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Lesmundo2003

Spain

December 13, 2007


Ok, you have read part 1, I assume.

So, you already know about scammers. Yes?

I said before, I'll only deal with romance scammers & just do a few light cautionary notes & examples to help the romantic souls amongst us, not to be taken in so easily.


The difference between men & women.

Venus & Mars or from an old nursery rhyme for children:


What are little boys made of?

Snips & snails & puppy dogs tails

That's what little boys are made of

What are little girls made of?

Sugar & spice & all things nice

That's what little girls are made of


Are we so different?

In my younger years, I would have said yes. I'm a very visual person & a great photographer too. Did I mention - modest?  :-)


I want to meet someone online & build up a friendship first. Get to know that person in the old fashioned way of my parents' generation, rather than with the idea of sex on the third date. Build the good foundations before sexual intimacy complicates the whole situation. Internet is an ideal tool to keep that distance & force the personal bonds before crossing & even jumping off that bridge.


How do we do this? We go to google & search with a few key words & are presented with 5,321 different sites for us to explore. That's a lot of writing in of personal details for each site we choose. How do we know which site to choose in the first place? Some of us only want local contacts. Others want a particular nationality or creed or even sexual orientation. We narrow the field a little & maybe just try 1 site or maybe 20 sites. We go in as guests without paying or are lucky enough to find the free dating sites that match our preferences.


We then decide how much of ourselves we want to expose. Details of our life, not physical nakedness. We put up a pic or 2 & take our chances. We are wary of not giving our full names & if like me, even create a separate identity online as our first line of defence. Do you really believe my name is Lesmundo? I also set up an additional email address with the free yahoo service. Contacts for only online people. Friends & family are on a more private address. If I have any white lies to correct with a person I wish to be a friend with, then I do this in the first stages of the new relationship. Better to start off with honesty. Unfortunately this method does leave us open to unscrupulous people that play a role, that we would like them to play. Our own desires trick us into believing their falsehoods.


The build up:

A lady contacts me & doesn't automatically tell me about her father who has just died & left her a lot of money that the business partner now wants. She doesn't tell me that she suspects that he killed her father & to keep the money safe, she needs me to deposit that money into my bank account. She doesn't ask for my bank details - because that scam has been around too long now & it's so obvious. As if you were going to give your personal info to some stranger like that.


No, she will first say hello & ask if she can she meet you on a messenger service like yahoo or msn. Cool - better to talk directly, than a series of emails that could have been written for countless contacts before meeting me.


If she contacts me through a site, I will only say hello if there is a pic to look at & see if she fits into my personal taste. I check her profile & once I get her yahoo/msn contact, find that profile too. If that profile doesn't have any information, but shows a recent modification date, I have to question the validity of the person. Now, I've recently changed my profiles to include my new teaching position, but those profiles are with info included. Be wary of new profiles with no info, is what I'm saying.


Now a pic says a lot about a person. Some of us can read more than others from the visual. From the facial structure, you can guess at the age, but also their birth nationality to a certain degree, if of course that is important to you. The way they dress. It is casual to tune in with you or do you want sophisticated & sharp? Are the photos taken in a neutral environment or forced like a professional photographer with good camera, lights & make-up artist would insist on.


Insist that she (or he - for the ladies in the audience) send you another few pics, preferably different from that original profile pics. Maybe even ones with the family or friends. Then when you have those originals, open them with a pic viewer, that allows you to read the Exif Properties. You get so much info from this. The actual date the pic was taken, when it was made into a normal pic for viewing. Also the make & model of the camera. If a pic is displayed online, this info is stripped away. Only an original non-internet pic will show this, if of course it's taken with a digital camera. For scanned prints, you won't have that info, but not most of us have access to a digital camera. Therefore if she gives you a pic without the Exif, it could have been snatched from someone's else profile or photo album.


Having said that, some pics retain the Exif info. In profiles in the dating sites & online fashion catalogues - no, but from online model agencies - yes.


Most photographers who put their prized work on show, will do the extra work to protect their work. I myself, create a watermark text label with a © to show copyright, as a warning that I'll prosecute anyone who steals & uses my pics. Of course I can't stop the casual thief, but my work does not get used elsewhere without my permission. Other extreme measures I use, are to display my images on a rapid FLASH program display. No drag & drop can be use & even screen grabbers have a hard time.


Other companies invite problems rather than think in prevention. Also they don't care that so many fakers are using their model's photos to beguile romantic hopefuls such as myself.


I do a few quick checks on any new contact:


• Dating/friendship site profile

• Yahoo/msn profile


• To check a name or email address that is used by a known scammer:

http://www.romancescam.com/album/thumbnails.php?album=search&type=full&search=annie


Use this address & then change the name "annie" at the end for your new contact's name.

Alternatively, use the search input box on the actual page.


• Next - the photo. One site that has had so many pics taken from it:

http://www.focusagencyhawaii.com/


 I'm sure you will recognise many women from here. Although the site may be genuine & the models themselves may be genuine, I will not state my reputation of this little fact. All I know is that there are so many women here that do nothing to stop their pics being used. If I was a model & knew my pic was being used because of this site, I would soon get it removed & cancel my account with them.


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This is just a short lesson about prevention & a few last minute tips.


• Be wary not to give personal bank details to anyone.

• Don't phone them with the numbers they give you, until you find out the exact address of the number. There are numbers that would have you paying the bill, even if they called you & the bill would have special charges added to it, to their advantage.

• Be wary of a person who gives you a sad story & then says, you could help them.

• If they mention a business partner who's after their dead father's money - RUN


Also set up a first contact email address, because if a false person gets your address, the least they will do, is sell it to spammers. Your inbox will be flooded with spam.


We meet all sorts of people everywhere. At work, college, neighbourhood etc & online. We meet real scumbags that are only interested in their satisfactions, driven by greed or sex. We meet decent people too, that maybe aren't really our type & then we finally meet someone for us. A friend or possibly more. Then we are glad we didn't give up.


Live with the hope, but be careful  :-)


More entries: Remember, remember, the fifth of November (1), Spanish Fiestas & photography . Where did the English go? (1), Meat & 2 veg Vs. the Chippie (1), Spanish Fiestas & photography, The birth of Scammers II - The Virtual (3), A Nation of Tea Drinkers

View all entries from My Blog - loads of words >

08:17 PM May 04 2008

xiaoxiao1219
China

:-(((  My dear friend, what abut the name I call you? Is it your real name? Maybe I haven't met this kind of people so I have little knowledge about this. But I know sometimes we can't believe what people say all the time. But I still believe what you say to me. :)))

04:08 PM Dec 31 2007

Lesmundo2003
Spain

Excuse me M.JEYADAVADOSSAR,


but WHAT ????


I'm glad my blog has helped you, but calling me 'dear' makes me think you were writing to someone else - maybe a female person. I can only hope!!!


The 'love for ever' comment - this guy has nothing to do with me what-so-ever!!!!


Yes - I'm just a tad bit homophobic & I don't mind admitting it.

01:14 PM Dec 30 2007

M.JEYADAVADOSSAR
India

Thank you so much dear...for you have remembered me to be very careful and aware of some unwanted human beings.Let's believe in the alchemy and omnipotent god to save us, to make us happy and let us in eternal peace.

                                       with love for ever,

                                     M.JEYADAVADOSSAR.