@SACatWalker if someone is going to scam you they will do it in a way that is at least on the surface somewhat authentic. The only way to find out is to talk write analyses and if all looks good leap with caution. I would hope most scammers will tell you who they are if you listen. Remember I could be wrong.

All my scammer approaches are (or claim to be) 22-30 and looking for men, age 50-100, with income over $100K a year. And if I don't respond within about 30 minutes, the profile has disappeared.

I'm sure men approaching women take a different tack than the women approaching men, but their main goal is to have you email so they get a hook into your personal information from which they can work on getting more. Once they have that they can sell it, too. I know I'm not telling you anything you don't know.

Well the other thing is I'm far less suspicious if the person mentions local spots of interest, restaurants, bars, etc.... so that I know they are actually from the area.

@Paul4747 When I had an AFF site I used to get those. You could always tell the frauds (beyond no 25 y/o wants my wrinkly old self) but the English was wrong. You could read them in a Natasha accent and they were funny. Many were just fishing for valid email addresses to sell.

@Paul4747 from a woman's perspective.... I think they assume you're we're lonely and desperate and within 48 hours they're professing deep feelings for someone they've never met. My first encounter of the type was with a guy who said he was going to Africa on business... some massive construction project he was running... and he wanted to stop in Chicago and meet me on his way back. He said he hoped his email came to me as a "piece of golden tone" whatever the hell that means . I was never really interested, but now I was already pretty sure he wasn't for real.

Anyway, he sent me photos from allegedly from Africa and pretty soon I got this email whining about financial issues and "Darling could you send me $5,000 immediately and I promise I'll pay you back as soon as I get to Chicago". Buh bye!

Another guy said he lived in McHenry county, not far from me. When I pressed him for exactly where in McHenry County, he sent me a Wikipedia entry about McHenry County, California. I'm in Illinois.

But it is sad how many people fall for it. Then there's the one where they say they inherited a huge sum of money and need the help of a total stranger to get it out of whatever country they're supposedly in. All you have to do is send them some money in good faith and they'll split the inheritance with you.

@TheoryNumber3 In a man's case, we're assumed to be more horny than lonely. Which, to be fair, in my case is totally true. But it doesn't mean that the blood immediately pumps away from my brain at the sight of a nice body whose alleged owner says she wants me to contact her and hook up right away.

I've been lucky enough not to get the "foreign inheritance" scam, but I do keep getting very authentic-looking emails telling me that my credit card information has been compromised and I need to confirm my information through their link. Luckily they chose a card that has been inactive for years to try to scam me with, so it was a dead giveaway. Otherwise their emails look quite authentic. That is, until you hover on the links and see that they all go to the same address no matter where they supposedly lead. Plus odd phrases and things that just... don't quite seem right. And once they got my address the emails kept pouring in.

I'm not talking about this site per se, which I should have made clear... and I apologize. I'm talking about the "expressly designed for dating" dating sites. Naming no names cougheHarmonycough

@Paul4747 well, I’d assume it’s a good way to let people know they’ve got offspring they may be responsible for, in that case.