How to Spot a Fake Match.com Profile

Well…maybe not the income field

I haven’t seen as many of them today (maybe due to all the complaints and bigger restrictions), but years ago fakes were ALL over the place, especially Yahoo!. I learned these things as well, particularly the profiles with one photo or the profiles that have a large age range for their men (“Seeking Male 18-49″ for example.)

Another thing I started looking out for is to see if the profile has any local references to hangouts or the like. That can still be faked, but the fakers are likely to be too lazy to do research.

I never even thought about fakes, being a woman. To me, it is just a total screening process. A guy who says he wants women 20 -99 or if his geographical range is 50 miles, he obviously isn’t serious about anything but bring a player. If he can’t be bothered to anser each question specifically, if his profile is vague or makes sexual innuendoes, same thing – lazy guy not putting in much effort or thought – nothing would make me think he’d be different in real life. Having pictures without a shirt on is tacky, as are pictures with another woman in them, or where it’s obvious (again) he took them himself with his own camera/poor lighting, and didn’t even go to May Company or a studio portrait for a decent head shot, etc. etc.
If it’s only a head shot and not also one that is full length, you immediately wonder if he’s out of shape.
You’ve got to screen for decent people out of the morass of waste-of-time profiles/people that contact you. I’m sure this applies equally to women as well as men. Also just getting a wonk instead of an e-mail isn’t even worth a response. Either step up to the plate or don’t waste my time playing games.
Out of 500 e-mails I got in the first six weeks from different men, maybe ten of those guys were interesting enough to have me willing to e-talk to them on the phone and agree to meet for lunch at a local restaurant. It’s just a numbers game, and you’ve got to be willing to waste a lot of time to find someone good/truly compatible.

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typo – wink

Loving Annies last blog post..More on Baggage Reclaim

Hahaha!!! This is hilarious. There are definitely fake guy profiles out there too, although from what I hear, not nearly as many as fake female profiles. Whatever, if you’re digging around in the dumpster, you’ve got to expect to find some garbage.

Oh, and you’re totally right, Lance – height is one of the top criteria for girls. I’ve had numerous friends come up to me and say something like, “This cute guy winked at me on Match, but he’s too short. Too bad, because he actually sounded like a nice guy.” Note that “too short” often equates to 5’8″ or shorter (just as Lance mentioned above). Sorry guys, I speak the truth.

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My BF says he is 5’7″ (although he listed his profile on MySpace as 5’8″ when he was dating so that girls wouldn’t dismiss him outright), but I think he is probably 5’6″ at the most. It’s funny how sensitive he is about it.

I don’t think I ever put a height range in on Match. I’ll have to log in sometime and see if my old search is still saved.

I totally agree with the one pic thing especially if it looks like it came out of a picture frame or a new wallet. I think you’re dead on with the about me section too. The only part I might disagree with is the about my date section. I haven’t filled mine in and I’m real…just a little lazy!

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OK, before we get too carried away, I want to make sure that there aren’t any guys under 5’8″ (or even 6′) out there who sprout a new “limiting belief” based on this.

At 5’7″ I was personally able to achieve fantastic success online, culminating in meeting Emily on Match.com. Would my 60-80% response rate have been higher were I 6’2″? Perhaps, but that range actually appears to be a “sweet spot” among guys who have gone through the Online Dating Domination program–regardless of physical appearance. I’ve only had one guy who consistently pulled better than 80%.

It’s important to note that even “Mr. McDreamy” only got less about 10% the response the “average” woman got in the study that was cited. Ultimately, it’s up to a guy to write effective first emails to women in order to achieve any real success online. The profile simply backs up his emails so that the “numbers match”.

That said, I’ve got plenty of guys who come to me for online dating help who are north of 6′ and are still getting zero response. It really is all in the presentation, and that absolutely can be re-engineered.

BTW, key fake indicators (apologies if someone mentioned these already):

1) Talks about sex like a man

2) The “Any Scam”–very vague desires in the “Who I’m Looking For” Section

3) Broken English without explanation, especially in Russian or Nigerian style.

I agree with the one picture policy, but I do believe that sometimes those aren’t so much outright fakes as people with one particular pic that portrays them in an exceptionally positive light. Either way, expect disappointment.

Many such one-off pics are lifted from porn sites, too. Chalk one up for familiarizing oneself with porn actresses. This is yet another great reason to avoid Adult FriendFinder, too.

My personal favorite fakie tipoff of all time was the “woman’s” profile that read, “I’m a one-woman man, and expect you to be the same.” Nice.

Yeah, the fake profiles are terrible. Some of the “winks” I get right after I cancel my account are from women who are 22 and live 80 miles from me. I am 35 and am not even searching for women under the age of 30 and no farther than 30 miles from me. So why was I matched with this woman?

Because I canceled my subscription and the profile has all the hallmarks of a fake. I did my own little investigation and stayed on one more month just to check something out. Her “last log on” time kept getting longer after “she” winked at me. You know “within the last three days” then “within the last two weeks” then right when I let my subscription lapse it said “over 3 weeks”.

I’ve started treating Match as a comedy site like “The Onion”. Good for a laugh but not serious.

Online dating sucks! Haha. This is a funny post. I’ve seen my share of fakes on Match. Here in the Bay Area, they’ll get some hot older chick to post an ad. In one part, the checkbox says she’s liberal. Then in the paragraph of text, it says she’s a conservative and describes in detail what that means to her.

Then when I checked her profile a month later, she went from a blonde to a brunette – and I’m not talking hair die, it was a totally different chick! (The rest of the profile was exactly the same). I complained to match and they took it down without saying a word to me.

Did they put it up? Or was it a spammer? Who knows?

I do know some lesser sites will post fake ads and have even used pics of models, like the model is a member there. Gimme a break!

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I often get the “email as soon as your subscription runs out” from match. Basically, you get an email or a few after your subscription has been idle for a month or so, and you can’t see who sent them until after you sign up again. You return the email when you pay to sign up (making sure that the email has matching grammar and nothing objectionable), only to find out that this person that was REALLY interested in you all of a sudden doesn’t have enough interest to return your email.

It’s basically a scam to keep guys around because they outnumber the women so much – and because (if you look halfway decent) you do eventually meet someone off of there that is real – you don’t realize how much you were scammed.

Ha… I’ve heard of the “recon” profiles…

Pretty smart if you’re having NO LUCK AT ALL… you get to steal some good material from the guys that are good at it (like Scot’s customers… hahaha)… and watch and see what MOST MEN are sending to women…

… apparently it’s pretty bad.

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Aldon – I’ve experienced that exact situation. What a scam! Online dating sucks.

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In my recent article on Match.com, Get Laid While Looking for Love: http://www.thisishowyoudoit.com/blog/category/relatonshipssex/

I wrote about how many people are on Match just looking for action…perhaps while they are also looking for real love.

Are there more “players” than people looking for meaningful relationships?

Relationships-Sexs last blog post..Match.com: Get Laid While Looking for Love

Loved it Lance…all of your tips are useful….these are very important…I was almost fooled in meeting this guy in NY…I had such a narrow escape that I think its so important for people to be educated about how to spot out fake profiles in Match.com…and not just match but also Facebook and Myspace…these are so dangerous…we read stories of 14-15 being fooled by 50 year old!!!

These days besides using Match.com, I have started testing Bluepont to meet guys…I am finding it quite useful so far…the best part is my privacy is maintained and its impossible to fake your profile…have you heard about it?

one big mistake. Everyone does NOT fill in education, job, and income under what they seek for a math.

I had an interesting experience on match.com. I didn’t have a lot of profile looks except for the first few weeks though I am considered successful and good looking. I even got a few thanks, but no thanks responses. I was feeling down and then I switched to another dating site and all of a sudden I had emails and dates out the ying yang. I really think match has gotten so big and there are so many fakes there, it is difficult finding a good match. The smaller sites are the way to go.

Also let me throw in a buddy of mine tried match.com and he had no success but the first sentence he wrote mentioned he was divorced with a young child that lives with me. One lady did email him and said that is actually considered a turn off interestingly enough.

I recently found 2 fakes on Match.com. One of them contacted me and the other one I contacted first. One of them goes by Canadianlover and has named himself Eric Vavrock who reportedly has an 11 yr. old son named Richard.He quickly removes his profile from Match.com, gets you to start chatting on Yahoo chat, gives you his cell number and also begins texting frequently. He is very good at consuming your time and getting you to do the same.He uses ericvavrock@yahoo.com as his e-mail and chat address. I had also spoken to him on the phone on a few occassions…..He is a very good/smooth scammer! This guy claims to be an electrical engineer who lives in North York, Cananda but works abroad mostly. He scamed me out of $2,000 before I finally caught on by researching a poem he supposedly wrote for me (which I found on a commonly used scammer poetry site called lovingyou.com). He actually wanted me to wire $2,000 more to help get him plane tickets to come see me. He didn’t get it and I have enjoyed reporting this scammer to any website/romance scam website I can find. The second guy, who goes by the name Quentin Scott, didn’t move as quickly, but he did remove his profile quickly. He would send an e-mail every few days and after 2-3 weeks he began asking for details on how I spend my days and what me week was like. He also claimed to have a son, 6 years old (although I’m pretty sure he told me his son was 8 years. old originally). His son’s name is also Richy! I was cautious to provide any information to this guy online, and offered to meet in a public place 1/2 way between New York,NY were he reportedly lived and the town I live in in NYS. He wanted to keep writing instead and I refused to persist with this type of communication. he wrote a detailed letter a few days ago and I decided to research one of the paragraph’s online that he had written….the first 2 sentences in it were from love letter website (actually a few different websites)…..word-for-word. At that point I decided online dating was no longer safe anymore (even though I married my late husband after meeting online) and had also dated a few other men that I had met online prior to that…..I had used match.com and eHarmony.com for the past 8-9 years and nothing like this had ever happened before. Please beware and check out a website called Ramancescams.com before you decide to post a profile on any website.

Please understand that most uk dating sites are at best 80% men 20% women, so who else could be creating fake profiles?
You don’t need the brains of an archbishop for that one.

I could provide a long list of the scams, esp international sites, but all I can do is guide around them

I joined match 2 weeks ago without much activity the first week. Since the 2nd week I have gotten 8-10 “winks” and most were from Calif. while some were from TX and OH ( I live on the east coast). But always hundreds or thousands of miles away…….the winks were from VERY good looking men with only one photo posted and a very short description of what they were looking for (nothing about themselves or very little). The grammer, punctuation and run on sentences (beginning sentences are not capitalized, nor are things like “I”)! Plus, when I ‘winked’ back or even clicked ‘no thank you’ and went back a day or so later to check the profile, it was no longer available. I even had CALONELYMAN, (who was drop dead gorgeous 40 and a widower, come on!!) IM me, all his questions were regarding how long I’d been on match, had I been here before with any ‘luck’ etc. When I asked how long he’d been there, he told me that day was his FIRST day, and his very first time using a dating site, however his profile was no longer available 4 hours later (who pays for a subscription and then cancels their profile the same day!) There were a couple that had “send me your email” in their headline – according to Match.com RULES, this is a NO NO and will not be published!

Great job on the article!

The FAKE profiles are NEVER under the WHO VIEWED ME, either!

My ongoing review of bogus profiles that “match” me: Bad Match

FAKE PROFILES ON MATCH! BEWARE

I can’t believe what i’m reading — i’ve been complaining to Match for months now and i thought it was just me. I’m a woman i get so many fake profiles sent to me. WOMEN HERE ARE THE SIGNS:

- They are always “God Fearing” in their profiles
- Have one picture and look like models
- they want to get married and are widowed
- They often will want women 45-65 — when they are 30. WTF – what guy is looking to hook up with a 60 year old

Warning — Match.com should have a lawsuit against them for supporting this.

I believe I’ve spotted 3 fakes on Match recently. One has 6-7 pics of a very beautiful woman – they look like modeling pics. The profile is filled out very well but it’s filled with misspellings and broken English like “I would like husband take care of me” and “Beech is great place to have romance”. Usually the pics are a dead give-away.

I got a wink from a woman just last night. This one looks fake too. She says she’s 30 but the 3 pics look like they were pulled off some 16 year old’s Myspace account. She’s “self employed” so she doesn’t make a lot of money but she’s “accustomed to the finer things in life like expensive cars and traveling”. Hmmm.

You got it buddy. I recently logged into my match account, did a few searches, and ran across 3-4 scammer or fake profiles out of maybe a field of 60 chicks. Keep reporting these.

Winks are useless. I ONLY get winks from scammers or “curvy” women. Assuming the curvy woman is real, why doesn’t she just email me?

heres a perfect example of a fake profile on match: http://www.match.com/profile/showProfile.aspx?uid=bGnCYRSypEjuOK1Ax9SJ+Q==&handle=get2meetme111&tp=S&pn=1&rn=4&do=0&lid=18

the faker claims to be from fremont ohio and is looking for someone from ages 35-57. profile states looking for someone within 500 miles. Sorry but the pic posted is pretty hot this girl could get a million guys and never leave her town why would she be willing to travel 500 miles or date a 57 yr old.. can anyone say sugar daddy.
I agree most fakers have only one pic and they usually have missing pertinant information. a lot of times the pictures they have up are very small you cant quite get a glimpse of the person. ive notice a lot of fakers that start out with Am instead of I am.

I had a nigerian scammer get to me, one pic on profile, and nice looking blone guy, talked me into yahoo messenger, and within 2 weeks was professing his love to me, but would not meet me, he did not live where he said, and finally asked me for address, money, gifts, check out nigerian scammers on dating sights, they always spell with i’s instead of caps I, and say wonderful things, even their profiles are wonderful, loving and all love them. I reported him to the FBI, but is still out there, and fake phone #s they get from a machine they buy off the internet.

Great post. I see these fake ads all the time in the bay area. Unfortunately, match is still the best dating site online…

I tried Match only to be very disappointed. As a lot of the other women, I never responded to any guy that couldn’t fill out decent profile or list specific pref’s for his match. Come on who is looking for woman 18-70 of any race or shape.

At six foot, I am selective about height. Onlyy dating men 6’2 or taller. I was shocked at the number of men who reply to my profile who are 5’7. Obviously they did not read my profile or are just plain stupid.

Upon meeting several men, I found most lie about age, height, fitness level, number of marriages, employment and education. Some post decade old photos.

One guy justified lieing about his age (60 not 48 as advertised), height (5’10 not 6’1), fitness (overweight NOT athletic and toned), Marriages (2). He claimed that the types of women he is attracted too don’t want to date 60 yr old, heavyset men.

What????Did he think that I wouldn’t notice as soon as I met him???????

Oh…. and he is unemployed.

If a guy claims to have a PhD while claiming English as his native language, why does their profile lack correct spelling, punctuation and grammer???? RED FLAG????

Oh…what about the guys who don’t post a photo? Or…the ones that post photos of their car, boat, place, bike, etc….

I had one guy email me a few times and then I rec’d an email from his WIFE! She claimed to have caught him cheating on her and wanted to know if I had any of his email or if I met with him. What a creep! He was a born again Christian who described himself as honest.

In fact, come to think of it……every guy that said he wass honest, was NOT.

When you agree to meet someone, meet them for a short date (coffee) someplace public. Don’t be afraid to demand to see their ID before giving them your address. If they lied to you, enjoy the laugh. It will make a fun story in the future.

Another thing to add, it’s always an overly sexy girl in the profile.
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Excuse me, but aren’t they ALL fakes?

I mean, online dating has become what CB radio was in the 70s… it was fun when it was new, but eventually so many jerks abused the system that it became unusable. I bet you there are so many fakes, online dating sites would hardly exist without them.

The trend now is toward singles groups on meetup dot com… fakes know better than to show up at those, or they’d get the crap beat out of them! Singles are starting new meetup groups all the time because they are tired of the rigged game which is online dating.

I pity the people who still think they can win at the online dating game. They need to get real.

Reading this I have to say I’m sort of surprised. I’m in the pacific northwest and have used match.com on and off for 8 years or so. I have met a lot of real people, including some who are now close friends and many more who have become part of my social circle. I’ve only dated two people I met online (I’m picky what can I say) but never had anyone try to scam me or do anything crazy. In fact with a number of people I’ve met recently, we’ve established we know the same people before we even met. I’ve been able to verify they are real via facebook and my friend’s friend lists. I also see people I know on there all the time. So I know they are real!

However, if someone doesn’t write me an intelligent thoughtful email I won’t reply. I never reply to winks or profiles with no photos. You’d be amazed at some of the emails I get from doofus guys and a few a-holes. But I just ignore and block them. I like to move fast to meet someone, if a guy doesn’t suggest we meet in a few emails I stop answering. I won’t give out my phone number or talk to them on the phone first. I also use an email account that doesn’t use my full name so they can’t find me offline unless I want them to.

I don’t notice a lot of profiles in this area that look fake. But I did notice there are a LOT of more attractive men in other markets like SF and Denver when I search there. Portland & Seattle match guys aren’t model hot, they are real.

As a woman who makes a very good living I do not post my income. I did a test and listed it for three days. My contact rate plummeted, when I took my income off it went back up. So as much as women want a man who is tall, men don’t want a woman more successful financially. I have also had a number of professional photographers take photos of me for various professional or athletic projects so my photos look ‘too good’ so possibly fake.

The bottom line I think is – NEVER travel just to meet someone you emailed with a few times. If you’ll be in their city for other reasons, then fine, but meet them in a public place. When meeting someone new always tell a friend where you are going and who you are meeting. If you get their full name do an internet search on the name first, check out their story. Don’t give out too much information about yourself until you check someone out. NEVER give someone money if you haven’t met them or even if the relationship is new. A person who will respect you wouldn’t ask you for money to pay for bills, etc.

I also don’t always send a no response to email contacts. I used to be polite and answer all emails. This led to some of my worst experiences. Guys who I had nothing in common with writing me emails about how their life was shit anyway, no women wanted to meet them so they mind as well kill themselves (that really happened) another guy lecturing me about god and misquoting Churchill (I’m a history major – don’t mess with me on historical quotes) and some just writing back calling me a bitch for being polite. I decided passive rejection was better than active rejection. You can’t win for losing I guess.

Be smart, respect yourself, explain you take awhile to get to know someone and try to be true to yourself.

So my Match.com subscription ends today and after 3 months I finally received my first reply to an email. First thing that came to my mind was maybe this profile is a fake and they are trying to keep me subscribed. Also, their profile can no longer be found when i try to view it. But in the email, the person gives me an actual hotmail email to communicate.

This raised a ? over my head. Is this fake or no?

This is a a message that I received from a guy from an internet dating service. I think that it is a fake profile. Please read this and see if you don’t agree with me that this is a fake profile! I can sense already that he will fall madly inlove with me and will need a few thousand dollars to get back to America to make me happy!!! Can you just see it? The pictures were Model like, so perfect, and attractive, business man type, BUT when you read the message you quickly realize that there is NO WAY that a man like this would speak like that!!! Of course I reported this profile just to have them investigate. But some poor American women have actually fallen for this and they sent $$$$$$$$$, and lost it. ***************
Here it is:
Hey. How are you doing? My name is Thomas I m 50years old I m single father of one son, i have my 13years old son full custody, I wanted so much to view from your profile and pic. You have this intriguing and intense look about you that I love it. I would enjoy talking with you, so if you feel up for good conversation your welcome. I m a down to earth guy who is warmhearted, Happy, outgoing and enthusiastic. I have an independent spirit, a quick wit and at times can be a little cheeky.. After having my life turned upside down I’m now ready for the next chapter and whatever fantastic adventures that may bring with it! Bring it on.

I m single with one son, i have my son full custody for over 7years, There is nothing in this world that makes me happier than seeing him smile. he is very cheeky and affectionate, I love to laugh and enjoy funny situations. I enjoy traveling and the adventures of the outdoors. Getting away is important because I think everyone should see what else is out there. I also like going to the movies, theater, museums or a nice restaurant. But I am just as happy staying home in some cases. I would like to meet someone who has similar interests, but who can introduce different activities into my life. I m not looking for perfect woman but someone that can love me for me, woman with good shoulder on her neck!!!

I m on business trip yo West Africa in Nigeria and i have been here for 6days, I don’t have problem relocating for the right woman, Let Chat if you dont mind.. I don’t get on this site often, kindly go through my profile, if you like what you see and read drop me a line VIA my personal email(xxxxxxx@xxxx.com)
Cheers

Note: My yahoo messenger address is XXXXXX@XX.XXX kindly add me if you really care to chat

*********************************************
What do you think about that!!! Crazy huh??

The winks from people that did not view your profile are a good sign as well. I have been winked by two different profiles in 3 weeks that actually included the same profile pictures. Neither even looked at my profile. Odd!

Also, disabled profiles still state that they were active within 24 hours. I noticed a friend on there. Notified her and she canceled her profile because she was happily dating someone. I added her as favorite so that I could easily locate her when I found her. She is still on the favorite list and shows that she must be logging in daily. That is not happening. This is another tactic they are using to keep people on this site. Obviously, the profile is inactive when clicked on, but if someone added her as a favorite it looks like she is still visiting the site.

Another faker sign is the SMALL profile pictures that looks too small to see. The 100 x 150 pixel pictures are ridiculous and should not even be approved by match to post to profiles. Since they are approved, you have to question the legitimacy of that profile.

Always question profiles that seem odd. Since match.com has to approve ANYTHING, what looks fake is fake.

Reading through the above lines give me the impression that, some men and women who partake in this scam stuff are not worth living. Let our instinct always rule us and we will never be a victim.

Today’s fake profile (with a wink!) was classic: 3 pictures of woman with jet-black hair, and the profile says “black” under hair-color, but the “About me” says “I am a true red-head, and I do possess most of the stereotypical red-headed traits…”

Geez! I was considering trying match. I’ve met several couples now who met on the service, but I was suspicious about all this winking and when I clicked on the profile it was no longer active. Big tip off so I Googled fake profiles and landed here. What a disappointment. I think I will wait a little more before I pay to join.

Yesterday I got a wink from somebody after 7 mos of searching. I was so elated until tonight when I saw that the bitch’s profile disappeared suddenly without a trace. I hate having my hopes built up just to crumble to the ground. I’m almost 30 and never dated, because I was either too shy or too afraid that a girl I liked would say “no”…someone hurt me when I was in high school.

This is a great article! And the comments are really helpful and insightful. I have experienced some online dating sites and there are definitely spam/fake profiles out there. You can spot them easily if you look carefully.

Much like the spam mail you get in your personal mailbox, some are really elaborate and can trick people into giving their credit card information or filling out a form. Geez, I get spam posing as Bank of America or Paypal that tells me to edit my account information because of recent “fraudulent” activities. For people who aren’t aware of these spam emails, if you click on the link it leads you to a site that looks exactly like Bank of America and what you fill out is recorded into their data system and your account is hacked. So spam is getting really hard to spot now, if you don’t have an eye for it.

Anyway, I am trying Match right now. For all the bad press it’s getting on here, Match did work out really well for my aunt. She found a really great guy on the site and they’re happily married for a year now.

Plenty of Fish is another decent site. It’s free which is the nice thing about it, but I think because it’s free people on there aren’t serious. I did meet and go on a really nice date with a girl there, however.

If Match, or any of them for that matter, is such a good site then why, after carefully filling out the the information requested, did i end up with a profile on the Lesbian Match site? I deleted profile and started again, watching even MORE closely, and it happened again. They all suck. They want to much money, have to many fake members, never answer your emails, and yes the local “ads” are all fake as well. Guess its time to go back to the grocery store eh.

Isn’t this article also telling the fakers what to improve upon so they blend in better?

I can see them taking notes now:
(1) fill in all spaces with bogus information

(2) find pics on a search engine that show the same girl/model or similar looking girls so that there’s more than one to post.

The ones your pointing out are only the really obvious ones that weren’t very good at it. The good ones won’t look any different from anyone else’s. And with articles like this around, your training the fakers to be even better fakers.

Wow, I wish I saw this months ago. So now I know. If anyone winks at you, then they are fakes if they have not viewed your profile. Now assuming that this rule holds, I had a genuine wink from a Venezuelan girl, followed by 3 fake winks from a Swedish, Filipino and a Canadian girl at roughly the same time. (I have also been tricked by a Nigeria scammer who did exactly the same thing, a wink and no view)

Anyway I really wish I didn’t spend so much time corresponding with the Swedish girl. Her story was very convincing but meant passing up on the real girl. I was being spammed by match.com and ironically inhibited from finding a true match.

I would like to contribute one tool to anyone trying to detect if their correspondence is genuine, if you leave your email and they reply using their own then they are real. Of course Match.com try to prevent this and in some guidelines they even say it is dangerous to do so as it can lead to stalking (It really doesn’t), in fact Match don’t want you to find a match, they just want to retain your patronage to their site and keep you hanging you on with brief correspondences with overseas fakes.

My disillusionment came when I got a wink from an Asian girl after my subscription expired. Oh how naive I was, I winked at her and when I subscribed again, profile gone! They sacrificed the fake profile to avoid actual interaction. However in her profile she liked wine tasting but didn’t drink alcohol – what is the likelihood of that anyway?

i had my pick on match.com of my choice had one thanks but no thanks and one one half IM contact. i’ve notice the active member time line. when i see them before they are not currently. recyling old profile after u seen them before. i see profile from WASH DC on IM got contact then she said im living with mom in africa and need a man to take care of me. i turn her down while i was in contact with other lady , so far she is not on the watch list of scammers. there is 99% scammers and 1% true love for you. if she not meeting her requirement stop sending money there and now.

I signed up to match.com yesterday, but then I read this strand of comments, and deleted my match.com profile faster than a ferret scaling a drainpipe. Thanks for all the warnings. I’ll be seeking my new contacts down at my local clog-dancing society from now on.
Collectors of the sublime or ridiculous might like this (genuine !?) message which I received this morning from a Russian dating site:-
“NO!NO!NO!!It`s can be!!!I don`t believe my eyes…!!!!hm….My moms some years ago show me foto with man,which she love all she`s life…And I see you….You are alike him….I`m little shocked…A think it`s can be a fate….
Answer me please…
Kiss you
Natasha”
As a chat-up line it may not have a great future. But having thought carefully about the implications of this, should I be talking to my legal advisor yet?

Nice article. But why assume those spammers are in league with match.com? They might just be random bad guys like the ones who make fake facebook profiles

My suscription on match. Com just expired and today I just receive 2 mail from two person that I was talking to before my suscription expired what should I do? And the winks don’t stop, but I feel like I’m wasting my mother on match.

I’m new to match and came upon this while trying to figure out why I was getting so many winks that just didn’t make sense. In fact, I got 2 while reading this! Both from far away, only one picture, whith profiles that just didn’t add up. One guy had “never” for the amount he drinks, yet his picture shows him holding a beer and his profile says that he likes wine. The other only had one picture as well, but his profile talks about his other pictures (plural) on there, and specifically about not judging him on the picture of him fishing (no fishing picture to be found). I’ve already made the mistake of giving out my phone number to someone on match… I won’t do that again! Reading everyone’s comments is a bit discouraging, but I guess since I’ve already paid for a few months I’ll stay on, but I’ll definitely be a lot more cautious. And when my subscription does end, I will be sure not to fall for the emails trying to entice me back in.

My newest pet peeve is women who will correspond with me yet their emails bear no relationship or continuity to the previous notes that either of us have written.

It makes me think the Match intern/elves are hard at work again.

Where is the attorney reading this, class action lawsuits are just screaming to happen now. I have proof of the repeated fraud from match, the fakes increase near your subscription end date. I want a refund! And extra for wasted time and emotional turmoil. ha!

Most of the fakes did show up in the Whose Viewed Me section, many did not. Broken English first contact that’s tied to a perfect/near perfectly written profile is a fairly quick give away. Also, I start now by just asking for a phone number, the fakes disappear quickly after that. However; I would think the scammers, money seekers won’t disappear when asked for a phone number they probably want to give you one, THE FAKES set up by Match itself disappear, I would guess because they are out of the country. Most seem to have the odd email addressed- hotmail, realtyagent…

Also the last poster mentioned the subject matter doesn’t flow, the questions aren’t answered and many terms of endearments are used, over the top… silly sign offs like LOVE HUGS KISSES that someone hired from another country may not understand is far too childish for a 50something male to use.

Another tip, the sympathy angle. My family is dead, I have no siblings, my parents died in an auto accident, my child is in a different country, these are feelers to find out how GULLIBLE you are. Just move on and report, keep the reports in a different mail account than you Match account, if this really does go class action BIG TIME, you may want to be part of it at some point. Trivial cause possibly in light of all the ‘mess’ out there today, but it’s a heart felt cause to many.

I do feel badly for the shorter men out there looking to date, it’s a huge social stigma; short=jealous and insecure, short=less pay… I have lived through the short jealous and never dated a shorter man again, until recently and they were also overly possessive. So?

Love reading all the how to spot a fake profile tip, thanks all! ~Jax

Where is the attorney reading this, class action lawsuits are just screaming to happen now. I have proof of the repeated fraud from match, the fakes increase near your subscription end date. I want a refund! And extra for wasted time and emotional turmoil. ha!

Most of the fakes did show up in the Whose Viewed Me section, many did not. Broken English first contact that’s tied to a perfect/near perfectly written profile is a fairly quick give away. Also, I start now by just asking for a phone number, the fakes disappear quickly after that. However; I would think the scammers, money seekers won’t disappear when asked for a phone number they probably want to give you one, THE FAKES set up by Match itself disappear, I would guess because they are out of the country. Most seem to have the odd email addressed- hotmail, realtyagent…

Also the last poster mentioned the subject matter doesn’t flow, the questions aren’t answered and many terms of endearments are used, over the top… silly sign offs like LOVE HUGS KISSES that someone hired from another country may not understand is far too childish for a 50something male to use.

Another tip, the sympathy angle. My family is dead, I have no siblings, my parents died in an auto accident, my child is in a different country, these are feelers to find out how GULLIBLE you are. Just move on and report, keep the reports in a different mail account than you Match account, if this really does go class action BIG TIME, you may want to be part of it at some point. Trivial cause possibly in light of all the ‘mess’ out there today, but it’s a heart felt cause to many.

I do feel badly for the shorter men out there looking to date, it’s a huge social stigma; short=jealous and insecure, short=less pay… I have lived through the short jealous and never dated a shorter man again, until recently and they were also overly possessive. So?

Love reading all the how to spot a fake profile tip, thanks all! ~Jax

Most of the fakes did show up in the Whose Viewed Me section, many did not. Broken English first contact that’s tied to a perfect/near perfectly written profile is a fairly quick give away. Also, I start now by just asking for a phone number, the fakes disappear quickly after that. However; I would think the scammers, money seekers won’t disappear when asked for a phone number they probably want to give you one, THE FAKES set up by Match itself disappear, I would guess because they are out of the country. Most seem to have the odd email addressed- hotmail, realtyagent…

Also the last poster mentioned the subject matter doesn’t flow, the questions aren’t answered and many terms of endearments are used, over the top… silly sign offs like LOVE HUGS KISSES that someone hired from another country may not understand is far too childish for a 50something male to use.

Another tip, the sympathy angle. My family is dead, I have no siblings, my parents died in an auto accident, my child is in a different country, these are feelers to find out how GULLIBLE you are. Just move on and report, keep the reports in a different mail account than you Match account, if this really does go class action BIG TIME, you may want to be part of it at some point. Trivial cause possibly in light of all the ‘mess’ out there today, but it’s a heart felt cause to many.

I do feel badly for the shorter men out there looking to date, it’s a huge social stigma; short=jealous and insecure, short=less pay… I have lived through the short jealous and never dated a shorter man again, until recently and they were also overly possessive. So?

Love reading all the how to spot a fake profile tip, thanks all! ~Jax

I just got two winks to entice me to join. They are from two different parts of the state with two different user names but the verbiage in profile is exactly the same. Goddamn it!

While these profiles are most likely fake indeed, most are probably not put up by Match themselves but are probably just scammers from Nigeria, Russia, etc. Once you contact them, most folks with at least half a working brain would realize it’s a scam rather quickly but there a few who do get caught up in it and convinced by these con artists… and end up being taken advantage of. I believe this is the case with most fake profiles, rather than a ruse by Match to keep people subscribed.

I have been reading about lawsuits filed because of this. http://www.google.com/search?q=suing+match+fake+profiles&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a

I think there is just too much smoke now not to believe there isn’t a fire.

In my own profile right now, I believe I have received 6 or so fakes from match this week. The fall under the places I can’t view unless I pay.

Here are some more fake profile facts. example, 30yrs old and looking for guys 30-50+. Wants kids with a 50yr old plus? Search region is beyond maybe 50-100 miles. (5000 miles?)
They do post more than 1 photo sometimes. But alot of them post pic’s of sunsets, beaches, etc. Or post a pic of someone in their 20′s and say their age is 40+?
They sometimes do a little research on local spots. But then post favorite “hot spots” as something VERY normal and local. Then add things like, Paris, London, Rome?

Now on to “red flags” for real womens profiles. If she has “some college” and posts NO income OR no education. But wants a “match” with a Bachelors, Masters plus. And expects him to make at least 50% more than her?
These are HIGH maintainence women! That want a guy to supplement their lack of early planning, motivation, etc. And want a guy to pay for ALL their entertainment. Take note of how MANY of them say, they LOVE to travel, travel! Sure they do, on YOUR dime.
If they put “no way” for them as a smoker? Yet post no preference or no answer. Or put daily, trying to quit or ocassionaly for their “match?” There is an 85-90% chance that THEY are smokers. They are lying about it to, “broaden their market appeal.”
They will either try to hide it for awhile. And then hope or assume that after you meet them. You will be SO smitten, that you will forgive or forget. That your date picks and chooses, what lies to tell and JUSTIFIES them.
Watchout for “wannabe Cougars.” 40+ years old with 2-3 kids at home. And are looking for guys MAYBE 1yr older and 15-20yrs younger? And of course with a Master, PhD, etc AND make 150K a year. YEP, thats JUST what a never married, 28yr old doctor is looking for. A 45yr old mother of 3. (get real ladies!)
They are definately height addicted! 5′ 3″ 5′ 4″ women, requiring a guy 6 foot PLUS?
These are the serial daters and high maintainence women on Match.com. Maybe slightly overweight, no education and low income, kids, etc. And think they have the “golden cunny” that all young HOT guys, want to have a “relationship” with?

I did my own study and posted a fake profile. The guy was supermodel looking and 6′ 5″. I posted several fake photos, with an income of 150K plus, never married and no kids.
This guy got more offers of ASS, than a cowboys saddle. Even after I responded as him. Telling potential “matches” that I was a serial dater. Not wanting to settle down, get married, etc. And that I already had several “friends with benefit” relationships.
These women were telling him, “thats ok, lets meet and go from there.” Interesting, do they think THEY have what it takes, to LOCK him up exclusive?
Some of these women had max age ranges, for guys 5-10yrs younger than him (44) And when I would say, “I don’t seem to fit your age range.” They would claim that, “age is just a number.” Funny how things change for them, when the GRAND prize is within reach?
And notice how the age range increases for younger women, IF they have kids. Example; A woman 30yrs old with NO kids. Might have a max age range of 37-39. But VERY likely below 40.
A woman 30yrs old with 2 kids? 90% of them will have their max age range, beyond 40yrs old. Can it be that they need financial help for their kids? Maybe they married young and the EX is a deadbeat (no child support) So are really wanting help?

These are all VERY realistic fact I have discovered. Online dating can be fun, if you know the rules and can keep it in perspective!

Jim,

The ladies profiles you mentioned sound real, they are real people and you posted a fake. The Fake ones like you and your profile is what the topic was. These women that post can be cougars if they would like to be, so what do you care? What do you care if a woman wants a tall guy, just pass her by and leave her alone…

You are picking apart what are real profiles and making match fake by posting a fake profile. WHY?

JIm, do you realize the photos you use, copy and put on your fake profile could mean you are breaking the law? Copyright and otherwise… Frankly, it’s a form of identity theft.

Match, e-harmony and Yahoo have tons and tons of fake profiles from married men and a boat load of overseas women. Also, I noticed that many men apply the 3 day dating rule before sex.

I met a guy, that had one cell phone for just his women aka booty calls. I met another man who was mentally unstable, Another one actually was dating several women at the same time. What finally broke the ice was a man who broke off with his woman the night before and the next day he was “looking for love” on Match/Yahoo.

I turned off my account and ran away from online dating.

Run children. Run!

Very intriguing (especially the comments). I gotta say, my experience on match has been extremely positive since joining 5 months ago. You definitely have to play the numbers and sort through occasional fakes or people who would otherwise waste your time, but finding love online is VERY possible.

Match.com, nothing good to say about it…. You think you find the perfect match think again.. I know someone who has 2 accounts and use both of them the same day, I will mention just one armand1333.. He is in a relationship with a great girl. He is not the age he mention to be.. It is sad because I am sure there are a lot more like him who think dating is just ajoke

I reluctantly went back on Match after a 1 1/2 year hiatus. My 30 yr. old coworker recently got scammed by a guy claiming to be in the Philippines to get his daughter – tried to get her to wire $$$. Glad I warned her, she didn’t send him $$$ but she felt violated none the less.

I am 50 so I’m not at the same age as many folks on Match. You’d figure that at our ages we’ve ‘matured’ a little and are not looking to be playas. All I know is that I spent $70 for 3 months. I try to meet people any way I can – at work, through friends and Meetups. I’m just using Match as a tool, not the only avenue for connections. But I’m very wary and whatever will be, will be. Hope others are successful on or offline.

Best – Kim

I’m a single male, 44 yrs old, and I have a profile on Match. A few days ago, I received a *wink* from a woman (presumably) aged 42, without a photo, whose profile indicated that she’s looking for someone between 18 and 35. The red alerts are now going off, but it gets better. In one essay, she states that she was a teacher for 34 years; she started teaching when she was 8 yrs old? Talk about precocious!

After she winked, I replied hilariously, very winning I thought. She replied back in an email, very winning also, I thought. I joked about her random screenname. She joked back and said initials ‘DCR’ stood for something. But she didn’t have ‘DCR’ in her screenname. I assume at this point she/he is using several fake accounts, and he/she got confused. I email back, very winning, and at the end joke that I must be tired, as I don’t see ‘DCR’ in her account. Shortly after, her name in the ‘messages’ section and ‘who’s viewed you’ section don’t jive, totally new name. My profile is suddenly viewed 9 times, but no knew faces. Then her name is corrected to the original. I of course take screen shots of all this as it transpires. She emails back (probably 5th response), ignoring my joke (as I realize that in early emails she ignores all clever references and focuses solely on the broad, easy questions), and asks to meet for drinks. I agree (believing it’s fake) and encourage her to pick the spot, testing her/his resolve to continue the lie. No response. With the screen shots and odd turn of events, is that proof that someone at match is manipulating the accounts, sending false emails? It’s quite sinister really, to think someone is employed to generate and maintain interest in the website under false pretenses. One thing to maintain old accounts, and probably more than a little dishonest to possibly generate totally fake ones, but it’s quite another to employ personnel to play the game, asking me questions and gathering personal (not that personal, I’m not that naive) information I would volunteer only to a trusted person. And there is no ‘scam’ here by anybody else, it appears to be an action of Match. How has nobody come forth, how has it not been undeniably revealed? Is some sort of public reveal or shaming merited? I know some of the people are real, I’ve dated them, so it’s not a blanket statement of false goods, just a debate on the ethics of the company. Plus I want my money back, who knows how much time I’ve wasted on fake profiles over a year.

Yep. It’s exactly that.

Wow, I’m glad I found this article! Reading these comments made me stop questioning my sanity. Here’s the story: I live in a rural area, where there aren’t many Match.com users to begin with. I’ve checked in once or twice in the past, but this time, there is a woman on there that looks too good to be true (in fact, why haven’t I seen her around town?). She’s attractive, and knows how to spell…and we’re literally a perfect match (given the fairly generic criteria). There are only two other local men that come up as being matches as well, but they both haven’t signed in for “more that 3 weeks.” So I give her a chance, and shoot off an email. No reply, but I notice she signs on in the mornings, and in the evenings, so I just figure I wasn’t her type after all, or maybe she is busy with men from father away. I take her off my favorites, and she stops signing on! (search for the bob davis comment above). I figure I must be going crazy, so I repeat the experiment three more times over the course of two weeks. When I favorite her, she’ll come online in the morning and the evening, at the EXACT (down to the minute!) same time daily, but as soon as I remove her from favorites, she won’t sign on until added again. Her profile is VERY realistic, with multiple pictures, believable requirements, etc. I only wish I hadn’t wasted my time and money thinking about someone who doesn’t exist. I signed up for match.com because I thought it was a fairly reputable company — I think I’ll stick to dating the old fashioned way from now on.

I caught my boyfriend with an online account at plenty of fish and match.com. Then all of a sudden he has TRUST issues! He’s been on match since June 13 and finally told me Saturday we need to go our separate ways. 37 y/o white male army officer in Alexandria VA. Thankfully I found out before he moved in (we were planning on getting married). Ladies beware. Hello! Last year I met a guy on match.com and we spent a lot of time together and dating exclusively, however he spent numerous hours online each day and lied to me about where he was at or what I was doing. You want to catch them, hide your profile so they don’t know you can see. The site is full of PLAYERS & FAKES! Its a REAL MEAT MARKET! You pay for and feel like a used dish rag when you’re finished!

My experience with match is not a great one so far because I realise that and I have been talking to someone who lives in silver spring maryland and he has 2 different account on match,com…. Then I realise he is not the age he says he is he is much older… I am not sure why he is doing that but he must be trying to prove himself at 68 years old, he can still do the job (LOL) sorry I find it funny but also very frustrated. Does he need a reality check I hope he gets it very soon because if he thinks that he will get a younger woman that is his age range he need a big fat wallet… sorry but that how I feel

Match.com is sickening and should be investigated for fraud.

Here’s my story…

I was originally on “Yahoo Personals” but hadn’t used the site in months, I received an mail from Yahoo saying their dating site was closing down, and I had the option to transfer to their new partner match.com, which I said why not.

Yahoo offered a free 4 day trial, but I Googled a bit and found a link for a 7 day trial.

After signing up I got quite a few winks and emails, and one guy in particular caught my eye, so I winked back. He then messaged me, and we continued to message each other back and forth over the course of 5 days, then suddenly the messages from him stopped.

I had thought about renewing my membership after the free trial, mainly because there were others I was still interested in contacting, him especially, and also another guy who was emailing me.

I signed up for 1 month subscription at a discounted rate–I emailed the other guy and we exchanged a few messages, then guess what suddenly he stopped responding too. And over 3 weeks no email from the other guy.

Like a girl I assumed it was me, but then I said that’s impossible because the email exchanges were lite, small talk no real specifics.

Oh and interestingly enough today I got two winks from pretty decent looking guys which neither of them viewed my profile, yet sent me winks.LOL When I went to view both of their profiles I got an error “saying the profile could not be found” this is when I’m logged in, yet when I log out and click on the link there profile pops up.

It’s truly sad that a company can toy with people emotions, especially people who are lonely and just looking to meet someone.

I only hope Karma serves it’s purpose!

Recently had an experience at Match. Had alot of winks from guys but all from different states. Only 1 guy from my hometown winked at me he had a nice profile was attractive with a cute little girl in his pic. I emailed and thanked him for the wink. We began talking after that directly to YM. He said his name was Charles Detert and he was half German. After talking for a few days in reported to me “Im in love with you and miss you so much” lol. Now this guy has never met me face to face or offered to. To make a long story short he told me he was a construction engineer and was going to LA then to Paris to work on getting a contract. Here is where the scam comes in, he then began asking me for money. Ofcourse I didnt give it to him and called him a few choice names and eliminated all ways for him to contact me. Havent heard from him since. Just wanted to get my story out there in case any women run into this guy on Match or other websites.

All this Match smack talk! At the risk of sounding like a shill, Match has, by far, the largest “stable” (funny word) of singles, most of whom are clearly real. They probably stack the deck a bit when they show search results. The default sort criteria is by “match pick”. Of _course_ they’re going to throw in some in-the-last-month-of-subscription “picks”. Wouldn’t you if you were they?

Match wants to make money. They don’t care about your lonely heart. They provide a service, it’s not all that expensive, and, yes, they may have blazed the trail for more insidious and nefarious sites that are filled with obviously fake profiles, and, sure, there was a scuttlebutt over accusations that they were hiring models to go on dates, but…

Fraud? I doubt it. As another contributor said, they’d risk their reputation and income by being stupidly fraudulent?

Use it for what you can, be smart, never give out personal information (even your real name) until you’ve met the person and ask to see his/her ID when you meet before you say a word!

I keep hearing, in this thread and others and from some of my friends, that the best thing to do is to jump to the first meet as quickly as possible. I’ve been on match, I’ve met men online on other venues…I disagree. Establishing a repoire through email and through phone calls, as “phony” as that might seem (it’s not phony, it’s just new and different) is a good way to tell if there’s enough evidence to continue. If you take the hand-wringing attitude that online match-making is sad and impersonal, then stay out of it.

I’ve made a few very good male friends (and, in one notable case, a female friend who was a friend of a fellow I thought I was interested in) through match etc. We took the time to write, to talk, and we thought there was something there. We met and…nothing. No spark. But no harm done, “like” can be good enough if it’s honest. If I’d met said “no more writing, no more talking, we meet NOW” I don’t think I would have ever seen them again.

Match (et al) can work, but you can’t get carried away—and you can’t get pissed off if you meet some scam artists. You can meet them anywhere. It’s a whole hell of a lot easier to say “fuck off” to someone who asks you for pity money when you’ve met the online than it is to have the temerity to do so if you’ve met them in real life and fallen for their gag.

I am a current member of Match. Yesterday I received a “wink” from a lady who claim she lives in Jacksonville Florida (my town) and is a 3rd generation Jaxville lady. I emailed her yesterday and after checking her profile later that evening, it was changed to a new user name with new pictures and a listing for Colorado. Today, the profile is not available. This just smells funny. If Match is behind this, it is just wrong and unethical.

Disgusted with Match after two months I was cancelling, completing a questionaire, explaining that women in late fourties and above cant’ be successful, as men who are age appropriate, are sexually appealing, successful to match a succesful, beautiful older women will only search women 8 – 20 years younger. That’s reality, so match does not work for older women. All of a sudden in a few days, I get four winks, not emails, just WINKS,and Interest indications from all the Model looking men in their early 50′s . Definitely Stock photo, just 1 photo,..Perfect lighting, looks like a male model in a catalogue clothing ad or racer on a bike looking like Lance Armstrog with dark sunglasses. AND,, to illustrate this OUTRAGEOUS SCAM, so detectable, the mock up fake male profile indicates as a 49 year old male his DATE RANGE WOULD BE 45-66 years old. HUH? Are you kidding a handsome model would date a 66 year old women????? There is no answers on his preferences such as height, racial preference, body type. NO man would not be specific about body type, and just leave the details blank I wrote a stern letter to Match telling them how unlawful, illegal the scam is to trick Members to renew. It’s also VERY CRUEL to the dim bulb older women who get excited and hopes high to renew, thinking that a handsome model looking male would be interested in them. Shameful SCAM with match. I can’t be fooled.

I usually try to look people up on myspace or facebook to avoid paying for an account. This makes sense as to why I don’t really find people. (It’s possible though, I’ve found a few)

I posted on match.com and i only uploaded one pic of myself, to me that is enough, i notice some people put huge amounts of photos on their profile and it seems to me they have been online search for the perfect companion for years, so more pics to me uploaded equals over-kill.
i also left many fields filling out the questionnaire wide open in hopes of meeting new people that i would normally never meet, like, i don’t care the height, the income, the education etc . so , according to your post my profile ad would look fake and that is far from the truth.

now do i have a new partner because my ad is correct, no, but i do have many men that i chat with because they live far away and i have done some fishing/diving/hiking with others i met in my town but no sparks for them or me as yet.
i’m cool with it cause it’s enjoyable to have interactions with strangers cause i find it exciting enough.

I post here the european experience with dating sites. We europeans we deal a lot with african profiles, due to the fact that we have the same time zone. Some are genuine, some are scams trying phishing or getting your money.

My 2 penny advice is quite simple, it burns all bogus profiles and make you save lot of time.

Just ask their yahoo ou windows messenger, and require a chat with camview. This removes all incongruences between photo and real person.
To avoid pre recorded videocams ask them to rise their right arm at one given moment, if they fail to do it it’s a pre recorded session
Last but not least ask them their mobile phone number, call them and look if they answer in front of you in the cam

Very simple. I’m meeting real and interesting people from Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon….
It just takes some good sense

In Africa there are cybers everywhere now, all equipped with cams
And many africans have their laptop with cam now
Never believe stories like “cam is broken”, “I just lost my phone” “i hate cybers because I’m scared of people attending them” (cybers are very safe, I used them a lot myself)

Hope I was useful

Wow. Frank sounds like a stalker and a bit of a perv. Or at least paranoid…and a stalker. Yeah, great advice. Jump on that webcam as soon as possible.

“To avoid pre recorded videocams…” you’re joking, right? Maybe I’m just out of the loop but…uhm, how about exchanging a few emails and then talk on the phone? If you’re not a moron, you should be able to sort the scammers from the people who are authentic. If some guy asked me to turn on my webcam and follow his exercise instructions, I’d really wonder about his emotional maturity.

How about some real advice (and this is probably more for women than men):

- Spend $10 and do a background check on your date that includes criminal records.

- When you meet for the first time, ask to see his/her driver’s license. I do this all the time, and I’ve only had two guys refuse. Instantly out of there.

- Do _not_ ever ever ever do the webcam thing until you’ve met someone in person.

- _Never_ meet someone for the first time without telling a friend where you’re going, what the other person’s name is, where they live, and when you expect to be back. If it all checks out, give your friend a call–in your date’s presence–and say it’s ok, and then tell your friend that you’ll call when you’re heading home. If your date is safe and sane (and that means 98% of the time), they’ll be flattered that you’re taking it seriously, and will treat you with respect. If they’re offended–leave.

- When you meet someone for the first time, make sure it’s in public and that there will be people around. (Duh)

- Arrive early.

Hope I’ve been helpful. Or you could just take frank’s advice and turn on your webcam. It’s all good, right frank?

Nope, frank, you weren’t useful. Amusing, but not useful.

Regarding the Faked, Mocked up dummy Match Com mens profiles in the later 40′s – mid 50′s ranges, i’m a 49 y.o female. As my membership was to expire in a few days,still receiving fraudulent mens’ profiles Winks”, actually emails now with one short complimentary sentence, I replied stating since “I’ve been getting so many faked impersonations of Winks, and Emails from the match team to trick me to renew, Here’s my direct phone number. If you are truly a “REAL” genuine interested guy, please call me. If I don’t hear from you via a phone call, that’s PROOF this is another deceptive email from match employees. I NEVER received any calls when I immediately provide my number in a return reply.In two months, I’ve only talked to two men, had somewhat okay conversations, never heard from them again. Seems these were also match employees, as one guys personality didn’t seem to match his profile experience for his age of 50, he was vague, I asked how he made his living, who he worked for, he replies, on the interent from home, it’s secret, NOW it makes sense, he was a Match covert operative, pretending to be interested said he’d call me back and set up a date later….Never heard from him again. I’m disgusted and feel robbed, fooled, by Match’s deceptive, fruadulent business practices. I also edited the first sentance in my profile stating, I did NOT renew, can’t open emails. Match denied, and did not approve of this change. So I am deleting my profile completely. Match NEEDS to have your inactive profile to FOOL others you are still active, misleading, unethical, so I have it invisible at the moment.

Since many folks come here to seek good advice regarding online dating, I’d like to address one bizarre comment from above: a women mentioned that if she sees a guy posting a 50 mile range she knows he is a “player” — I truly don’t understand this.

I live in a rural area 70 miles away from two major cities (I’m in between). What do you think my range is going to be? Of course I’m going to be happy to drive an hour to see someone. It’s not a big deal. It doesn’t mean that someone is a “player” (whatever that means, really). It just means they know there’s a big world outside of their own town.

I’m a 53 year old male doing Match.com off and on for over 10 years and have have been very successful on it. I have met scores of quality women, some of whom I’ve shared in relationships. I am an average looking guy, about 20-30 lbs overweight, don’t state my income on Match, but am six feet tall. Here’s a few suggestions to get the most bang for your buck… 1) You must write an intelligent grammatically correct profile with some good humor that accurately represents who you are and what you are seeking. Women like guys who appear confident and know what they want in life, and have the experience behind that. 2) Do not lie or misrepresent yourself; women will read you like a book 3) Frequently make small changes to your profile because that will send your profile back to the top of the stack when someone does a search for matching profiles. 4) Do not waste your time trying to get to know someone through email. Get on the phone and agree to meet for Coffee or a drink should the conversation flow well. Do not obligate yourself for an elaborate date until you’ve already met and believe there is sufficient chemistry. 5) Online dating is entirely a numbers game. Have several possibilities in the pipeline because finding that elusive chemistry and compatibility is quite difficult.

Last night my account on Match was hijacked by a spammer. I received an email from an alleged interested woman and it contained a link to a URL. Stupid me! After I clicked on the link, I have not been able to log back into Match.