Fraud and Scam Warning from Meetville
Most dating sites are full of scammers and these sites aren’t doing anything to stop them. After all, they look good, they have nice model photos and profiles and attract more members.
Meetville is different and makes great efforts to get rid of scammers. Many suspicious profiles are deleted every day. Unfortunately, some scammers are really good at what they do and manage to slip under our radars. You can help us get rid of scammers by reporting suspicious profiles to us, so we can remove them.
A scammer needs money for transportation expenses to meet you
You may exchange many emails and talk on the phone for days or much longer before deciding to meet. At this point, scammers may request money to cover transportation expenses such as bus fares, gas, airplane tickets, and so on. After you send the money they requested, you will never hear from them again or they will tell you ongoing excuses to delay the trip and request even more money.
A scammer has a trouble story and needs your help
Scammers may tell you that they are sick, or have a sick child, or one of their parents, and needs your help. They may also be stuck in a country, usually Nigeria or Russia, be arrested and needing to pay a lawyer to get out of the country, or may say they can't get back home because of owing money to somebody. They may say their credit card, money, or ID was stolen as well. Whatever the story may be, they are good at trying to make you feel sorry for them. You may feel bad and obliged to send money and help them. After all, you are led to believe that this can be your future spouse; however, this is a scam!
A scammer says he/she is starting a charity and needs donations
Think about it. Why would real charity organizations use dating sites to get donations? This is definitely a scam.
A scammer offers you money
Scammers may plan to visit your country or city. They may send you counterfeit cashier checks in advance and “trust” you with cashing them. They may ask you to buy something for them and send it, or just have the money ready for when they come. Then they cancel the trip, and ask you to send the money back. Not only will you lose the money you end up sending back to them, but you can also be found guilty for cashing false checks.
Also, watch out for scammers offering you money as loans in large amounts of cashier checks. They may try to threaten you if you are not able to pay it back immediately.
Also, watch out for scammers offering you money as loans in large amounts of cashier checks. They may try to threaten you if you are not able to pay it back immediately.
A scammer is really pushy for your contact and personal information
Scammers sometimes may be pushy for your e-mail address to add and sell it to a worldwide database for all sorts of purposes. They may ask you to give them your email address so that they can send you a photo. Just remember, if they can send you a photo via email, they can easily upload it to our website for free. Also, do not send such people any photos via email no matter how much they push for it. You may not get any reply back from them, since they already have what they wanted from you: your email address.
Warning Signs to look out for
Scammers use photos from modeling sites and magazines.
Scammers often ask right away for your email address or they give you theirs right away. They want to communicate off the website as soon as possible.
Scammers tend to make hard, “feel-sorry-for” stories and ask for help or money, or even get you to offer them money or help.
Scammers will offer you money. They will do this in order to gain your trust and send counterfeit checks, and this will get you in trouble with the banks.
Scammers may say they are from your country, but have lost their ID’s, have been arrested or injured while working in a foreign country. Then they will ask you to lend them money to get back home.
Scammers are mostly from Africa, especially Nigeria. There are large companies, where people get paid for sitting and sending spam letters all day to hard-working, innocent people. This is a huge business in Africa! African countries are not within the membership area of Meetville, but sometimes they might slip through registration. Report them immediately!
There are many members, who enter large numbers of fake profile photos of super-models, and women, who are drop-dead gorgeous. They use these profiles to lure men into falling in love and sending thousands of dollars to help them with medical, personal, or family problems, or even to pay for travel and visa fees to visit them. The photos are fake, and the girls are not real, well, even though they are real, they are not who you think they are, and you will never meet them. Remember to report them immediately!
Scammers often write or speak very broken English and use automated translators, making their profiles and language usage strange. Some examples: “ I rather nice girl. Have me to brown eyes, light hair. my size is 165 centimeters…. I like having wallpaper good for me of house. Of course I am work seriously. I like options. I sometimes be impatient, gender and happy. I see your technique at this site like and find it good”“i am god fearing man and like to find a woman that makes me really go crazy. and I want her to be with me asap”.
Scammers often don't speak English at all and may not even know what to say. Sometimes they put the text they use to mass e-mail people as their profile description: “My name is John Williams, am 50 years, single and am from england. I saw your profile here and loved to be friends for very long time and get to know you. I am operator and also father with a grown son. am searching for a real relationship and i cant resist getting to know you more and better. i want to meet you in person and talk more, we can talk more on yahoo ID. If you have, add me ……so we talk and get to know eachother more….i wait for you reply offline. my son say “daddy, you need someone after being alone all these years”…please talk to me, I wait for your reply. Love, John”.
Scammers may also copy some other users' profiles, so they sound more realistic. They also use fake photos of models, or the photos of the people who sent them photos in the past.
Scammers often write very flattering emails full of flirts and compliments to members completely out of their age range, especially to those, who stated that they are widows or really lonely.
Scammers try to build trust upfront by giving you a lot of their personal information to make you comfortable in sharing yours. They also make up false first and last names in their profiles. Common names are like “John Williams”, “Greg Smith”, and so on. If it sounds like a fake name, chances are it probably is! Another example of a scam email is someone from Nigeria writing: “Hello dear. I am Kenneth Cole from sunny Phoenix, Arizona. I am actually from Singapore. I am graduate from Anglia Technical University in Essex UK and also a diploma holder from Arizona State College in graphic designing. I am handsome, Nice, Funny, and like Swimming, Sports, and Traveling.”
Scammers want you to get off the website to communicate offline as soon as possible. The reason may be that they cannot accept responses through the dating site, or are afraid that their messages may be monitored.
Scammers may send you very poetic emails, beautiful words, and very flattering compliments. They may also be seductive, use pet names, and frequently use “dear”. Their emails often sound general, so that they can mass email them to many people.
Scammers may invite you to another website, or even to a porn or webcam website. Think about it, why would they be on one site and ask to go to another? These sites are set up to gather your personal info, such as credit card information and email address, and can also harm your computer by sending viruses and spyware.
Romance scams
A romance scam occurs, when someone you have just found pretends to show affection and romantic intentions. Once trust is gained, the scammer will take advantage of the victim and gain access to the victim’s money, credit cards, passport, bank accounts, email accounts, and other information to commit fraud.
The most scammers come from, but are not limited to, Lagos and Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast or Cote d’Ivoire. These countries are blocked from the membership area of Meetville. This type of scam is very common on online dating sites, so be aware, and be smart.
The most scammers come from, but are not limited to, Lagos and Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast or Cote d’Ivoire. These countries are blocked from the membership area of Meetville. This type of scam is very common on online dating sites, so be aware, and be smart.
What should you do when you find a scammer?
Report the scammer immediately! You should avoid this type of people, don’t waste any time on them. Help us be scammer-free, and report any scam members you find.
Have fun, take care, and be aware!
Have fun, take care, and be aware!
