All dating sites have fake profiles and the primary reason they exist is to extract money from you. Before going any further, fake profiles are run by gangs of men who are simply criminals. Never for one second think they are attractive, innocent women. Generally, fake profiles are targeted towards men but women should also be on their guard for fake men.

We try to educate our members about fakes, we try to keep you as safe as we possibly can. All sites have fake members, but not all sites tell you about it!

A real life example

This profile is from d8mate.com, first let’s look at the profile, then we will look at how to spot it’s a fake

Never tell your problems to anyone…don`t care and the others are glad you have them.

Well, my name is Kimberly and I`m 27 from NC  . I`m  a few extra pounds (but I do go to the gym) with brown hair and eyes. I`m currently in the mortgage division of a top 5 bank and I have my own car and place (i don`t know if that makes a difference or not). In my free time, I like to cook, travel, read, watch tv, movies, museums, play softball, work out, bowling, and try new activities too. As you have seen from my profile I have my photos there and the reason that I joined this site is because I`m a point in my life where I`m ready to settle down with someone and eventually have a family later on down the road. My friends say that I`m a very loyal and trustworthy person and that I`m a rare kind of lady.LOL

Messages sent to other members 

I found myself looking at your profile. So I felt creative. Now, Just seeking a friend & later on I will inventory my feelings if the friendship grows. send me a mail kimberlykopack at yahoo

Why is this a fake profile?

She is describing herself with very bad English and her eyes don’t look brown to me.

This girl is telling you that she has a powerful job, a house and a car and then makes a comment about if this is important or not. This type of comment usually comes from a man, girls are just not going to say things like that.

Next is a list of hobbies, and what a list! Museums! Do you really think a 27 year old from New York likes museums?

The profile’s use of English is also poor, however, this can be common so don’t think someone is a fake for their grammar. But if their grammar is poor and they have other fake traits then be on your guard.

The next stage of the profile tells you that she’s looking for a relationship to settle down and  have a family in the future. If you went on a date and a girl told you this what would you do? No girl is ever going to say this stuff. Even if they do want to settle down they will want to know you before saying so. It would be like meeting for a first date and her saying, “I love you!”.

The final comment is about trust, fakers often add that. The reality is you cannot trust this profile as it was written by a man who really needs to be locked up in prison.

Hopefully you now have enough information to spot a scammer?

When a scammer sends you a message

Now let’s pull apart the messages this scammer sends to other members.

I found myself looking at your profile

What a rubbish opening line, it should read. “I saw your profile and I thought I could scam you out of some huge piles of money”.

So I felt creative

What does that mean? This shows this profile is written by someone with very poor English.

Now, Just seeking a friend & later on I will inventory my feelings if the friendship grows.

WHAT! Inventory my feelings! Again this English makes no sense. This phrase sounds like something from past history and this should give you a clue about it’s origin. This is the type of English you expect to see from former British Colonies which were part of the British Empire. So expect someone from Africa to have written this, remember this profile is saying she is from New York, USA.

send me a mail kimberlykopack at yahoo

This line should make you hit the report button right away, no delays! Why? No girl is ever going to give her email address away to a stranger. This is a message that was sent to a male member directly, it was not a reply to a message. Also they are trying to hide the email address as they expect our software to look for @ symbols and .com / .co.uk.

The picture will be stolen

Scammers take pictures from other dating sites to build their profiles. If you really want to test another member before meeting then you should:

• Set up a webcam meeting as this is impossible to fake
• Ask for a picture holding a piece of paper with YOUR profile name shown on it

Never use email to talk to a stranger

Always send messages via the dating site, do not move away to email until you are 100% sure the person you are talking to is genuine. The longer you stay within the site the safer you are. Fakes are worried about being spotted and removed so they want to move you to email right away. If everyone insisted on using the sites message system then fakes would be found even quicker and when a person you have been chatting to disapears (account deleted) you know you have just had a lucky escape.

Use the report button

If you see a fake / scammer then use the report button, this will alert us and we can delete their account and all related messages. The more fakes that are deleted the more our software can detect future fakes automatically, so please help us win the fight.