| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/24/2008 8:06:34 PM | Recently I got an email on my Yahoo inbox "from a woman who had seen my on PoF". "She" said she was using a friend's computer, and gave her phone number (8 digits, gee, I guess she "forgot" some) and said she was on another site (friends 2 make . com) and I could look at her profile there. Of course, the profile was of a very attractive woman. Of course, I tried to contact her, but the site wanted $25 for a month's membership.
Then, I started looking more closely, and thinking more clearly. If she were for real, why couldn't I just reply to the email? (I got an autoreply saying she had closed the mailbox.) Why did she give her location on her profile as "new in town"? Why didn't she simply create a PoF profile, if she wanted to meet people? Why was she giving out her "phone number" to people she'd never contacted before? She said she had moved to my city recently, but with that profile, she could have worked this scam on people anywhere.
Is this a common thing? Of course I knew there are scammers out there-I get an email from Nigeria every year or so-but this was new to me. Obviously, I didn't give out my credit card number; would they have charged me more than the $25? | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/24/2008 8:25:02 PM | | anytime somebody is emailing you from a "friend's" computer, referring you to another site or anything involving a bait and switch tactic, its most certainly a scam. you really just have to sit back for a second after receiving anything that should automatically get filed under "too good to be true", and ask yourself if you're really special enough to receive any sort of abnormal treatment. whether its a beautiful woman who just *had* to contact you, or a south african who is in desperate need of a money transfer to save his dying father. do these scams present themselves often? of course. they may send out a thousand emails, but all they need is one to respond for it to be worthwhile. would that site have charged you more than 25 dollars? i doubt it. but in a month, when you check your credit report, and you somehow owe 10,000 dollars to a foreign credit service... | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/24/2008 8:27:00 PM | | The pay for play online dating sites are getting desperate. Their revenues are falling and they are resorting to all kinds of things to get people to join their sites. If you get a message out of the blue just be skeptical, but you knew that. Not only are they losing revenues but they are getting sued for shady practices, such as emailing people when their time has just about expired. Ignore them. | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/24/2008 9:34:17 PM | I work in an industry that deals with fraud/scams 24/7. One thing I've come to realise is scammers that have targeted you with *specific* details either about yourself, your personal life &/or something of a personal nature, *usually* obtain/find your email address from the internet somewhere. Either because you have posted it somewhere, used as a point of contact on dodgie site(s) or site(s) that don't hide contact details (such as emails), given it to someone/website that is untrustworthy, or you've been a victim of a trojan/virus/worm/hacker. All of which I have to say; be more careful with how & who you disclose personal information to, of any kind.
Personally, I have a few different (yet similar) email addresses. One of which I have never had any problems with because it's never been used or disclosed anywhere on the internet. The ones that I have had problems with, are the ones that I have used &/or disclosed on public forums n the like.
As they say, there's a sucker born every minute. And plenty of people out there ready to take advantage of them without hesitation. | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/24/2008 10:29:34 PM | | I got a email like that when my subscription was just about up at yahoo personals and like a idiot I fell for it | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/25/2008 8:32:34 AM |
The pay for play online dating sites are getting desperate. Their revenues are falling and they are resorting to all kinds of things to get people to join their sites.
I seriously doubt that statement.
If you look any of the pay sites, you usually see many more people than you will on the free sites.
If anything, as MORE people go online the premier dating sites (and we all know who they are) will get even more subscribers and they will buy their weaker competitors.
But back to Internet scams.....if you aren't skeptical of MOST things you read about online...then you are setting yourself up to be scammed.
It it doesn't sound "right" or it sounds to good to be true......it's almost certainly a scam. | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/25/2008 8:32:46 AM |
The pay for play online dating sites are getting desperate. Their revenues are falling and they are resorting to all kinds of things to get people to join their sites.
I seriously doubt that statement.
If you look any of the pay sites, you usually see many more people than you will on the free sites.
If anything, as MORE people go online the premier dating sites (and we all know who they are) will get even more subscribers and they will buy their weaker competitors.
But back to Internet scams.....if you aren't skeptical of MOST things you read about online...then you are setting yourself up to be scammed.
It it doesn't sound "right" or it sounds to good to be true......it's almost certainly a scam. | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/25/2008 12:57:24 PM | If it doesn't sound "right" or it sounds to good to be true......it's almost certainly a scam.
That's very true. Interestingly, one of the things that tipped me off was this woman's profile: It was written in almost perfect English! I've read enough profiles to realize that real people don't do that. They make little (or big) mistakes in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Plus it was too generic for a real person to have written. | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/25/2008 2:09:20 PM | cocytus;
You doubt it? Really? Why? Google dating site law suits. In one sense you
are right though, as more single people come online they will, inevitably
be swayed( by online ads) to join a paid dating site. But like many of us (me
included) they will become disenchanted and veer to a free site. Like POF.
I could be wrong though, wouldn't be a first. | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/25/2008 2:49:37 PM | Hopefully you went to the bottom of "her" profile and clicked "report XXX" so others won't have to waste their time. 50-50 chance it is even a female...lol
Ya have to laugh when you get an email from someone 25-30 years younger wanting to "chat"...I got a bunch of them from MySpace wanting to be "friends" and inevitably they directed you to some sort of "pay by the minute" cam website. Well, I suppose they should get credit for "effort". I've reported a few on this site too....
DJ | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/26/2008 8:50:32 AM | | I had something like that once. Only it was from my ad on Webdate. She says she wants my e-mail address. So I give it to her. Then she tells me I should join this other site (Sea of Love) so we could chat. I checked it out, a pay site and I didn't like it either. But I got back to her and said I gave her my e-mail address, so why do we need to chat on another site? I told her I wasn't going to join it and asked her if she got a commision from them if she got people to join. That was the end of that. | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/26/2008 9:05:20 AM | Very good reasons not to give out your email addresses to people you do not know! I am always skeptical when somebody asks for my addy in the first couple of emails back and forth. The same holds true for my phone number.
I err on the side of paranoid when it comes to this kind of thing. I have accounts here, on MSN, Yahoo, and a couple of other sites, most of which I have never used since joining POF two years ago. My username is completely different on each one. My email addresses are not even remotely similar to each other and I use different passwords...You know if I give you any of these addresses, a level of trust has already been built. | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/26/2008 11:16:30 AM | I was using a friend's computer and the phone number was valid, my computer key just sticks on the numbers (I spilled Rum and Coke on the keyboard once or twice).
I am glad you saw my profile on the other site. I am serious about dating and find that the fellas on POF just wanna jump me.
Don't hate me because I am beautiful....ah, sure, go ahead and hate me.
I did have to close my Yahoo email account due to a virus on my computer. I hate it when that happens.
^^BG^^ | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/26/2008 11:39:14 AM | | I strongly suggest those of you with a sense of humor, creative writing skills and an urge to mess with scammers Google "scammer baiting".....there are a couple of fun forums out there who'll show you how to mess with eastern European/west African scammers for fun and "profit" (in the form of 'trophies'). LOL | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/26/2008 12:04:14 PM | Recently I got an email on my Yahoo inbox "from a woman who had seen my on PoF". "She" said she was using a friend's computer, and gave her phone number (8 digits, gee, I guess she "forgot" some) and said she was on another site (friends 2 make . com) and I could look at her profile there. Of course, the profile was of a very attractive woman. Of course, I tried to contact her, but the site wanted $25 for a month's membership.
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/26/2008 12:09:22 PM | they just collect usernames from plentyoffish
Then spam
username@yahoo.com
username@hotmail.com | |
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| Internet Scam using this site
Posted: 2/26/2008 12:23:47 PM | | I think the 'paranoid' approach that I have works. I can't say that I have ever had a spammer contact me referring to this site or any of the other ones. | |
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