The anatomy of a scam

I was on a dating site. I never gave out my phone number on the site. After a contact from a woman that said she might be interested, I started getting text messages, from the woman from the web site, that said she may be interested??? I did not question how she got my phone number, because you do not give your phone number out on dating web sites??? This was so crazy to me, that I went back and looked at how they could have gotten to me??? I found out after a basic investigation, that although I never gave my phone number out, on the dating website, the woman still called me using text messages only?? So I was worked by what is called bait and switch techniques.

And the way they got to me as much as they did, is because they had my cell number, and that caused me to be off guard. I never asked how did you get my cell number? That was my critical mistake.

Which means they come at you in more than one way. This must have been very basic use of technology, since the phone text messages was connected to a web site I was only on once??

So I was deceived by my looking for a girlfriend, that was my weakness in this, it was because of my vulnerability of being lonely, and seeking someone to be with, so I MADE MYSELF OPEN TO THIS SCAM.

Another words, the scammers used both the net and text messages as a ruse for rip off, and I fell for it by being lonely!!!

This is how they nearly got to me, but as soon as I heard the money question, then thank God I realized what was happening.

All I can say is to be careful, because the evil will use your very weakness against you every time in order to beat you. They can use LOVE, to steal from you, if you are not awake spiritually.

It is amazing how safistacted some of these scams are. I learned a good lesson as to the total package of technology, and just how it can hurt you.

After further checking, I found out the name of the dating service is called, connecting singles. It is compleatly free, they do not charge for you to post on that site, so that has to be the site where they found out my name, because that is the only one I ever signed up with that was free.

It was a couple of days after I first signed up there, when I first started getting text messages from this so called woman that was interested in me. I went to other sites as well, and just looked around for awhile, but only signed up for one, the freebie.

So the scammers must have saw my name on that site, and then found out my phone number from some source? These guys are like hackers I would guess, where they are real good at technology, and they have ways to find out things about you and that is how they find out info about you.

They can also get your IP address from these sites you use and sign up with and they can hurt you that way as well. So it I open season, so to speak, on anyone on the web, if you are not real careful, like I was not, until the money talk started, that is the only way I knew.


So if you do use a dating site, be careful who you talk to, or who might talk to you, because you never know on first contact, what might be going on until there is a scam under way against you?

Well that's the best I can find out, about how they got my name as a target, it came from that one site, connecting singles since that is the only one I ever tried to use.

As far as I know, the whole site may be a scam set up just for that by the scammers? Nothing would surprise me after that happened.

The bottom line is of course, if money Is ever brought up to you, just stop the contact right at that point, so they can't beat you out of anything.

The trouble with signing up to anything online is that you'll find that most of them are linked to each other via a data base. So it's easy for them when somebody comes along to know who you are just by using the same e-mail address, or the same pseudonym, or the same picture etc. All they need are 2 things the same and bam! they have you.

So my 2 pennies worth would be, to be somebody totally different on each and every site you go on. Use a different log in, different password, different avatar, different everything when you register. That way when you go to another site you don't think are linked (but they will be) they won't know who you are from the next man.

Also...NEVER EVER give out your real name or any other personal info. Always use a fake name on each site. Always ask for THEIR phone number and info if you think you've found somebody you like.

happy searching!

That's actually good advice Sky. To always cover your actual presence on any of these sites the best we can.

After this crap happened to me, I am not interested any longer in dating services or sites that offer these kinds of services. I would rather find a real person, face to face, so that was my first and last attempt at a dating site, just for the sake of safety.

My momma didn't raise any fools, so to speak. Once is enough of "Mystery Women" for my taste.