Undoing the Social Engineering of Online Dating Scammers

The combination of free email with anonymous classified sites (such as Craigslist) creates an environment ripe for con artists and opportunistic people to get information and meet others romantically, under false pretenses - called Social engineering. Wikipedia defines social engineering  as "the practice of obtaining confidential information by manipulation of legitimate users. A social engineer will commonly use the telephone or Internet to trick people into revealing sensitive information or getting them to do something that is against typical policies."

Paid-for online dating sites have become a platform for phishing as well. I once received an email through a popular dating site. He offered his undying love as well as a fortune. Unfortunately he was far away in Nigeria.  In his photo he was speaking on a cell phone (probably to the bank about his impending $$$ fortune). Incredibly, he had paid $1 to send me the email. He must have calculated the return on investment by targeting "lonely hearts" would exceed the dollars spent.

Now sites such as Don't Date Him Girl provide an social engineering antidote for women to reveal the truth about dating scammers. The prospect of having a photo and story posted should at least deter those with "something to lose." (e.g. married men)

Of course prevention is always better than fixing a problem. So, follow the same aphorism that applies to online security and avoiding cons:

• If it sounds too good to be true, it very well may be.
• And, use multiple points of verification that a person is "for real" lest you be phished out of a fortune in dollars or heartache.

Know what I mean?

Comments

[James Harmison]

Thanks for the information on blog write now..........Thanks very much...
http://www.relationshipsaver.org/

[Delicious Monsters]

sounds like good advice. hopefully most men know that 25 year old women in foreign countries are not pining away for you--they just want to get into your wallet.

[Online Dating]

Most recently, it has become common for online dating websites to provide webcam chats between members. In addition, as the online dating population becomes larger, sites with specific demographics are becoming more popular as a way to narrow the pool of potential matches.