Fake profiles have become very common, both on social media and different dating sites. They have different goals, and vary from slightly annoying to downright malicious. If you are looking for a date online, you truly don’t want to dedicate time, energy, and sometimes money, to a fake profile. That is why Best Dating Sites Today is here to teach you how to spot a red flag and find out if a dating profile is fake.
Do dating apps use fake profiles?
Unfortunately, some dating sites and apps have developed their whole businesses on the basis of fake online profiles. Some of them do this to attract more users while the site is relatively new. Although a shifty method, this is the lesser evil. Also, it doesn’t do that much harm if the practice stops as the user base grows.
On the other hand, there are dating networks that are designed in such a way that they don’t allow users to meet a single real person on the site. They employ professional animators whose only task is to talk to unsuspecting paying members and get them to buy tokens and coins to keep messaging or a subscription plan.
The nuances vary from site to site, but the principle is basically the same:
- You make a profile on a dating site that advertises free registration
- You can browse other members’ profiles, but can’t contact them, as every message must be paid.
- An attractive member of the opposite sex messages you. Sometimes you get some credits for free when you sign up, so you can talk to them. Other times, however, you can’t even read the message they sent you if you don’t buy a subscription or token bundle.
- After you pay, you keep talking to other members, who drag the conversation on if you’re paying for tokens. If you have bought a membership, it is possible your messages will stay unread.
- When you ask the person you’re writing to to give you their number so you can talk, they will refuse, stating the site is easier to use.
- When you ask them to meet in person, they will think of excuses or outright stop talking to you.
Why is it important to weed out the fakes?
Online dating can be a wonderful experience if you take all the precautions. Be careful and make sure the person you are talking to is who they say they are.
As we previously stated, many dating profile have a purpose to entice you to give the site money and get very little in return. Many people have been scammed out of great amounts of money. It is very obvious these dating sites are using people’s loneliness for profit. Most of us can agree this is very shady, and immoral. However, this isn’t the worst possible outcome.
Unfortunately, some dating profiles are not made by a company that has a goal to make money. The internet has given us a level of anonymity and access to more people than any other method of communication. It allowed many people with bad intentions to pretend to be someone else and prey on other users. The worst part is – they often victimize the youngest and weakest internet users. The less terrible option is getting your heart broken and wallet emptied by someone. The worse option is trusting someone and meeting them to then be assaulted.
Ways to Spot Fake Online Profiles
Many people consider reading through a dating profile insignificant or a waste of time. If you like the photos – you get in touch with the person. Then you figure out if you would like to meet them. However, there are some hints you can spot right from the start if you take the time to read through the profile.
Find out if a dating profile is fake by taking a closer look at their photos
Most people choose their dating profile photos carefully. Hence, it isn’t strange to see many wonderful photos on a profile. However, you need to give them a bit of consideration. Are all the photos highly Photoshopped and/or look professionally made? Don’t get us wrong, many people are paying to have their photos professionally taken, but it does seem a bit suspicious if all pictures on a profile look highly polished. You can run a reverse image search to be sure the photos haven’t been stolen from the internet. Many dating sites have a database of photos from different social media accounts and adult entertainment sites.
Nonetheless, after many hours spent on different fake dating sites, our experts have concluded that many of them create profiles with lower quality photos too. Additionally, since men are the main victims of this type of scam, there are many more female scammer profiles. Thus, a great way to determine if the whole site is operating on fake profiles is to compare photos of male and female members.
Firstly, you’ll notice most male members having relatively normal photos of nice-yet-not-professional quality. Female profiles, on the other hand, will be full of either super low or high quality photos, with some nudity as well. This disparity is a tell-tale sign of sites that use fake profiles.
Some more tips to figure out if photos aren’t legitimate is to look at details, such as the background or car registration plates to see if they match the location on the profiles.
Find out if a dating profile is fake by what and when they write
As previously mentioned, many dating sites have a database of photos used by the fake profiles. The same is often true about the messages operators send. The second options some sites use are AI generated messages.
Many dating sites shower new users with attention and sexually explicit messages as soon as they create their account. In other words: if you haven’t even uploaded a photo, but you are getting messages from ladies calling you handsome and demanding sex from you – they are not real.
You’ll notice that many of the messages you get from different profiles sound similar or strange in some way. The reason for this could be the fact that all operators copy and paste messages from the same source, or an AI generates them. If you aren’t getting messages in English, the strangeness could be even greater, since some sites write messages in English and run them through a translating program.
To put it differently: If the messages or user’s bio sound strange and disjointed, with little care for grammar and language nuances – the profile is probably fake.
Another tell-tale sign of a fake profile is if the users are being too intimate right from the start. Remember, their goal is to make you pay the site as much money as possible, and use your moment of weakness against you. Thus, they will use pet names and sexual insinuations to get you to answer.
We consider this method especially insidious, since it counts on users’ desperation and uses it for profit. These conversations rely on being short and explicit, so they usually don’t really go anywhere.
A way to check if you are talking to a real person is to ask them for a phone number or a different way to chat. Insisting on staying on the site, even though it’s expensive to do so is a good indicator of a fake profile.
Lastly
As we have previously mentioned, the greatest danger comes from real users with bad intentions, who can threaten your bank account or physical safety. The former is especially prominent on international dating sites. A general rule of thumb that can save you from a serious headache is never to give money to someone you met on the internet.
On the other hand, predators use dating sites to prey on their victims. Thus, you should never share your personal information online, such as your address or place of work. Even if you are sure you want to meet them in real life, take all the safety precautions you can: meet during the day, and in a public space; set up a check-in system with someone you trust or an app, and if you feel strange or unsafe at any point have an exit strategy that will allow you to leave without your date tracking you down.
How to report a fake dating profile
So, now you can find out if a dating profile is fake on your own. If you are sure you have found one, you should also take other factors into consideration. If the site is full of fake profiles, your complaint probably won’t make an impact on the overall state.
That why it’s best to first do your research and choose a reputable dating site in the first place. If, however, the fake profile is on a real site, it would be good to go to the support page and find out how you can contact the site’s team. The steps to doing this are different from site to site, but generally, you can find it at the bottom of the homepage.
Remember: your, and the safety of other members should be of great priority to the site. If you don’t feel like you’re taken seriously, you should probably reconsider the dating network you are using.