Don't Be A Victim of Chinese Online Dating Scams Part 2

Many foreign men have a great appreciation of the manners, grace, and values that characterize Chinese women; they find these traits highly desirable in a wife. These men join online Chinese dating sites to meet these women of China in the hopes of finding a life mate among them. Unfortunately, a growing number of foreign men are being targeted by scammers looking to rob them of money.

Some men get drawn into joining fraudulent Chinese dating sites where majority of the female profiles are fake, that is to say the photos are not of the people they claim to be and personal details they post are made up. Others, who are members of legitimate and respectable matchmaking sites, get preyed upon by deceitful and ill-intentioned characters who also manage to infiltrate these sites despite security measures put in place to keep them out.

How can one protect himself from these predators?

As I mentioned in the first part of this two-part blog series, the most effective first line of defense is information. Find out which online Chinese dating sites are fraudulent. These scammers have managed to make themselves top the search results of the most popular search engines; you can use these same search engine tools against them. Use relevant keywords to find these fake sites, such as "Chinese online dating scams," "Chinese dating scams and frauds," "fake Chinese dating sites," or any other combination of these words. Join relevant forums that discuss this issue to get more specific information from other men who have had personal experiences with these scammers.

From these forums, as well as blogs and articles from reputable sites, you can also find out which matchmaking sites are legitimate. Before joining, again, get as much information as you can from secondary sources about the particular site you are interested in by doing a separate search using the name of the site. Using a site's name as a search keyword and adding the words "scam," "scammers," "fraudulent," or "fake" is also a great way to find out if the site has been the subject of many complaints from members who have been victims of such scams.

One of the most important information you should find out about a particular Chinese dating site is the kind of security measure they have in place to protect their members against scammers. Additionally, check out the member profiles, as many of them as you can. A lot of fake matchmaking sites in China feature fake profiles with photos of women in various states of undress. Photos bordering on indecency, if not being outright indecent, are a good sign that the site, or at least the profile, is a fake especially if these types of photos are featured a lot. One has to remember that sincere Chinese women always present themselves in a respectable manner.

When you are contacted by a female member of the site, check out her profile carefully. Before initiating contact yourself with any Chinese woman, this is always a good first step. When reading her profile, study her manner of speaking, that is to say how she describes herself and what she's looking for. Again, women of China who are sincerely looking for love behave decorously and this would show in how they present themselves, not only in their photos, but also in their words, even if their English is broken; they are not aggressive. As an additional measure, look for her on social networking sites. There are sites you can use, such as tinyeye.com, where you can upload a photo to find out where else on the internet that particular photo has been used. Google Image Search also now offers this function.

When you're already communicating with a female member, watch out for these red flags: she wants the two of you to start communicating through phone, email, or other messaging tools soon after the first contact; she starts talking about wanting to see you very soon even if you don't know each other very well yet or, more specifically, she wants you to visit her soon; she suddenly tells you a sob story, especially something related to money; she asks you for other personal information, such as your phone number, personal and work email, work and home address, and even credit information; she asks you to send her money. The last one is their ultimate goal.

If you are suspicious of a member who has contacted you based on a communication you received, you can copy and paste the entire message, or even the person's profile description, on Google to find out if that exact message or content has appeared anywhere else on the internet. If the person provides certain personal information, such as claiming to be a lawyer from this or that city, you can try to verify that information online.

Find out more about Chinese dating and the ways you can protect yourself from scammers by visiting legitimate and reputable matchmaking sites, such as ChinaLoveMatch.net, which feature very informative blogs written by real members. The home of Scammer Prison, ChinaLoveMatch.net in particular welcomes members to report suspicious behavior and investigates in detail to ensure the safety and security of all members.