The Dating Scam - How to Avoid it

You may have heard about all the lonely women who have lost their belongings and hearts to unsrupulous online scammers. It's been all over the news. Some of these women have lost almost everything to these loathesome cowards. It seems a large number are based in Nigeria.

Online dating scams have always been around. While there are desperately lonely people there are always going to be unscrupulous operators targeting them. However, the Nigerian scam has one major difference. These guys are getting these unsuspecting women to hand over life savings, mortgage their homes, and take out loans. Some of the more impressive operators are cleaning these women out in a matter of weeks after meeting them online.

You might think it's absurd to hand over your mortgage to a perfect stranger, but people do it. So, how to know if you are about to lose your home? Any new love who starts sad stories about dying mothers, needing cash for immigration lawyers or visas, or wanting the cash for the plane fare to meet with you should be treated with extreme caution.

There are plenty of ways to stall any monetary commitment - state your sympathy with his current position and announce your terribly poor cash-flow position. Make something up. You have lost your job, you need root canal, your cat needs chemo, you have a tax bill, whatever. Tell them you have a bad credit rating, anything. If the emails abruptly stop, you know you have just gotten rid of a financial parasite who was only going to empty out your bank account.

Don't make yourself a target for these online scammers. At the poutset of a new relationship, say little in the way of your assets or financial position. There is no need for a potential new love to know whether or not you own your own home. Don't be too specific about vacation destinations. The fact that you have household help, your children are in boarding school, and your ex-husband is filthy rich, are all details that others do not need to know right away. These sorts of little clues immediately tell someone else that you may have plenty of dollars to throw in their direction. Use some discretion. Do you want someone to love you for you or your bank account?

Anyone wanting a plane fare to meet you should be approached with a subtle, "how about I come and meet you?". A real potential partner will be OK with this but a cowardly scammer will be very unhappy.

Someone announcing their love for you in the time that it takes to clean your teeth, should be viewed suspiciously. Do not allow your heart to rule your finances. Would you give your money to a stranger? Would you take out a bank loan for a guy you have just met in a bar?

If you think you want to proceed with what might be a scam, make sure you're comfortable in perhaps losing any money you send. How much money can you really afford to wave good bye to? How much of a loan can you really afford to repay? This is the amount you should be sending to your new love in Nigeria. At least then you will only be heart broken and not dead broke as well.

Article Source: http://myarticlezine.com

Renowned for his in-depth knowledge on the subject of dating and relationships, Bill Baker has supplied more information here for you to read on internet dating scams.

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