Having basic fraud investigation
skills is a good idea for people who want to try online dating. Statistics show
that dating fraud is one of the major online concerns in many countries. Online
dating gained more popularity through the years as Internet and mobile devices
became globally accessible, giving more people a convenient way to connect to
each other. Many people use dating sites and other social platforms to meet
more people in the hope that one of these people is actually the special
someone that they can spend their life with.
Romantic attachments often put
people in a vulnerable position, which is why many fraudsters find dating fraud
a convenient and promising way to scam people. In order to protect yourself
against these fraudsters, you must learn to conduct online dating fraud
investigation. You can use your investigative skills to find out whether you
are dealing with someone who is genuinely looking for a romantic attachment
like yourself or someone who will only break your heart once he's done
exploiting your resources. Here are some tips to give you an idea how to conduct
preliminary online dating investigation;
Preliminary Online Dating Fraud Investigation
● Check out reliable resources that can give you
tips about the common indicators of online dating fraud. Fraudsters often
follow a pattern when launching a fraudulent scheme. Every fraudster uses a different
scheming pattern, whichever works for them. Educating yourself about the most
common fraud schemes can help you establish key indicators of fraud which you can use during your fraud investigation.
● Join online dating forums. The best way to
conduct an investigation is by asking around. Forums usually include
discussions about the first hand experience of the people in the online dating
community. This is where you can get the latest and the most relevant information
that you may need during your investigation.
● Find tools and technologies utilized by online
dating experts when confirming the identity of their prospect online dating
partner. Since online dating fraudsters use false identities, one of the primary
things you should look for are technologies that can help verify the identity
of the person you are investigating. One example of this is the Google image
search, which you can use to check whether the profile picture of the person
you are investigating can be found elsewhere.
● You should also include observing cultural
nuisances and consistency. Reviewing text discussions or taking note of any
important information that was mentioned to you by your prospect online partner
should be a part of your preliminary fraud investigation. This should reveal
the truths and lies about his personal life, location, educational background
and even financial status. Use this information when deciding whether to
emotionally invest or disengage on an online prospect relationship.
