Cheats and fake profiles – how to take action!

What to do if you’ve been cheated on an online dating site?

I don’t mean like you’ve chatted a while to someone and felt like there was a connection but then they’ve happily walked off into the sunset hand in hand with someone else.

What I mean is falling prey to a fake profile or someone who is married or even someone who looks completely different in real life to what their profile picture suggests. I think you all know what I mean – even if we’ve been lucky not to have an experience like that ourselves, it’s likely that we’ve heard similar stories.

There isn’t much you can do about people who misrepresent themselves in such ways other than reporting them to the dating site you’re a member of. If you meet a real fraudster online who trys to swindle some money out of you with a sob story you can most certainly turn to the police. But you can’t exactly call 999 and complain that your date lied about being single or having hair!

So what do you do? Turns out there’s a new website where you can turn to and it’s aptly called Lots Of Fakes. Basically it’s a database of online dating site members who someone has reported to teh site for scamming – anyone can add reviews here, all major dating sites are represented and you can search usernames to make sure your online dating prince or princess isn’t just a mere frog in real life.

Of course it’s not failsafe – it seems to be mostly US based and someone could be reported who isn’t actually a scammer with a fake profile (perhaps a jealous ex wants to get them back) but it might at least save you from a genuine huckster if they’ve been added.

The service is completely free and apparently there are also iPhone and Android apps available and according to FlashInsight Inc who released the site the idea behind it is to save people from timewasters and cheats.

So – if you’ve ever had a nasty experience with someone from an online dating site who has claimed to be single but has later turned out to be married or in a serious relationship, someone who has disappeared on you when you’ve set up a date or turned out to look completely different in real life, you can do a favour to others and let people know by leaving a small review.

After all, they shouldn’t escape unpunished, should they?!

About the Author

Aet Suvari has been reviewing and writing about the world of online dating since 2008 and the launch of Online Dating Help. A stickler for promoting ethical practices within the UK dating industry she champions the sites that get it right while highlighting those holding it back. You can follow her on Google+