Mail Order Bride Scam: Is There Any Way To Avoid It?

Online dating scammers don’t create new innovative scam techniques and don’t develop new strategies every single month to get online daters’ money. They use a few old tricks, and if you know how they work, you can protect yourself, and we’re going to describe them all in detail.

Mail Order Bride Scam

Signs that you’ve come across one of the dating sites scams

Many online daters understand that things go horribly wrong when it’s too late, in particular, when they already have that strong emotional connection with a fraudster. The truth is at this stage, only a few people will let the doubts win. Others will believe the best about people until they lose their money, and we shouldn’t blame them — sometimes it’s more than just hard to accept that your love turned out to be fake.

The easiest way to avoid such a scenario is to spot a scam at the early stages. So, here are the signs that you’re going to use a scam website.

• Many fake profiles, low-effort accounts
• Fake pictures of hot members that can be easily found on Google search results
• A lot of messages you receive from different people in a few hours after you sign up for the site
• No moderation, no email verification

And here are the signs that you’re already dealing with a scammer

• A person you are talking to uses manipulative techniques to make you trust them, tries to get closer as fast as possible
• Tons of empty but so romantic promises (to be a perfect wife, to buy a house in California, to take you to Nizza, etc.)
• Asking for money

Pay attention to all these things — if you analyze the website carefully, you won’t join the scam platform and therefore, avoid all the problems you’d inevitably face. If you’re already interacting with someone and notices any of the other signs (empty promises, manipulation, things that get serious too fast, etc.), you’d better stop talking to this person at this stage.

Possible dangers on mail order brides platforms

With the advent of digital technologies, romance scammers have developed different methods to trick online users and take advantage of their goodwill under pretenses. Usually, they contact their targets through popular mail order brides sites, build a rapport and commit fraud. If you want to avoid scams on dating platforms, you will need to know which possible risks you can experience. Being armed with this information, you can identify a person with bad intentions and keep your identity and money secure.

Fraud

More often online dating scammers force online users to commit financial fraud on their behalf. They create an appealing profile (sometimes too good to be true), demonstrate romantic intentions towards the victim, and swindle their money or personal information. Usually, the relationships move fast and one day scammers may claim they need urgent money. The most common reasons are emergencies or medical expenses. They ask only for particular payment methods like reload cards, gift cards, or wiring money. Never send money to a stranger even if you communicate for months.

Fake pages

Even if you use the services of paid dating websites, you can still encounter fake profiles. Usually, they include fake pictures and a few personal details. Fakes initiate conversations and use physiological tricks to let you reveal your personal and billing info. That is why it is advisable not to specify your personal details on your profile page. Besides, you can always check the authenticity of the picture on dedicated services.

Webcam blackmail

Sextortion or webcam blackmail is another mail order bride scam that is organized by crime groups. If you used to flirt in front of the webcam with your potential partner, think twice before demonstrating intimate parts of the body. Criminals can record your performance and sell it to numerous digital platforms.

Identity theft

Identity theft is one of the most widespread mail order brides site scams. When you register on a dating platform, you provide your personal and billing info. If the site doesn’t have strong protections, hackers can easily access your personal data. Moreover, some questionable platforms contain viruses that can steal credit card details and passwords right from your computer. That is why you should approach only reliable platforms with a good reputation.

Dating scammer list: Examples of sites you shouldn’t trust

Of course, it’s much easier to choose one of the safe and trusted mail order brides platforms — on such sites, the chance of meeting a scammer is very, very low. We mentioned some common things that will help you distinguish a scam dating site from a good website, and now we want to provide some examples to help you spot suspicious sites easily.

So, here are some mail order brides sites that show how good platforms never work:

• Cherry Blossoms — low-quality support, fake profiles, members asking for money, members that don’t speak English.
• J4L — too many messages from hot young women interested in dating literally anyone, extra fees for “additional services”, fake accounts.
• Find-Bride — women are hired to send tons of messages, members don’t respond after you pay for contact details to interact outside the website.
• Elena’s Models — accounts of beautiful women with only one profile picture, low response rate, bad customer service

Basically, that’s what scam websites usually look like.

Mail order brides site scams: how to protect yourself

Here are the most important tips that will help you protect yourself when dating online:

1. Choose a good website. Read the reviews on various platforms, pay special attention to profiles and pictures posted by members, read the information in profiles carefully.
2. Try to reach support to ask a question and evaluate the quality of the support services.
3. Take a close look at the price list — are there any hidden costs? Make sure that the site provides high-quality dating services and offers many useful tools to interact with others.
4. Analyze how other members interact with you. They can be (and should be) active, but this activity shouldn’t be suspicious. If you receive 100 messages per 15 minutes, that’s a bad sign.
5. Are messages written by real people or generated by bots? Read them carefully — you’ll see the difference.
6. If you like someone, use video chat or call them.
7. Use a strong password, don’t provide any real contact information in your profile.
8. Never send money, even if it seems that the person who asks for it is the love of your life. This is the most important rule.

Remember these simple rules, follow them, and you’ll be safe online.

The verdict: do trusted mail order brides websites exist?

The international dating market is huge, and there are scam websites, as well as great global dating sites that can help you meet a foreign girlfriend or a mail order bride and will provide you with everything you may need to reach this goal as soon as possible. The thing is you shouldn’t choose a random site or trust the ads you see on the web blindly — use the tips we provided to distinguish good platforms from bad platforms and enjoy the safe online dating experience.