April 5, 2010

Better to be Safe than Sorry - Avoid Scams & Fraud







More people are connecting online than ever before. Sites like Facebook, Match.com and literally hundreds of others, have enabled people from all over the world to connect socially and romantically. There are now millions of subscribers to sites like Facebook and Match.com and relationships are now commonly initiated via the Internet, rather than in person. This new format for meeting people and relationships presents significant risks.

In many cases, the person on the other end of the Internet is in fact who he or she claims to be. But, this can be very hard to know for sure. Mr. or Ms. Perfect, in many cases, can be rather misleading about his or her background, or worse, be a criminal conducting scam or fraud. To avoid being a victim of fraud or scam, and to verify the identify of the person you're dealing with, consumers are advised to get a dating background check.

Relationships which pose the greatest risk, and wich are the hardest to verify, are international relationships begun over the Internet. It can be very difficult to determine if the person is who he or she claims to be, and often verifying this requires the work of a professional private investigator or international background check company to uncover the facts and evidence.

Of course there are many real and honest people connecting everyday internationally and via the Internet. The risk and problem lies in the fact that there are increasing numbers of criminals who are also taking advantage of easy prey on Facebook and Match.com and other sites, which allow the scammers and other criminals to approach the victim and start a relationship. The objective is usually to slowly build a relationship and gain the victim's trust. Eventually, the criminal hopes to gain financially, either by requesting money directly for an emergency or other reason, or by carefully obtaining the victim's personal data.

Experts warn never to send money or personal information to individuals or businesses abroad which have not been verified. Be skeptical of any financial requests from anyone on the Internet. Lastly, if something seems to good to be true, it probably is.

All the Best,

S. Birch
© 2010 S. Birch

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This copyrighted article was written and published by the editor and site author, S. Birch, or other guest private investigator, expert or contributor as stated.