or your number, check it:

• ask about something that only you know and that the attacker cannot guess;
• go to the page and double-check the profile - do you have mutual friends, are all the photos in place, is there any friendship;
• Call your friend and make sure that it’s really him and not a scammer asking for money.

And if someone sends you a link, it’s better not to click on it at all. If interest prevails, do not enter account data on third-party sites, or at least carefully study the domain name in the address bar.

It is more difficult to protect yourself from fraudsters acting on behalf of a brand. But this is still possible - check domain names just as carefully, and even better, don’t buy anything from unfamiliar pages. Or at least study reviews on the Internet, look at the creation date and place your first order for a small amount.

Famous swindlers of the USSR and the Russian Federation

The author of the first financial pyramid is Ivan Rykov (1833–1899). He was the head of a bank. The swindler offered deposits at high interest rates (7.5%). In other banks the rate was at 3%. Ryvkov published fake reports that claimed the financial stability of the company. The Soviet swindler deceived people for 15 years. During the audit, the cash register was empty. Ryvkov and his accomplices spent 13 million rubles.

The swindler Nikolai Savin (1855–1937) turned out to be very enterprising. He managed to sell the Winter Palace to an American. A swindler from the USSR was standing guard when a man approached him and said that he wanted to buy the Hermitage. Savin introduced himself as its owner and agreed on a price. He took the money from the American and disappeared.

A famous swindler of the 90s was Sergei Mavrodi (1955–2018). He is the founder of the MMM financial pyramid. Scam statistics show that between 10 and 15 million people have suffered at the hands of a fraudster. The swindler was detained in 2003. More than 10 thousand victims were involved in the case. The fraudster was sentenced to four years and six months in prison. However, he served his entire sentence in a colony during the trial.

Later, the famous Sergei Mavrodi launched another financial pyramid - MMM-2011. However, it soon failed. In 2014, the MMM-Global project was launched. The fraudster charmed investors from different countries. The Russian swindler died in 2022.

Among female swindlers, the most famous is Sophia Bluvshtein (1846–1902). In the criminal environment, her name was Sonya Golden Hand. The first major victim was her own husband. She cleaned out her husband and disappeared. Later, Sonya organized thefts in hotels and jewelry stores.

Recently, crimes related to cryptocurrency have been recorded. For example, Moscow swindlers are increasingly selling fake equipment for cryptocurrency mining - bitcoin mining.

Real estate scams

Apartment fraud is becoming more and more common. Statistics of scammers in Moscow alone annually record about 500 people injured at the hands of scammers.

Apartment scammers operate mainly in capital cities, where real estate prices are much higher.

How do scammers cheat? One of the most popular schemes is the registration of a deposit. They allegedly sell real estate at a low price. When the buyer agrees to the deal, the seller insists on providing an earnest money deposit. In case of cancellation of the transaction, the deposit is usually not returned. Over time, circumstances emerge that force the buyer to abandon the transaction.

Sometimes swindlers realtors want to sell an apartment that requires major repairs. They rent a nice apartment with a similar address. A potential buyer is shown one apartment, and the address of another is indicated in the contract. Often people do not read the contract and do not notice the inconsistencies.

From time to time, scammers work under the guise of a real real estate company. For example, in Chelyabinsk, scammers completed 42 transactions (2005–2010). In each case, their own way of taking over the apartment was invented.

Scammers also rent out rented apartments. Scammers rent housing for a short time and rent it out to other people for a long time. The purpose of the deception is to obtain an advance payment.