T*S*E Rant ~ Dangers of Online Dating

FD: What up? This is Frankie D.

CK: And Cheetahkit, hitting you folks with an update to one of our discussions.
Now we hate repeating ourselves in the timespan of a month let alone a week; but this has come to our attention and MUST be addressed.

FD: Thanks to a couple of links sent by Roxanne215, we have found that while dating sites can be an adventure in it of itself by meeting total strangers online with common interests; these have been known to be dangerous….especially to the females.

CK: How many times have we’ve been taken in, ladies? Fallen for the “sweet talk” guys love to lay down cuz they know what we want to hear. And don’t get me wrong, some boys get duped by a ‘fake’ diamond as well. If anyone remembers the “Craig’s List Killer”, they are A LOT more cautious on what they divulge to people; but it still doesn’t mean anyone’s safe.

FD: Here’s the low down on the story --- apparently, a well-known site that many have trusted to find their “soul mate” had an incident involving a woman being raped by a Caucasian male in his late 30’s. He signed up on the dating site, talks to these women; gain their trust then would go on business trips to where they live. He would meet them and do his dirty deeds.

Though it happened in San Diego, this offender has done a bit of globe hopping and has used different aliases when stalking the women; there’s no telling how many victims there are. More was found that this company, known for being one of the sites to have more relationships and weddings through them; does NOT do background checks of their newest members

CK: This news was sent to us as well~ a woman in her early 50’s had fallen for a dude in which had her falling into debt. This so-called “antiques dealer” first stole her heart with a click of a mouse --- another ‘victim’ of an online scam. They had kept in constant contact through emails on another dating site to a point where this hot, new relationship lasted for 6 months. During that time, her man was asking her for money once he was sure she was ‘taken’ hook, line and sinker. Needless to say, he took it and ran. However, it seems the woman still hadn’t learned her lesson as he kept going deeper in a financial bind with every new hubby that appeared; one so much as asked her for $5,000 to get his products flown into the states from Nigeria. When investigated, FBI agents came up short in this matter.

FD: One of the most horrific scams that I just learned about is the one from the CM.com case. After hearing about this story, I had to check every type of site I'm on, including POF.com, to make sure that EVERYTHING I had put on these sites is protected and there are no loose ends. I still can’t believe that these dating sites --- still advertising regularly --- do not double check their new members. It’s hard for a lot of women to trust men nowadays and vice versa.

CK: Then I got some bad news for you.

FD: Don’t EVEN tell me…..

CK: That POF.com is going to be mentioned? Okay, I won’t tell you.

FD: Nuh-uh! I wanna hear this one!

CK: What happened was this guy called the “Internet Casanova” goes onto dating sites, gains their trust and persuades them to let him move in. Then, like with the 50-year-old woman; he asked for money and other favors before robbing them blind. One of the ‘victims’ found that her laptop, iPhone and few other stuff was gone; another caught him in the act pawning her expensive camera.

FD: Damn.

CK: That’s not all --- there were MALE victims as well. Anyone who struck up a friendship with “Casanova” found that he would borrow more than a fair share of their stuff and never see it again. In total, he scammed 38 women in 7 different states.

FD: This is fucked up.

CK: But now you see why I was saying that these places should have filters to choose which person you want to talk to from your religion to how many kids he or she has. I know that doesn’t solve anything since you can’t really tell based off of a photo, but at least you would HAVE that option.
 It will be amazing if these places come out unscaved. The scandal alone should have them condemned.

FD: They didn’t do that with that Craig’s List case.

CK: Mainly cuz it’s a more public website and won’t be accountable on what’s posted there.

FD: I believe that all dating sites should be free.
There are web dating pages that have people pay and get nothing back after that; however  I am in agreement about running some kind of background check to make sure that none of the users are a threat. 

As for the online scam article, it’s sad that people are losing their hard earn money to people who are not truly going to help them find true love. If I was the people running the company, I would make sure that the members that are paying for my services are properly taken care of. Before I signed up on these sites, I did my research and asked around. I heard about a few then I checked them out myself. I made sure that I would --- and will --- be protected if anything happens. I wanted to make sure that no one got my personal information because there are people out here that will stalk you or steal your identity.

CK: Well, I have no sympathy for the one in the dating scam at all. She dug her own grave by GIVING the money in the first place! You don’t know the man! She never said that she actually MET the guy in person; men [and women] use ‘flowerily’ words to get what they want, that’s nothing new --- how the HELL you give away your hard earned money that you got through blood, sweat, tears & assholes [trust me, if you ever work retail of ANY sort; it’s bound to happen]; to some guy you only exchanged EMAILS with?!  Unless you had exchanged saliva in between the Skype dates, you don’t owe him a DAMN thing; and even then, it’s questionable. He wants money? Get another job, fool! In this economy, everyone’s picking PENNIES off the street [or holding a sign up on 5^th avenue, but that’s another topic for later], so no one can bail ANYONE out financially.

FD: Cheetah, that’s way harsh. It’s just a classic tale of a woman who fell in love with the wrong man.

CK: It takes TWO to tango, Frankie. I’m sorry --- but if you’re smart enough to avoid the email stating that you had inherit $5.3 billion dollars from some dead relative whose name you can’t pronounce; why are you dumb enough to fall for a guy asking YOU for money that you only know though that same scenario?

FD: But to be fair to people who are about to go on to dating websites, they could at least put warnings on their pages or something about giving information away too soon. But since they aren’t doing that, do your own research and ask around. Talk to your family and friends about the sites that they themselves have used and if you hear about a certain dating site more than once; check it out and look it up yourself before jumping right into it.

CK: With that said, I know our fans have their own statements to make on this matter, so post your comments at the end of this segment. If you want to read more about the articles sent, email me --- cheetahkit83@gmail.com --- and put “CM Video” for Frankie D’s synopsis, “Dating Scam” for mine or “Casanova” in the subject line. If you want all three, let me know.

FD: This is Frankie D….

CK: ….and Cheetahkit of Keepin’ It Real. Stay tuned for Monday’s Vid Week.

FD: And be there for Tuesday’s discussion where we chew on our Crazy Celebs.

CK +FD: Bye ;)