Online Dating Advice

Please don’t get me wrong. I love Craigslist.

But I could certainly do without all the scammers there. Especially the Internet dating scams – and everything you imagine when you think about a Craigslist Scam and everything that implies.

It’s really amazing what technology has done for us. With the right programming skills, you could set up an automatic system that would respond to literally every ad on Craigslist and send an enticing email – all designed to harvest millions of new email addresses for the purpose of sending out spam.

Check out some of these dating scams below.

Take this Craigslist Scam for example -

Hope you are for real, cause I am very close to you Ill be online an hour or 2 more at the most. Hit me back if you like what you see on my profile Im your neighbor. http://mercedeeze.singleworking.com

It’s a dating scam.

Or take a look at another Craigslist scam in this email I received.

Just wanted to send you a quick response to your craigslist post to see if you’re real. Mail me back on lindabhazfun82@gmail.com so we can see where this goes.

That one is also a craigslist scam.

And here’s another one.

Hi!

I have seen your ad at craigslist and I thought that maybe you interested in meeting with me.

You can get my phone here http://ecddaigrmdblhumcekxzwrqxui.blogspot.com.

Another dating scam.

And here’s one more:

It was everything anyone could ever ask for in a boyfriend…please send me your photo and I will send you mine back. Carol

Yep, you guessed it. It’s another Internet dating scam.

So what’s the deal here, anyway? Why so many scammers on Craigslist and what’s the big payoff for them? And more importantly, how can you avoid getting taken for a ride yourself? What’s behind all the dating scams?

Spammers from other countries (and sadly, even some from the USA) are having a harder and harder time getting through all the spam filters we’ve created for ourselves. On many Internet servers, getting flooded by thousands of the same emails automatically deletes all of them regardless of your individual filters. Cox Communications, for example, won’t allow multiple copies (i.e., thousands or millions) of the same email. So you wouldn’t get a spam email if you’re a Cox customer unless the spam is sent out in small groups of letters – often three at a time or less than six. So to make it worthwhile for an Internet Dating scammer to mail to you, they are much better off knowing that their small email clusters are going to real people. And what better way to qualify them than getting a current reply to one of their phony letters – just like the ones I showed you above. Those are examples of true dating scams in action.

I don’t have to tell you what happens once your email address has been compromised. There was a time when I was getting more than two thousand spam messages a day. Now the number is less than fifteen – mainly due to the Cox filters they’ve installed – as well as my having additional filters that I’ve created myself.

But spam emails are just part of the problem on Craigslist. Dating scams can lead to much worse mischief than that. For example -

How do you like it? Slow or Fast? – 18
Well hey there! Finally goin to be able to play on here a bit again. I like going to the art museum, Put-in-Bay, Jakes, seeing RWB in concert, going out to eat, and any other spur of the moment fun activity. On the particulars of what to do when hanging out, let me tell you…I hung out with guys growing up having two older brothers. I can be very bold at times cause I speak what’s on my mind and say what I do and don’t want. I’m looking for someone to date and see where it leads. I’m lookin for a good guy who will treat me right and spend time with me. I’m fun-loving and would like to find someone who is the same.. If u want to know anything else just tell me… Bye.

Contact me on my profile if youre interested.. I have more pictures up there also
sexfinderlocals.com/hawaiibunny27

hey people – 25
i am looking for a nice guy with a steady job and who likes so snuggle and go out for nice dinners. I like a guy that keeps himself fit and inshape likes the out doors. wants to travel has a good job and his life together for himself. no one that has already been married or has children. i want a guy that likes dogs

looking for a great friend, you wanna be – 19 (Santa Barbara-sba)
i am young and nice and you could say i am one of those crazy girls that love having fun i might be a young mum but you dont know what fun is till you are being with me…..i loooooove chocolate and lollies i have a mad sweet tooth and i am in love with horror movies, i love them more when people jump.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, please. Apart from the awful spelling and grammar, such ads are so poorly written that they literally cry out “dating scam” to me. And should you be daring enough to respond to one of these dating scams, you may quickly find yourself on the other end of a telephone conversation with someone who just happens to need “some extra cash.”

And notice that the last example I’ve shown above even has the local airport code added after the city – this is a tip-off that you’re looking at a true Craigslist Scam in action.

So how can you protect yourself from such trash?

Here are a few tips from The Online Dating Coach –

1. Sign up for a few gmail accounts before you respond to Online Dating Ads on Craigslist – or anywhere else for that matter. As soon as you start getting more spam than you’re comfortable deleting, move onto the next email account. Even though a Craigslist scam may be difficult to avoid completely, you can quickly exit the communication by deleting your email address.

2. Study the examples I’ve cited above. Ads like these – which are generally unimaginative and sound like “men in their forties trying to sound like girls in their twenties” should be avoided. Dating scams almost always sound inauthentic.

3. Never respond to an email which contains a website link. Links in emails – especially in a response to one of your own ads – is the classic sign of a dating scam.

4. Never give your phone number away until at least the third letter exchange.

5. If you’re running a dating ad yourself, never answer a letter that doesn’t contain something specific about the content of your ad. (This tip is really important). Dating scams almost never include personalized letters.

6. Be especially cautious of replies you get within the first ten minutes of your posting an ad. Scammers have scripts which detect new ads and respond to them with form letters right away. Thoughtful, genuine replies often take at least an hour or more from the time you post your ad, and often longer.

7. Be on the lookout for suspicious email addresses. When someone writes to you from an address like Palifkakx78@mail.ru you can almost be sure that it’s a scam. Any email ending in .ru comes from Russia or its surrounding countries. Not that that proves anything one way or the other. Just be on the alert. (In Russia, the equivalent to our hotmail is “mail.ru” – just so you know).

8. Women’s ads that talk about sex are occasionally written by hookers – especially from women under 30.

9. Ads that sound like “ads” are often written by spam robots – like those I’ve cited above.

Will following my advice protect you from Craigslist scams? You betcha!

And will it protect you from Internet scammers and hookers? To some extent, yes. But your best protection will always be using good common sense.

To make a free appointment to be coached about Online Dating, and find out how you can meet QUALITY men or women online (instead of dating scammers!) visit my website today:

www.online-dating-coach.com