Life can take twists and turns even unexpected ones that might lead to a happy ending. We still need to be cautious while opening our heart up to someone. It is easy to be led down the wrong path then discovering their intentions were not what they seemed to be. Online has become a Russian roulette game.
Even if you do your homework by checking if this person exists for real, you can google them and found pictures and a bio to be exactly as they are in real life. But again, it is how they are going to interact with you that will define if the person behind the screen is the real one or not.
Even if you do not look for love you should continue to read this blog today as an FYI. At first, they are going to try to sweep you off of your feet by providing a little information. They will engage in wanting a relationship with you within a day after they connected with you.
If you are reading some of their messages, you might be starting to ask questions they are not answering back. Trying to get into your mind by sweet talking you. One thing will come after a few days, weeks or month to groom you they will drop something along those lines I have a personal matter to speak to you about. Then the hammers drop. They somehow need your help in regard to their retirement funds, money related issue they have and they are asking you because they love you and you should do it for love.
It is quite sad when people are toying with others especially those who are vulnerable and in need of companionship. Unfortunately, every single day unscrupulous individuals will utilize this kind of stratagem to con someone out of their money, home or other possessions, then leaving them broke and heart broken.
If you are meeting someone online regardless if you are looking or not, especially if that person drops into your life out of the blue. Start to ask them questions, do your homework especially when they are impersonating an officer of the military or someone who is famous.
If they are pressing you for money or help in any kind of shape or form this should be a red flag. Ask them to talk on the phone and Skype. If they refused or find an excuse right away this means that person is not who they say they are. If the person is real, they will be facing with you live on Skype.
Do not be fooled by it, No one should say they love you after a day of connecting with you and a lesson for everyone is this, if someone is trying to play on your feelings telling you “if you love me, do what I ask” this is not love just a con man/women who is trying to take advantage of you.
What should you do?
First block that person immediately from your social media.
Report the abuse immediately to the social media you are on so they can disable that account.
You should report to the FBI if you are living in the U.S.A. There is a website for cybercrimes in each country has one like that.
There are also chat lines you can go to report it so if someone is searching for information about a potential scam, they can find it and avoid going through it.
Always read carefully between the lines and their spelling as well. Non-natives will not write sentences perfectly, even when using a translation tool
Always ask to see them live so you know who you are facing regardless if they are telling you they are abroad in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc….
I am writing this today because someone tried to pull a con on me, but I never believed it since day one. I went along to see what they would try to do. They used someone who was high ranking in the Military. The problem they had is that my twitter account, since I am a life coach, is about my business not my personal life. Also, I am old fashion when it comes down to meeting someone. I want to see them face to face. Unless I see your face live, I will not believe who you are….
I am extremely well skilled because I can see remotely which if they did their homework would not have tried to mess with me. But again, ignorance is what leads some people.
This is a cautionary tale for anyone around the world. Anyone can become someone else especially behind a screen. Words of cautious, do not get fooled by it, be safe and stay safe.
Social media should also be more proactive on running algorithm to see if there is some name and picture recognition in regards of accounts. The highly ranking military the imposter used as actually 5 accounts under that name in twitter…. Something needs to be done!
I have added some links to report abuses in the U.S. Just be careful do not lose faith in humanity either. This doesn’t define who we are.
Useful Reporting sites
Cyber Crime
Internet Crime Complain Center
Twitter impersonation account reporting
Facebook reporting abuse