e-wok
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Joined: 9/25/2006
Msg: 26 | |
| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/20/2006 8:43:06 PM |
How many have you documented, have come back to air their regrets?
Curious how you can back this up with anything other than post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy?
I haven't been keeping notes, but you will find two returnees going back
to the testimonials expressing regrets. In one case her dream man ran
off with her sister and her dream man had a warrant out.
I admit, after second thought, it was a rash assessment I made. It can
happen anywhere. People should just chill and not rush is all I was
really trying to say. | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/20/2006 9:02:38 PM | Well, I think the thing to be learned from this is, no matter how long you've been getting to know someone, ...get a BACKGROUND CHECK.
"When you're dealing with millions of people, it's bound to happen," he said.
"It's like getting struck by lightning."
He said nothing like this has happened on the site before. | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/20/2006 9:05:05 PM | Woohoo!!!! Way to go!! 
I think signing up for a dating service, or staying active on one after killing someone, counts as one of those "stupid criminal tricks".  | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/20/2006 9:17:43 PM |
Well, I think the thing to be learned from this is, no matter how long you've been getting to know someone, ...get a BACKGROUND CHECK
Only the incompetent criminals have a criminal record. | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/20/2006 9:27:47 PM | Just goes to show you that a "dating site" is not as anonymous as you may think or want it to be.
Those of us who really do not do harmful things to others have nothing to hide. But it's always better to know for sure.
The background check is not a bad idea, but I can well imagine that some would be offended by it regardless.
Good job on Markus ... A dating site willingly helping to catch a "bad" guy. We should all be quite grateful that he cares about our safety like that.
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/21/2006 3:08:43 AM |
Kudos to the Big Fish, and kudos to the person that originally called in.
ABC's need to be applied to meeting anyone that you don't really know. For both sexes. | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/21/2006 3:24:46 AM | From the Aussies that dwell from the land down under, or "the sunburnt country".. or "Greate Southern Land"
bottoms up lads!!!!
Cheers big ears!! | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/21/2006 7:19:58 AM | Way to go Markus!!! I don't drink beer but I would certainly offer YOU one for turning this creep into the authorities! 
Sans | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/21/2006 7:53:32 AM | Looks like someone's got a date...with justice.
Sad part ?
If he starts getting more mail once IN prison, from female admirers. 
"Meet ya for that coffee in about....twenty five years, hun... "  | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/21/2006 8:17:23 AM | This is a great reminder to throw caution to the wind when we meet anyone, anywhere, online or offline.
Great to know that POF is featured in a major story and caught someone who was wanted. I see a book and movie deal happening soon.  | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/21/2006 3:55:14 PM | Here is how it appeared on the website for The Globe and Mail, one of Canada's national newspapers...
Dating site catches killer
Mathew Ingram, 20/11/06 at 1:34 PM EST
Vancouver resident Markus Frind is a bit of a 21st-century superhero. After all, he helped to catch a suspected murderer who was featured on the TV show America's Most Wanted. But instead of using superhuman strength or the ability to see through solid metal, Markus used his abilities as a programmer and Webmaster who runs one of the world's most popular dating websites, called Plenty of Fish.
According to news reports, Mr. Frind got an e-mail on Saturday night from the U.S. Marshal Service, saying someone had seen a picture of the suspected killer, 26-year-old Calvin Bennett, on the dating website. Bennett had a warrant out for his arrest in the murder of an elderly couple in Nashville on October 30. Pierce Odell and his wife Mary were shot in the head and their bodies dragged into the woods after being robbed (more details on the America's Most Wanted site here).
Provided with the user name that Bennett used on his site, Mr. Frind went through his logs and found several conversations the suspected murderer had had with women online, and eventually determined that he was staying with one of those women in Wisconsin (since messages from both Bennett and the woman came from the same IP address). Armed with this information, the U.S. Marshals Service was able to track down and arrest the man on Sunday. Parked outside the house was a truck matching the description of the one belonging to the elderly couple from Nashville.
"There are millions of people who use the site and I feel like I am responsible for them," said Mr. Frind in an e-mail interview. "It felt really good to capture him. Unlike the other dating sites, who I'm told take days to get ahold of, I was able to do this all within 10 minutes on a Saturday. But all in all it feels surreal -- this is what you hear about in the movies but you never actually expect to happen."
Although it is one of the most popular dating sites on the Internet, with more than a million users a day and advertising revenue estimated at almost $1-million a month, Mr. Frind runs the entire website himself on three computers. And nabbing a suspected killer isn't his only claim to fame: A research paper on high-level mathematics that Mr. Frind co-authored was recently used as supporting research for another academic paper that helped to win its author the Fields Medal, also known as the Nobel Prize for math. | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/21/2006 4:23:49 PM |
And nabbing a suspected killer isn't his only claim to fame: A research paper on high-level mathematics that Mr. Frind co-authored was recently used as supporting research for another academic paper that helped to win its author the Fields Medal, also known as the Nobel Prize for math.
Wow, check out the big brain on Marcus....
Thanks for looking out for us! This sounds stupid, but what exactly is involved in a background check? | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/21/2006 5:49:02 PM |
This sounds stupid, but what exactly is involved in a background check?
It depends on where you live.
I once tracked down a mountain of info just from a troll's email address.
Including his SS#, every address he'd lived at for 25 years, everyone else who lived there, phone #s, Job records, Police records, Traffic fines, Vehicles registered, Countries travelled to.
With the right resources, you can find out anything you want.
In Canada you can get a records check from the police for $5 or $10, I forget which, I had to get one for a job a few years ago, piece o' cake.
Wow, check out the big brain on Marcus....
Cited in the Fields Medal/Nobel prize in math
Several years ago I came up with a algorithm that was thousands of times faster then anything else known at finding long chains of primes in sequences. primes.plentyoffish.com contains the original post I made when we found the first 23 primes in succession. I created the application, and then recruited Paul Jobling and Paul Underwood to provide computers to aid in finding the record.
In 2004 Terry Tao solved one of the hardest problems in Math and cited our record http://arxiv.org/pdf/math.NT/0404188
Here is more details on why he won the Fields Medal which is considered the Nobel Prize of Math, there is a typo there as it should say the record is 23 primes in progression. Paul Jobling emailed Terry Tao to confirm.
http://www.physorg.com/news75479793.html
Earlier this year I refined the program and found several more chains of 23 primes. I am amazed I managed to create this program in the first place, I barely barely even understand how it works and I wrote it. This is because the program scans in multiple dimensions is very hard to conceptualize. At any rate I think its cool that my record is cited in the Fields Medals press release.
-M. Frind | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/21/2006 5:56:37 PM | Big Brain, you betcha.
A milloin dollars a month worth! 
That is incredible and the ads are so subtle that it hardly offends.
It was the thing I noticed about this site I found most appealing.
Good on ya Braniac! | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/21/2006 9:05:24 PM | | Go Big Fish! That is awesome! Thanks for keeping us safe! | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/21/2006 10:20:18 PM | | Terry Tao is ultra-cool. Interesting articles on the math work. | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/21/2006 10:42:03 PM | Well I have to join in here and congratulate BigFish aka BigBrain.
There should be nothing outstanding about doing the right thing, but Plenty of Fish is outstanding, its creator is outstanding, as all of the moderators are. Some pretty damned good Fishies too. When you have quality, as PoF does, it surfaces in a big way.
You dont always need an arrest warrant to figure out something isnt quite right. Look for inconsistencies, phoniness, pushy people, and trust your gut instinct even when all else points to a rosy picture. I learned this lesson earlier this evening when someone on my friends list apparenlty showed his profile as completely plagarising anothers. Sometimes its even the "small" stuff you need to sweat, if something just doesnt ring true.
Cheers to Markus and cheers to the woman who notified the marshalls.
Beer, too!!! | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/21/2006 11:03:41 PM | Cheers to Markus and cheers to the woman who notified the marshalls.
We don't know if it was a woman, but it was a POF member, and the site owner, without their efforts, ....no bust.
Also note:
Every profile has a Report User link (don't abuse this or it could be you deleted)
Every message window has the statement:
Plentyoffish.com is not responsible for the contents of these messages.
If a user requests money on this site it's a scam, and you should report it here along with any other type of scam/spam.
Every Reply window has the statement:
DO NOT SEND PEOPLE MONEY!
Mods and Admin's accounts are listed here for more urgent matters, and questions, violation reports, complaints.
And there is always common sense.
It took 10 minutes for Markus to track the guy, because he was TOLD about him. | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/22/2006 2:12:39 AM |
advertising revenue estimated at almost $1-million a month
Hmmm... what ads? Haven't noticed them!!
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If POF has full rights to all correspondence here, does that mean other online entities, like email providers have rights to all email correspondence too? That'd be cool.
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Regarding the POF sleuthing, how did they translate an IP address into a real address?
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Late said
In Canada you can get a records check from the police for $5 or $10, I forget which, I had to get one for a job a few years ago, piece o' cake.
I think you can only get a criminal record check with someone's consent. When I applied for jobs, I had to sign a form allowing my information to be given to my employer, and pay about $50 [I think exact cost depends on the city you are in] | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/22/2006 6:09:44 AM |
I think you can only get a criminal record check with someone's consent. When I applied for jobs, I had to sign a form allowing my information to be given to my employer, and pay about $50 [I think exact cost depends on the city you are in]
That may be true from some law enforcement agencies, not sure, but in general, you can get a criminal record check on anyone you want online. You can either pay for them individually or if you belong to some research groups or geneology sites, you pay a small price for a year, and you can look up anything on anyone. | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/22/2006 6:23:35 AM |
It took 10 minutes for Markus to track the guy, because he was TOLD about him.
Yes, but also, I think, because Markus is obviously fast and competent, with plenty of common sense, with at least one very alert fishie.  | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/22/2006 11:05:03 AM | I have only one question only: Why am I still single when theres freak shows like that roving around picking up women left, right, and center?!?!?!? LOL
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/22/2006 12:12:33 PM | Kudos!!!! Its about time that an admin of a dating site really dug down deeper to find out a little more and try to be more pro-active in stopping criminals using dating sites!
Using a basic IP trace is one of the best things an admin can do. Does the IP line up with the country or city and state of the member when signing up? If it doesnt .. suspend it pending review.
A while ago a member of another site (wont name it) was a convicted sex offender and the site claimed that it did background checks on all its members but this one slipped through the cracks...
Congratulations POF!!!!! | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/22/2006 1:03:28 PM | Yesterday when I first picked up the sun my eyes caught the words "plenty of fish". When I read the article I thought it was an amazing story. A few minutes work and a creep wanted for 2 murders is caught. As he was caught with the truck he stole from the people he killed I would bet he was planning on stealing another. possibly kill to get it too. The woman he was staying with might have been his next victim. Way to go Markus for looking out for the people on the site.
I think the capturing of this criminal and the help provided by Markus will probably attract more members and make the pond safer. It is a good warning about being sure who it is you are really meeting. It also is a warning to criminals like this because they might get caught the same way. Hope it keeps them out!
Here's to Markus!  | |
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| PoF to the rescue
Posted: 11/22/2006 4:55:51 PM | Thanks late..
The point I was trying to make is this.....would the information that there was a warrant out for his arrest for murder be available to the general public? Is there truly any way that woman could have known what she was getting into?
The magazines and television are full of stories about women and men who courted, married and then were killed for their insurance money....some of them had been married for several years......remember that guy from England that killed both his wife and baby?
Criminals are slick, and sometimes very friendly and charming. They don't wear signs, and some don't look at all obvious....some of them have no conscience, so the normal signs of lying that we all pick up on are not going to be there. If someone really wants to do you wrong and they plan it well, you're probably not going to find out..... | |
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