Money Order Scam
Today, the most common online dating scam involves cashing money orders. Most victims meet their scam artist in a chat room or on an online dating service. The scammer will act like they are romantically interested in their victim, telling them everything they want to hear and relating with them on a personal level. Depending on that individual scammer, this type of relationship can go on for weeks and even months.

The victim becomes comfortable with the scammer, believing the scammer cares about perusing a serious relationship. Sometimes, the victim will feel in love with the scammer. Then comes the bait. Whether the scammer explained it previously or suddenly reveals it, he or she will probably be living in another country. More often than not, the scammer will say that he or she is working out of the country. The most common scams run through Nigeria. They will tell their victim that they are having trouble cashing the money orders in that country, and will ask a "little favor" of their victim. They ask the victim to cash the money orders, then wire that money to them from the United States. Usually, the scammer will get the money and run, never to speak to their victim again. Then, it's usually found that the money orders were counterfeit, forcing the victim to pay the bank the amount wired, out of their own pocket. This common scam is all over the internet. People are sucked in completely by these professional scammers and often end up with nothing left in their bank accounts.

Foreign Bride Scam
The other most common online dating scam involves international dating, but the basic concept is still the same. While the industry continues to strive towards integrity and safety, online scams still exist in this arena. Unfortunately, the men involved are often too embarrassed or too distraught to stand up against this consistent problem.

It starts with a lonely guy. He has tried dating in his area, he's tried domestic online dating, and he is sick of the run-around. He is ready to meet someone single, beautiful, and ready to start a life with someone who cares for them. So, he goes online to an international dating site, more commonly known as a "mail-order bride" agency. When he gets to the website, he is immediately greeted with a pop-up window explaining that a beautiful young woman wants to chat with him. Since this was his whole reason for going there in the first place, he goes ahead. He joins the website and begins to chat, paying for it as he goes.

An hour goes by and he feels excited. Him and this beautiful new Russian woman are really hitting it off and he knows this won't be their last conversation. They say goodnight and promise to write letters/emails to each other the next day. When he wakes up the next morning, he has a letter in his mailbox. It's from his new friend and he can barely contain himself. But to open it, he needs to pay $10. "Eh, what the hell, it's just $10," he says to himself just before opening and reading the email. After reading it, he replies back to her, paying another $10 to send that letter. By the end of the day, he has exchanged seven letters each way and has spent $140, but he validates it by telling himself this is for true love, this is worth the money. The same thing happens the next day, and the next day, and so on. By the end of the month, he has spent $4,200 and hasn't even spoken to her over the phone yet. Once he begins phoning over the next few months, his bill goes up even more, but he doesn't care. He is in love with this gorgeous young Russian woman, and he knows she is in love with him too. After three months pass, along with $12,600 of his hard-earned money, he has never even met her. He only has pictures, her voice, and maybe some video to know her through. In reality, he doesn't know her at all. In his mind, however, they are in love. He wants her to come to America so bad he can barely stand it.

From here, the foreign bride scam goes either one of two ways: 1) Suddenly, she will present him with a problem. Maybe she can't afford her books for school, or maybe she can't pay an old parking ticket. Maybe she tells him the only way she can come to visit is if he sends her $2,000 for a plane ticket. Whatever it is, she will make an attempt to get the man to send her money, bottom line. Once she gets the money from him, he will most likely never hear from her again. 2) The woman will continue to correspond with the man until he asks to meet her in person. Once he asks to meet her, she will most likely come up with a reason not to meet. The woman he has been talking to, in reality, is an employee of the dating agency hired to chat with as many men as possible. These women are hired to start conversations with men online, get them to correspond and spend money with the website, then ditch the guy once he actually wants to meet. If the man does end up traveling to meet her, the agency will find the girl who was pictured, fill her in on the "conversations" she has supposedly had with that man, and send her on a boring date where she will show little interest in him before dismissing him completely.

One woman participating in this "mail-order bride" scam might be corresponding with over ten men at one time. This common scam is a perfect example of how the internet and online dating offers a unique situation for scammers to take advantage of other people. Keep reading to learn how you can avoid these types of scams.