Online dating: How to succeed in the tangled web

According to recent studies, it would appear that one in five relationships begin through an online dating site. Making it clear that it’s one of the best ways through which you can make new connections and finding people for romantic relationships, but there still are people who scam others, and men are especially targeted as the easiest.

Here are a few tips to prevent you from falling into a trap.

1. Only on the best known websites

It’s easy to understand why you should stick only to large sites such as Match.com, eHarmony or OkCupid, because they actually provide the services they offer in exchange for your membership fee, unlike smaller and unknown sites which will probably leave a big hole in your budget. But not all of them are after your hard earned money, you just need to watch out for red flags like: photos that seem too good to be true, if the face seems too familiar (scammers use photos of models). You can also tell if the profile is fake by reading it and determining how realistic and personal it may seem. Don’t get attached until you have a good idea of what kind of person lies at the other end.

2. Don’t branch too far out

If you really want to meet someone with whom you would like to have a relationship, you need to keep it as close to home as possible, something further than 50 miles won’t really work, because you will barely find the time to meet each other, let alone maintain a serious relationship.

3. Webcams

If she insists on not having a webcam, doesn’t know how to use one or she says it’s broken, you need to be careful, because you can’t even be sure that the person you are talking to is a woman, so it’s best to move to the next one.

4. She offers you another website

This is one of the most common scams. A girl chats with you on your online dating website and eventually sends you a photo or two of her, after which she asks you to move the conversation to another site, where she says she will get freaky for you in front of the camera. The catch is that upon accessing the site you will be asked to prove your age by entering your credit card number but it’s absolutely free, just a routine check…

5. XXX websites

There are some legitimate X-rated dating sites if you are actually looking for such things, but there are those where girls will send you a lot of fake pictures and will try to convince you to buy a membership, and the minute you do that, the messages you received will suddenly come to a stop.

6. Introduce yourself

You know that in order to succeed on an online dating site you have to approach women who seem the most compatible, introduce yourself to them and then ask them out. Online dating gives you a fear-free environment, where rejection is no longer a problem considering the other millions of women’s profiles you can find out there.

Even if online dating is so easy and creates such great opportunities you need to make sure that you don’t abuse it, as most men and women do. You need to set some limits if you feel you might be slipping into an obsession and try to meet more women offline. Remember to watch out for scams and when you meet someone, make sure it’s in a public place, so that you can be safe.

The best of luck!