I have embarked on a journey these last several months. I have been a member of several dating websites including ones I paid for. Regardless of the site there are many fake profiles. I'm sure there are not only fake profiles of women luring in men there are most likely fake profiles of men as well, I wouldn't have a clue about fake men profiles. There has to be a better way to combat these fakes? It is far to easy to "lift" photos and get them verified so that is not the answer.

I typically look for the following:
1) poor spelling and grammar
2) a single photo
3) photos that look a little to professionally taken
4) quick to offer email or ask for email (outside email)
5) refer to a hyper-link or link
6) say a close relative died and they are on their own
7) say in profile they are "close to god" or something along those lines
8) profile does not match written portion of profile
9) refer to you as "babe", "baby", "honey", "sweets", "dear", ....

There are many other signs that the profile is fake. If you have been searching for someone for any real length of time you will know what I am talking about here. Feel free to share your frustrations here and with anyone else who has experienced a fake.

I can say that out of pure boredom and for fun I have given many fakes a run for what they are worth. It can be a bunch of laughs if you save all your communications with them, go back and read for fun. NEVER GIVE MONEY OR ACTUAL REAL INFORMATION IF YOU SUSPECT THEM TO BE FAKE.

I think together we can run them off.

I don't think that this user is saying that he gave money to them he is just saying that he got a kick out of leading them to see what would happen.
I too have had my share of fake profile users contact me and it is funny and frustrating at the same time. However, on this site I haven't had much of a problem. I think the sites where it is most prolific are the ones where there is no type of payment ever needed to communicate wtih someone and those sites are out there. I am not a paying member on this site at least no yet just wanted to try it out and see what is out there.

Welcome to the world of scammers

Yes, Some are fake, but also some are real person.
Btw, Im a bit disagree with your opinion, especially no.2 ) a single photo.
If someone only have a single profile photo, dont too easy to suspect that he or she is scam artist.
I only have a single photo here, but I'm a real person also. :D
And about no. 1) poor spelling and grammar, I agree with your opinion, because most of scammers are bad in english.
But sometimes I also did so many mistakes while writing english, honestly I'm not an expert in english, because I still have a lil' messy grammar problem, and also very poor in english vocabularies...he,he :p

Ask them to get on a webcam if they come up with whatever reason they cant 99.7% of the time they are a scammer.... then ya take out the trash

totally, I find nothing on that list that would mean someone was not real

I don't recommend sending money to anyone , real or 'fake'

but people are bad spellers and people don't all have a million self photos and people do put up their professional photos,,,etc,,,

the BEST way to know is to communicate a little with them, or if you are already put off by something like poor grammar or how many photos are there,, to move on,,,

Just coz someone cant get on a webcam does not conclude that they are fake......g�nius

Even better question: Is SHE a "she"?: probably not LOL!

PS: you'll get real live women on this site occasionally, just be patient. I did read your profile & the one thing I would take out is the mention of income: scammers are not limited to "3rd world" countries & the lure is ALWAYS money. Good luck with everything.

I agree. What if they're out and about at the time and only have their phone with them?

If it doesn't feel right then in 75% of cases it isn't, Move on & chat with one of the above ^^^^^ Ladies

Invite them to participate in the forums.....for more than five minutes....I bet they wouldn't last more than a couple of hours.....
That's how I weeded them out....

I've only just recently joined this site but I have discovered that the key does seem to lie in the forums. While it is no guarantee that folks posting comments are more genuine, I think you probably have a better shot. While I am new to this site I am not new to this online gamble. Back in the early 90'��s, yes when memory was measured in megabytes, DOS was king, Windows was the new kid on the block, and you were really cool if you had an AOL email address we met and communicated on a BBS (bulletin board system) and only the true geeks got dates. I met a wonderful man and we proceeded to spend 10 years together. Almost 30 years later here I am again and yet I find it sad because so many people are not who they appear to be. However, not all that different than the real world sitting on a bar stool and chatting up the guy or girl sitting next to you, the only difference is you actually know what they look like but do you really know if they are telling you the truth? I am here for three reasons, location, location, location. Try to meet someone living in a small indigenous village in Mexico, I'��m just saying the night life is lacking and the bandwidth does not exactly support a webcam, so you improvise. I will be hitting the forums, trying to be witty and hopefully attract someone of substance who is real out there like me, only because I am tiring of the All American military man, with one picture, widowed, two small children, named John who can'��t spell or put a grammatically correct sentence together hitting on me and calling me angle (yes I spelled it wrong on purpose), yikes! (I know it's a run on sentence) I'm just guessing he is not really who he says he is. Peace I will get off my soapbox now! I'm enjoying your funny comments and see you out there!

I agree there are many scammers. I have met them. The common thing with them is that they are quick to demand for communication outside the site. They pretend to fall in love on the first mail. Be careful not to enter in their trap.

Or maybe they are just freaked out about some guy seeing them on a webcam?

I can understand why someone wouldn't want to be on a cam... But when you have a connection and you've talked with them so long, it should be easy. It would become instantly clear if I chatted with someone via Skype, etc.