More adventures in online dating

If you are hoping for details about actual dates, sorry to disappoint you. My online dating experience has been mainly online, actual encounters with real people have been rare. In fact, lately, I have been on the dating sites mainly to have a good laugh! As a community service, I have decided to review a few more sites and give you some tips on identifying the fake profiles. Along the way, I will present my top 10 dating profiles. I’m including original grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

#10 – I am a classy and fun Man who takes pride in his family and self. He is the light of my life.

According to the Pew research center, 1 in 10 Americans has used some form of online dating. For those that participate in online dating, approximately 25% find a spouse or partner. I was surprised to learn that the National Academy of Sciences determined that “marriages that began online, when compared with those that began with traditional offline venues, were slightly less likely to result in a marital breakup (separation or divorce)”.

#9 – I’m a single father with my two little twins who lives with her nanny

Since so many people use online dating services, I expected that it would be fairly easy to meet people. For some reason, this was a little easier at first. Part of the reason that it is harder now is that I seem to find the same group of men, who are on the same multiple dating sites. I’ve either screened them out or they’ve screened me out. The main reason I am having so much trouble is that it is extremely difficult to find real men among all of the fake profiles! I suspect that there are more of them who are focusing on my demographic, the middle-aged widow. Keeping this in mind I am very cautious and suspicious.

#8 – I’m calm and down to earth and a well calculated am here to meet new people around the world.text if you look just good. I’m a licensed trader and into freelancing….there are lots you sure need to know about me

Since my last online dating review, I’ve tried a few new apps. For security purposes, I pay for a service called Been Verified. I need to have a real name or phone number for it to work and it doesn’t always work but it has been fairly reliable. If I can pull someone up I know they are real. I’m sure these guys would be a little creeped out by this but I need to play it safe. I also pay for Lifelock and I think it works pretty well because I can’t pull myself up on the app!

#7 – I’m cool gentle and humble man I hate lies and cheating I’m old enough to play games, I’m for real relationship. My job I’m a business man, My Company is primarily involved in the developing and processing of Rare Earth materials in the High purity sector.

Another app I have downloaded is kik. It’s a messaging service and I think a lot of the scammers use it. Apparently, it is used for human trafficking too so make sure your teenagers are not using it. I use it if I am suspicious as it is an easier way to message and I don’t have to give out my phone number. You can also download burner apps that will give you a fake phone number to use for texting.

#6 – I’m a man who loves her family.

I finally caved and downloaded Tinder. The reason I did is that you log in through Facebook and it will show you if you have mutual friends. This has helped identify a few real people but most of the profiles I find on Tinder do not have any mutual friends. I have stayed on Tinder mainly to collect hilarious profiles! I know a lot of people meet on Tinder so I think it must just be that the scammers are targeting my demographic.

#5 – Profile name: Phil_Magroin

I also tried Elite Singles. It has been a total dud. Most of the profiles don’t have pictures and there are very few local people. There may be fewer scammers but I normally don’t interact with profiles without pictures unless they are really interesting or funny.

#4 – Am a man of integrity and I respect my pride.

Let’s talk about pictures. I hate to be totally focused on appearances. The guys I have met all looked even better in person. And many of the guys don’t smile in pictures. I think if I were around someone a lot and got to know their personality I might be attracted to them for that. Intellect and sense of humor are also qualities that I look for. And I have talked to a few guys with no pictures. When they finally shared their picture I was just not attracted at all and that is really awkward. So a picture is preferred.

#3 – Am just a man that wants a woman that has a good sense of human and am a man that can make a woman enjoy everything she desire…But am a man with respect and I like talking dirty am also that type that like to be told the truth and I hate cheating, confusion and fake life

As you can tell from my top ten list, these fake profiles are fairly easy to spot. But there are so many of them so there have to be people falling victim to them. I decided to investigate and a lot of the scams originate in Nigeria. There are also other places but Nigeria has the worst reputation for this. They establish a relationship with the victim and then there is usually some kind of crisis where they need money. Or maybe they are trying to meet and need money for a plane ticket. A few times I have communicated for a bit with them but I usually give myself away. The closest I have come to being scammed was one guy who asked if I could buy him an iTunes card. I said no of course!

#2 – From a 22-year-old: Will you marry me? I can provide you with free medical and dental; lol

Aside from the poor grammar the other way I identify the scammers is by their profession. Most of the time they say they are in the military. They probably have no idea that there are very few active duty military around here, and certainly not generals. Some say they work for the United Nations. Then there are engineers, contractors, and doctors. They also seem to randomly select cities. I see a lot who will put the name of a city that might be on the map but has a very small population. Or the city doesn’t match the occupation. I don’t think there are very many United Nations employees living in small California farm towns!

#1 – I’ve a great sense of humor, no games and I don’t hit my woman

I don’t know why but that profile just really made me laugh! I didn’t include Jesus on here but, yes, Jesus loves me and this I know because he swiped right on Tinder. And he had a very recognizable picture! I hope that this has entertained and informed you. I have one last list…top 5 online interactions I’ve had. The last 3 I copied the conversations to give you the full picture. Enjoy!

#5 – Standard greeting from more than one person – “I will like to know you better”

#4 – your lips is adorable because the smiling on you bring out the real beauty in you

#3 – Counselors are equivalent to surgeons????

 

#2 – I’ve decided to start playing along, I usually can’t stay serious for long though!

#1 – This one blocked me shortly after the last message you see. I didn’t get a chance to copy the last interaction. He asked how the kids were and I said I kicked them out because they were eating too much. And he finally figured out that I wasn’t serious! LOL