CHICAGO TRIBUNE's RED EYE — Oct 24 — The online dating industry has learned to cut off scammers at the pass. Nelson Rodridguez, CEO LoveAccess, employs a full-time staff to look for suspicious behavior, like a member sending out hundreds of e-mails a day or posting the same photo on multiple profiles. The effort results in the removal of 20 to 30 profiles a day. Match (15 million users) has staffers personally review each profile and photo before posting them to the site. ~15% of profiles are rejected each month. A security team seeks and weeds out people who compromise the user experience for others. Some dating sites simply block all IP addresses from Nigeria, said Mark Brooks, an online dating industry analyst. But with scammers changing tactics, it's a constant game of cat-and-mouse. 419eater.com encourages people to bait scammers. Romancescam.com, posts the photos, e-mail addresses and usernames that scammers have used. The FBI hopes to tackle the problem by educating people about scams, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said. The agency helps fund a Web site called http://www.looks toogoodtobetrue.com and encourages people to report scams to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, at ic3.gov.
Category: Outlets – Chicago Tribune
Web of Lies
CHICAGO TRIBUNE's RED EYE — Oct 24 — Valerie signed up for Yahoo! Personals and found Prince Charming. But the promising online suitor who showered her with tender e-mails and bouquets of flowers turned out to be a scammer trying to bilk Benning out of tens of thousands of dollars. Barb Sluppick, co-founder of the 5,000-member Yahoo! Romance Scams group, conducted a survey that revealed a total of $2.6 million lost in romance scams among the 331 people who responded—about $7,800 per person. Most online dating scams originate from Africa, Russia and Eastern Europe, though Nigeria is the biggest offender, according to Mark Brooks who runs onlinepersonalswatch.com. Increasingly, Web administrators are trapping scammers before they strike, but the tricksters are unrelenting, Brooks said. "It's a bad situation because these guys have gotten increasingly sophisticated," said Nelson Rodriguez, head of loveaccess.com, where employees remove 20 to 30 suspicious profiles a day. "It's horrible for business because it's a loss of credibility.
When Tall and Handsome Turns out Short and Pudgy
CHICAGO TRIBUNE — July 30 — Lawmakers and Web sites clashing over legislative proposals to keep clients from being scammed. "You guys can either be part of the solution or feel like you're victims of someone taking over your business," Florida state Rep. Kevin Ambler told industry insiders at a conference in SanFrancisco this month. "But this is going to come … like a freight train roaring down the track." New York already has passed a consumer statute to regulate dating sites. A half-dozen other states–including Illinois–are considering similar laws to require matchmaking services to conduct criminal background checks, or at least post a notice alerting clients that they are on their own. Eric Straus of Cupid.com stated: "Government is sticking its nose where it doesn't belong." Still, during the last year, Yahoo Personals and Match.com were sued for allegedly posting phony profiles and using "date bait"–sending employees to act as members–to keep subscribers from bolting. While no background checks can be foolproof, they can go a long way to deterring scammers, supporters say. Some say the dangers are exaggerated and that the response is an overreaction. Others say that a basic check–about $1.50 each–would be inadequate, plagued by out-of-date information and riddled with inaccuracies. A first-rate search, on the other hand, would be more expensive.
Mark Brooks: Truedater.com allows singles to enter the member id's of online daters after a date, give feedback on them, and verify that they represent themselves accurately in their profile.
Female Prisoners Looking for Love Online
CHICAGO TRIBUNE — June 14 — ~100,000 women are in prison in America. Sites are offering men opportunities to find potential mates in prison. Womenbehindbars.com, Ladiesofthepen.com, Writeaprisoner.com, Inmate-connections.com, Inmatesforyou.com and Cellpals.com.
On the Cell, MySpace Is Crammed but Livable
CHICAGO TRIBUNE — May 11 — Here’s bad news for parents who worry that their kids spend too much time on MySpace: The wildly popular online social network now comes in a cellphone version Helio.
Mark Brooks: Genius bus dev deal for Myspace and Helio! Kids will circumnavigate the DOPA legislation.
Sites Strike a Match with Users
Mark Brooks: Niche dating sites are enjoying some great press this year.
Pet Lovers Find Human Love Through Online Dating Service
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE — Feb 16 — Cohen’s 2-year-old site, Animal Attraction is the dog park gone digital. There are 40 million single people in the country with pets, a pet economy in the U.S. that is much bigger than the toy or candy economy.
Mark Brooks: Robert Yau’s datemypet.com has had lots of press attention as well. A novel and endearing service.
Virtual Hand-Holding for Newbies in Online Dating
Mark Brooks: $20 a month for all you can eat email advice. Dr Phil’s program is $9 a month on Match. Dr Gray is looking for partners for his telephone based coaching services. Three completely different guidance service approaches. Your comments please…
Dating Goes to Cable TV
CHICAGO TRIBUNE — June 28 –Dating on Demand combines television and online dating. You can either send in a videotape of yourself (which will be edited) to Comcast, or catch Comcast when it is shooting people looking to participate at local events. Within a few weeks, the tape will air on Comcast's On Demand digital cable menu. You can contact a person whose profile is appealing after registering with HurryDate.com.