When I subscribed to the community, I found this contest post really interesting and I'm so glad to have my first contest participation since I joined hive.
This question is of interest to me as I was almost a victim to this fraud. I've been on different dating apps and one time I met this guy that really did fit me in a way. I liked the relationship because it was the only thing that made me happy at that time in my life.
Love sometimes can be a distraction from depression so I thought why not? I dug into dating apps and found my match. We dated for almost six months and I kept asking him to FaceTime or make out time for us to meet each other but Everytime I raised the topic, he always switched to something else immediately which was the first red flag.
At some point he started coming up with different complaints of how he hadn't eaten for days and talked a lot about his school fees, his financial status deteriorating and lots of pitiful things that could make a very compassionate person die of compassion. Lol.
I sent him some money for food a few times but when I figured this news of not eating or being financially buoyant was the only thing the guy could bring to the table everyday, I got so irritated and deleted the app from my phone(It was that annoying). One thing that really pissed me off was when he asked me to get him N100,000 which is equivalent to $144 from my grammy saying he just had to pay for his school fees and that he'd pay back when the money he was expecting reached his account. My question to him was "you were so broke yet you decided to sign up on a dating app"? I don't see why anyone should sign up for dating when they have no money and all they can do is beg or try to steal from someone caused scam is obviously theft(my opinion though)🤷.
I was tired of hearing different complaints everyday, he made it so obvious that I knew he was just a scammer looking for whom to defraud all in the name of relationship.
What will you do to avoid being a victim of dating scams online?
In my case, I immediately cut ties with any guy that brings up money issues when of course we have never facetimed or met each other in person. Even if I've met with the person, that isn't enough reason to give out a huge amount of money or even little amount(as money is of great value) to someone you're not familiar with.
The moment a person starts complaining about money on a dating site, then it's definitely a scam and such ties should be cut off ASAP else the heartbreak would be too heavy to carry.
I've been in and out of dating sites and have met the fake and the real. The real ones that were match made with me had qualities that I didn't appreciate at all so we to cut ties.
My experience so far on dating sites had been one hell of a thing and I quit it a long time ago when I met someone else. That'll be a story for next time.