MacsDatingSite.com

As I’ve stated in various other articles, the internet really is a large place. Online dating is no exception, and it’s important to keep your personal banking information as secure as your personal identification. You need to use the utmost caution in protecting your security.

I was surfing online and I ran into a really interesting story written by Jessica Langdon in the Wichita Times Record News titled “Cheated Love: Woman Feels She Was Victim of Nigerian ‘Sweetheart Scam’.”

Before I go too much further, I have one quick confession I would like to make. I really do feel for the people of Nigeria. It’s a proud country with a storied history and rich cultural heritage. It is ranked as the 8^th most populous nation in the world with over 140 million citizens. Yet when most internet users think of Nigeria, negative images immediately come to mind.

Think about your own email inbox and how many times you’ve come across a variation of the great Nigerian Scam. I know if I had $1 for each of them I’ve received, I would literally have thousands of $$$’s sitting in my back account.

Each variation of the scam involves the victim wiring funds from their bank account in exchange for the promise of bigger riches in the future. Sadly, these riches never materialize. This scam has morphed itself in many forms; in this instance it involves a budding long distance relationship and innocent requests for money.

I think this article is a must read for anyone getting started in online dating. It gives a real life example of what you need to be cautious of when getting to know people in the cyber world. The article goes into great detail about a woman named Carrie Thompson, who fortunately did not suffer financial hardship but she goes to great lengths to show how it would be possible to get taken for a ride.

Some of the best bits of advice to take from the article:

1. Do not let the relationship move too quickly.

Although you may feel a real connection developing with another person, be cautious of someone who is inclined to say how much they “love” you or can’t imagine being without you before an actual face-to-face encounter.

2. If you meet through a dating site, be very cautious about moving all correspondence from the site’s email/chat system over to a private system.

In this story, Ms. Thompson met her acquaintance at Match.com, but her friend quickly convinced her to move all of their correspondence over to a personal Yahoo account. Think about it, if a person has nothing to hide, why would they be inclined to move the discussion elsewhere?

3. Be wary of a match who constantly brings up money.

Remember, dating online is not much different that meeting someone in a traditional method. Finances are not something that people readily share with one another. Money should never enter into a dating conversation until the relationship is very well established. If someone goes out of their way to mention how tight their finances are, use caution. Chances are they have an ulterior motive.

As with everything else with online dating, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. If your instincts are telling you that something doesn’t seem quite right, the smart thing to do is to err on the side of caution and follow your gut.

To read the full article, click here.

It seems for some people that when it rains, it pours. In case you missed it, former New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer was reported in the New York Times as being a client in a prostitution ring that was under investigation by the federal government. Spitzer was forced to resign from his post following immense public pressure.

Spitzer is reported to have spent over $80,000 on prostitutes during his tenure as first New York State Attorney General and then as Governor. To compound Spitzer’s problem, he was also married with three children.

Never missing a chance for some free PR, online dating site Ashley Madison took out a full page newspaper ad in the New York Post to capitalize on Spitzer’s misfortune. Ashley Madison is an online dating site that caters to married couples looking to have a discreet affair (click here for our review). The website bills itself as the place to go when “monogamy turns into monotony.”

The ad, made out to look like an email to Spitzer and copied to New York State, states that “fooling around with ‘professionals’ is bound to get you into hot water.” It goes on to further state that “we hate to say we told you so. Approaching an affair the wrong way is always a recipe for disaster … We’re all of the fun and none of the trouble. …No headlines, no scandals.”

Advice that Spitzer probably could have used…..

To see the article and actual ad, click here.

When you are trying to choose an online dating site for the first time, one thing you should pay close attention to is whether or not the site displays the “last login” for each profile.

While this may seem an insignificant stat to look at, let me spell out the reason I find it to be important.

On almost all major dating sites, profiles are sorted according to their last login. What I mean by that is that when you pull up your desired search preferences, the site will return the results in the order of their most recent log in. What this does is it filters the active accounts from the inactive ones.

If you really think about it, this is pretty much common sense. If a profile’s last login in is 3 months old, it’s safe to assume that it is not an active profile.

How long is too long? I think anyone who hasn’t logged in within two weeks should be considered a dormant profile. We all have reasons why we can’t login, including business travel and vacations. If someone has paid to use a dating service, it’s safe to assume that if they’re serious, they would be logging in regularly.

Why wouldn’t a member log in? There are only two reasons: 1. they aren’t seriously looking to meet other quality singles, or 2. they may have met already met one.

Anyone who’s been involved with online dating will tell you that the most important thing with online dating is getting your profile in front of as many people as possible. What makes online dating such an attractive alternative for many people is the ability to meet a ton of quality singles in one area.

When choosing an online dating site, it’s imperative to find out whether or not a site will work for you based on the amount of singles in your local area. Search options will give you different parameters to choose from, including sorting profiles by zip code.

This is done based on what you feel to be an acceptable distance to drive (i.e. 5, 10, or 25+ miles) because remember the goal of dating online is to actually go out and meet the person face to face. It does you no good to find that dream date online, only to find out they live three hours away from you.

If you perform this search, and the results come back and 5 of the first 10 results are profiles with no activity within the last two months, than odds are that the pool of available candidates at the site is not going to fit your needs. Conversely, if you pull this search and it returns pages of profiles that are active, sign up right away.

Why would a site not display the last login for each of their profiles? My guess would be because they want possible customers to think the site is a lot more active than it really is.

One note of caution, not all sites will operate in this style. A handful of sites give their members the option of purchasing a “premium” membership for an additional fee. The perk of this type of membership is that “premium” members will have their profile listed at the top each time a search is requested.

One last suggestion if you are planning to use an online dating service, make sure to log on regularly. You want to keep your profile in front of as many people as possible. The more you login, the higher your profile will show. It’s that simple!