Contributed by: Jet on Sunday, February 10 2013 @ 06:36 am
Last modified on
Occasionally you might come across a profile that seems to have it all: they’re clever, intriguing, funny, and attractive to boot. Now, it’s entirely possible that you’ve encountered an attractive, exceptional writer - it might even be more common than you think! But every once in awhile that niggling feeling in your gut might be pointing to the truth: that some element of the profile isn’t entirely honest.
There are a few reasons why someone might lie on their profile. Yes, there are scammers out there, who are interested in your personal information and money. But more often, there are those who just feel insecure or lazy. They don’t think they could write a good profile on their own, so they copy and paste one they feel would work. Similarly, a “doctored” photo probably represents someone who is insecure about their appearance, whereas a completely false one could be indicative of more sinister intent.
The good news is, whether or not you’re dealing with a criminal, if a profile is copied and pasted from somewhere else it probably still exists on the Internet. A simple internet search could reveal that your “perfect” profile has been plagiarized from something else. Nowadays you can even search images, so if that default pic is a stock photo or from a modeling shoot, you just might find it (of course, there’s always the possibility your potential match is a model, but chances are they would have mentioned it).
So what do you do if you reveal that a profile is dishonest? There are options. You can always confront them about it, but remember that a real scam artist will not be ashamed and may persist with “rational” explanations. Do you really want to pursue something when you have no idea if any word of it is true? In most cases, the best course of action is to not contact them at all. Whatever their motivation, it’s just easier to move on to someone who represents themselves accurately.
Remember, scam artists are not incredibly common. However, just as it’s reasonable to take basic precautions when meeting anyone new in person, it’s reasonable to do a quick internet search if something feels “off” to you. Your “gut” can be smarter than you think!