In the modern world, people want everything to happen really fast, no matter if it is taking the route to their work, or looking for the perfect partner. To help those people out, looking for the perfect match there are hundreds of dating apps. With those, you can get a basic idea about the other person and in a swipe of your finger talk with them.
But every profile you will see on these kinds of apps are not real. The report suggested that 1 in every 10 profile is a fake profile and more than 60% of online dating profile are either fake or inactive. Many people use these dating platforms to exploit real users, for example, by blackmailing them. All total this type of fraud scams people for more than 50 million dollars per year.
Fortunately, there are many ways to spot them. So in this article, we will go over the basic ideas of how to spot a fake dating profile and how you can stay safe from all kind of scams and fraud.
1. Looks Like the Perfect Match
There will be instances when you will see profiles with professionally taken pictures, without any flaws and with a flashy about section. Most of the time they are not real. The profiles are made this way so they can get the most attention, and can scam as many people as possible. Always cross check their persona.
2. Unverified Profile
Most dating apps also knows the situation, so they create some kind of verification process. If a profile is not verified and looks overwhelming, as we talked about in the previous point, keep distance from them. Even if you talk, try to get any other images of themselves, so you can be sure. Some people do not understand the process of verification, or just do not want to take the extra step, but you always should.
3. Limited Images
Most fake profiles are made of images of a real person, but as it takes time to look around in someone else’s profile and download good images and set those in the dating app, you will see fewer images on the fake accounts. Also, if you see most of the images of a profile is somehow hiding their whole face, that can be another way to spot shady profiles. This happens because the account creator used images of multiple people, so they hide the face.
4. Missing Information like Social Media
All of the dating applications comes with social media integration. They also provide an option to log in from them. If you go through a beautifully crafted profile but could not find any social media links, most probably it is a sign to stay away. Even if you see there is an account linked, like Instagram, take an extra step and check if that profile is updated somewhat regularly or the last updated images from a decade ago.
5. Too Much Affection at Start
As you match with a profile, you might find the messages too flirty. Or maybe they will send more images of them. Most of these images will be taken from pornographic websites or stock image sites. If the chat continues they might ask for payment for more images. In that case, the message is straight forward and you should just ignore them.
6. Robotic Texts
When someone runs a big business of frauding people via online dating apps few people cannot reply to thousands of victims. In that case, they will use automated messages. A bot cannot replicate human behaviour completely, at least not as of now. Ai is good for formal talks, so if you encounter replies which are out of contexts, or too humourless, these can be fishing accounts. Also, a pro tip, if the person is real and still humourless, you might want to ignore it anyway!
7. Personal Information Request
Asking about you and your family is a normal thing to do while talking to a new person. But many times you might encounter questions like what is your Social Security Number, Bank account details, or Credit card details. Obviously, someone will not need this information before getting pretty close for sure. So if you get pushed for these kinds of personal information, stay away.
Wrapping Up
So these are the best ways to stay safe and to spot shady dating profiles. If you are still not sure, fortunately, there are other ways too. For example, Chekkee is one of the resources which will come in handy in this situation. It comes with features like authentication, monitor catfishing attempts and upholding chat guidelines.
