I lived in a little town far from anything I and didn’t really have opportunity to go out and meet women, so I decided to give online dating a try. I joined one of the biggest and most reputable dating sites. I was a little nervous… didn’t really know how to write a good profile or anything. I just uploaded a photo and wrote what most guys had on their profiles (*big mistake - see profile tips) and started to send lot of ‘winks’ and some emails. Of course I didn’t get any response to that.

Big was my surprise on day 2 or 3, when I came home from work and saw a letter from a very attractive woman from Cypros. She wrote that she just loved my profile and really gave me compliments. She gave me her private email and asked me to write to her if I was interested. I was overwelmed… I thought this must be a mistake. My profile was only half finished and I hated it my self.

Anyway… I decided write her back and see what happens. I didn’t expect to hear more from her - it was too good to be true, but next day I got a new letter from her, telling me how happy she was to recieve my letter and how lovely i was. I was like… WOW - totally blown away.

We continued to write to each other and her letters to me got more and more romantic, she fell totally in love with me and wanted to spend the rest of her life with me.

Her mails was really like sweet love letters and I swallowed everything - even when she told me she now lived in Ghana with her mother because her father on Cyprus died. She also started to sign her letters with her name and my last name as if we were already married.

We started to plan her travel to come and meet me in Norway and of course she asked me for help to get the necessary documents like visa and passport. I was trapped by my emotions and I didn’t think straight, so I sent her the money she asked for. She got the documents and sent me copies of it to show me and next she asked for money to the flight tickets.

I wasn’t too happy about that… it was a lot of money. I really wanted to see her and I already payed for her visa and passport, so I told her I would purchase the ticket for her online. Of course that was not possible and the only way it could be done was that I sent her the money. I started suspect that this was a scam, but I was in denial, blinded by the feelings she have triggered in me, so I sent her the money and thouht that now everything was ok and I would see the woman of my dreams soon…

Boy, was I wrong… lol. I recieved a mail from a “senior officer” at the airport in Accra, Ghana. He told me that the woman is held in detention because she had 50 kg of gold in her bags, without having the proper documentation for it and guess what… yeah right - I could bail her out if I sent 1800 euro and then she would be free to leave and travel to me.

I did not send any more money of course… I now knew that it was just a scam. I continued to write with them/her just to see how far they would go. She miraculously got out of the detention and she came up with more crazy stories about why I should send her more money until I told her I was coming to Ghana to meet her and then I never heard from her again.

I tell you my story here to warn you against these kind of scams. After this I did lot of research and got acquainted with other scammers on purpose, pretending I believed them and I have found that these scams are very common and happens all the time. This one was from Ghana, but I have experienced exactly same pattern from Nigerian and Russian scammers. Their emails is very much the same - they use copy and paste emails and the scams is organized. They really know what they are doing. They know exactly which buttons to push to trigger your feelings.

While it is a great and fun way to find friends, dates, lovers and even marriage, there is risks. There are many scammers out there, that just want to steal your money or to get your email address. In my experience they go after new members… most dating sites show when you joined.

The most common scam is the visa and ticket scam. Basically it is a scam, where a attractive female from Russia, Ukraine or  countries like Ghana and Nigeria, contacts a lonely foreign man. “She” quickly falls in love with him and shortly after announcing her ‘deep feelings’ for him ’she’ begins to plan her travel to meet the guy in person.

Now the money issues starts. She will now ask for help to get the necessary documents like visa and passport. When the guy agrees to that, she pretends to get it and now she will ask for money to ticket and travel expenses. She sends copy of the visa (fake, of course) and the guy really have no other choice, than to send more money.

Of course they will never meet. The scam will go on as long as the guy agrees to send money to her. She will come up with all kind of stories and reasons to send more money.

I got one of the craziest stories from a scammer my self… lol. I was scammed like this, the firs time I joined a dating site over 5 years ago and this is my own experience. It is a little embarrasing for me to admit, but I fell for it and it cost me some money. After that I did some research and got acquainted with some scammers on purpose just to see how they work.

Here is some warning signes to be aware of:

• It’s too good to be true - You just signed up on a dating site and andhaven’t even finished your profile and you get email from a very attractive woman.
• The woman asks for your email adress or aks you write to her private emai in the first letter.
• She have posted her location on her profile to be from your region, but in her letter she tells you a story about why she is in Ghana or Nigeria now…
• Any messages from Russia, Ghana or Nigeria.
• Any person asking for money for whatever reason

You can read my story how I got scammed Here