I'm too tight to pay the membership fees to dating sites. I always try to hide contact info in my profile and hope that someone will come find me

I'm starting to think that its almost a moral duty to f@k with the scammers. Its a really shitty thing to go looking for vulnerable people that just want a bit of love in their lives and then screw them over

OH, dear! I was hoping to find a place free of this b.s.

Nothing on here yet. Would figure lots of phony Christians would try to weasel in here in an attempt to spread their hateful dogma around like they've been ordered to do by The One True Gawd. But the mainstream dating sites are loaded with cam-girls chasing older guys...and I'm done with that shit. Right...they send a pic of some 25 year old stunner that is interested in this silver-haired dude? Interested in skimming a few clams from him that is. Not today, my sweets.

Truth be known its probably some Jabba The Hutt looking fuckstick phisherman at the keyboard out back in Uncle Jackwad's shed. Admin mostly did a good job of getting rid of them quickly, but the damage was done. They message...'flirt'...like...and post, so when you visit the site again you've got about 100 actions to perform to get shed of that garbage.

Not yet.

Not here, yet, anyway. Match.com was the worst. It's almost like there are 3 people writing all of those stupid profiles, some are so similar.

I haven't been on here very long, but it seems that the signup and star system they've incorporated tends to make it a little more difficult to easily game. It's pretty much a constant on most social sites, though... once they figure out the required setup pattern for a particular site, they can quickly script some automation to start hammering out tons of accounts and fishing for people that respond to them, using the same basic content and data that they use on all the other sites.

Every dating site has scammers/catfish/trolls. They are AMAZINGLY alike(my theory: secret asshole playbook). The English/grammar/syntax problems are a dead giveaway. Widowed, maybe a child, but always no living family. Often claim one foreign parent. Know little to nothing about life/pop culture/geography, etc in the US/where ever they claim to be from. In the Service, or oil business, or engineers/contractors. All want to move very fast; all want money or goods.
This is from only 2 years of online dating! I can now bust them in the first few sentences. I started telling them I was psychic, lol, and told THEM what their story was. Just to mess with their heads. Does that make me evil?!

I've had a couple of trolls who were on here to either sell a product, or try to convert me to whatever religion. Looking back, I guess the only signs were that they all pm'd me, and they asked me to explain my beliefs.

Not yet, but I don't pay much attention to anyone without credible photos and a few stars to their name. I've only been here a week, but I suspect that scammers aren't likely to put the investment of time and thoughtful writing into their content just to be reported and kicked-out. They can put-up several pages each night on other sites (and get kicked-off in a few days) because it's all copy & paste.

Only on dating sites and Instagram. Not on here. On facebook I'm only friends with people I know IRL.

I run into this a ton on Instagram. It's like every con artist sits over there. Here? Nothing so far. A few angry people who might need to start smoking weed.

I have not. Maybe there is something in my profile that reads “don’t bother with the bullshit.” Dunno.

There have been a couple on here I've had doubts about, but most of them became dormant very rapidly.

Funny, you kind of describing me... joined while visiting Maryland with Las Vegas as my base of operations... Brother in law died a couple weeks after joining the site maintaining me in Maryland so changed my location to Maryland/DC area while keep making trip to Jacksonville, FL and visiting Gainesville. Back in Severn. My phone number is Florida area code.... You Found Me Sherlock!!!! He, he, he, he, ha, ha!!! All my photos are hand drawings. Oh and english is my second language... and not interested in discussing church, religion or god.. he, he, ha, he, ha.

No exactly "fake" but one person with two profiles. I reported the situation.

A few, they don't last long, I have a feeling some come back with other names.

I did meet one person here who persistently tried to find ways to get money out of me. It was a younger person in another country claiming they needed out of their country asap and/or a way to secure work abroad and needed money to do so.

Initially I wasn't sure if it was a real cry for help or not, but since the person in contact with me was from a country in Asia where I have a TON of family AND family involved in educational programs and programs to help the poor and needy, I immediately contacted Aunties and Uncles and asked them if this was Real, were there programs this young person could take advantage of themselves.

From there, I contacted the person asking for money and provided contact information to my relatives that could Easily assist them with either 1) getting student aid to enroll in a nursing program as a way to earn a way Legally out of their country of origin 2) programs that could assist their family with assistance to secure training and work outside of their area of asia and into another.

It was a test, albeit those offerings WERE legit.

Instead of taking that information and contacting my family, the person tried to tell me they looked into a "Different" college program and that "That" program needed payment in three portions up front in amounts of $3100, $3100 and $2950. I asked then what the program was and stated any accredited school in their country of origin Worked WITH the very assistance program my Uncle is one of the head's of... in the Entire Country... my uncle is Literally the third person in charge and could EASILY pull Any String for a person I, his Neice, brought to him Personally.

No matter WHAT I said, this person constantly had reasons and excuses Why they could not go through a Legitimate program that could have provided them a nursing degree and the ability to apply to work abroad within 2 to 2.5 years and a Direct Connection to a person that could Easily make it a reality.

The program my uncle works with not only provides the financing IF the student meets the criteria, maintains a 2.5gpa (which is pretty damn easy to carry) and carries out all exams, but it also provides housing and a living stipend for all other expenses like transportation, food, books, etc. It pretty much provides your costs for your degree and then they assist the graduate in securing work abroad.

But nope. The person still continued to give reason after reason why they were unable to partake in the Legal Options I provided. I finally cut off all communication with the individual in question. My uncle continued to ask and ask about the person since i'd NEVER asked him for help for a person in his country nor from his program in particular, but I finally had to tell him I suspected it was a scam. Thats too bad because there are people out there in their country that would love to have a chance like the one I Tried to offer this person.

It ended as a waste of my time.

Although I Dont feel bad for Trying. I feel disappointed that they chose to try to deceive me.

Not knowingly

Nothing on here. Loads on Facebook. I'm stringing one along at the moment. To be fair, he hasn't nicked his pictures from places that are already linked on fake-scam.info, and he isn't pretending to be US Armed Forces or a UN peacekeeper.

My favourite bit so far: "My son name is Louis and his 15 years old My son attend Harrow School Independent school in London England Harrow School is an independent boarding school for boys in Harrow, London, England."

Not sure where he's copied and pasted that from.

Facebook fake giveaways:

1. Always use TinEye on the photos. It is your friend.
2. Check the name in the URL (easy on the web browser version, you have to copy the profile link and open it in a browser on the mobile app.) This often (but not always) reveals the name they opened the account with in the address bar (facebook.com/their.name.) If it's different to the one they're currently using, alarm bells should be ringing.
3. If they mention God (or going to church, or anything else that would indicate they're religious) early in the conversation, this is usually a give-away. It's a confidence trick. If you believe they're religious, you're less likely to believe they're out to rip you off.
4. If they ask for your life story ("I want to know as much about you as possible" ) or start offering 10 page essays about themselves, then they're almost certainly fake.
5. They are usually US Armed Forces, UN personnel, or constructon/oil workers currently posted abroad. Usually widowed, too. They frequently steal names and pictures of genuine US forces personnel, which causes all manner of trouble for the people whose pictures they've stolen. I'd had one who was using the identity of a well decorated general. I asked him how someone who was in charge of a significant portion of the US military found the time to chat with randoms on Facebook.

I'm not sure about Facebook, but on some chat services there are bots that literally always say the same thing. You can reply with 'q' to every message, and you'll still get the next part of the script. One always used to start by messaging you, and no matter how long it took you to reply, you'd get 'that was quick', and that they'd been working out at the gym. They always have a webcam. They always want you to view them doing rude things on it for free. But they always want your credit card details, purely to prove that you're over 18.