To say it in one short sentence, Do NOT send money to a lady you have not met in person.

You have probably heard comments that say online dating isn't really that safe. It's not true (as a matter of fact, online dating has proven to be a very good dating alternative for thousands of men and women worldwide, and grows more popular everyday). The reason for those comments draw from the experience of a few men who were careless with their online dating profiles and behavior, and who, as a result, were victims of the so called "online dating scam".

What scammers want to do is to get money from reckless guys and make a living, or at least a good side income from them. They usually use these tactics to get this goal:

First of all, they try to get in contact with you first, unlike a large group of women who still prefer to receive the first letter instead of sending it.

Soon you will see that in her letter, this supposed girl is way too self-confident and talks to you as if you had known her for years.

Obviously, the letter comes from a girl with a beautiful figure and quite provocative pictures.

It's not always easy to detect a scammer with the very first letter, so most men reply to them. Once they have replied, scammers try to build a relationship with their potential victim. Unlike normal women, who try to start an online relationship based on respect, dignity, and a little bit of flirting; scammers try to establish it based on sensuality, sex, fun, or sympathy with her family problems.

A few weeks, or months later (depending how adept they are and how much money they plan to extract) scammers will notice there are feelings towards them and will carry out their attack. To do it, they will usually tell stories about sick relatives, lack of money to go on with her studies, or any other "urgent" need. Moved by their feelings towards them, some guys buy this lie and send the money to the girl. After that, the girl either disappears or continues the virtual relationship with the guy as long as she can squeeze more money from him.

How to protect yourself

We liked a lot this article on Singles-Advice.com. In it they describe a few points that are very true:

No one will tell you "yes, amigo, I'm a scammer who only wants your money", so you need to use certain subtle questions to test your new Internet friend.

Scammers usually avoid replying questions about religion.

Scammers usually avoid talking about the past. For them, it's more convenient to move you to talking about a future together to further their strategies.

The main rule remains unchanged, though:

Never send money to a woman you have not met in person.