fake

“Fakes” (from the English “fake”: “falsification, imitation”) consistently build up a false identity. Men become virtual women and vice versa. All personal characteristics – such as appearance, height, weight, education, hobbies, etc. – are varied and changed.

Fakes often use multiple identities within the same community in order to “play” with them and specifically manipulate other users.

You come across this term very often in the area of ​​online dating. In fact, this phenomenon is probably one of the biggest problems for many contact portals and their members and users.

The motivation for creating fake profiles can be different. A male fake may make advances to a male male as a virtual woman and enjoy his romantic interest, want to annoy him or get one over on him. Another fake, on the other hand, retains his own gender, but portrays himself as more attractive and interesting than he really is. Then he enjoys the attention he gets and delights in the reactions of his victims, whom he keeps in the dark for a long time. Of course, there will never be a personal meeting; the fake usually disappears at some point and reappears under a new identity.

Fakes also often make use of easily accessible images of models or celebrities and thus simulate an attractive appearance. Very popular fake pictures can be found, for example, on the pages of various female American models or B-celebrities who are very careless with their private pictures on the Internet.

The advantage is obvious: attractive young ladies offer the best chances of making contact in their own community, the pictures are of good quality - and which of those affected will notice that they are “on duty” on a German-language website? It also happens that the operators of contact portals “push” their number of members by creating numerous fake profiles themselves, having them created, or at least encouraging this. This creates the impression that more members are registered than is actually the case. The membership structure can also be manipulated in this way (e.g. higher quota of women, more attractive members, etc.).

In any case, such fakes are always annoying for those who are being fooled. Such matters are never actually harmless, because at the very least you are wasting a lot of time and feelings on someone who was just trying to have fun. Things get even worse when fakers use false pretenses to enrich themselves (see Romance Scamming ) by asking for money or benefits in kind or by luring the unsuspecting user to another payment site, where they may in effect take out a paid subscription.

Identification features of fake profiles

• strikingly good-looking profile photo (sometimes also professional photographs)
• Fraudsters use psychological tricks and methods and sometimes put the victim under pressure
• Love scammers often confess their true love prematurely and out of the blue
• flattery and declarations of love are followed by a request for money, benefits in kind or other benefits (often by telling a fictitious emergency in order to appeal to the victim's sympathy).

Protective and defensive measures

• Listen to your gut feeling! Pay attention if something seems strange to you.
• Do not give out any personal information such as your bank details or address to strangers or online acquaintances.
• Only register with reputable contact portals whose members are checked to avoid possible fraudster profiles. If you have any doubts, contact support or customer care.
• Always ask yourself whether the information and details provided are realistic. Don't let a wishful thought persuade you to do something.
• Expose already known scammers by checking their photo and name on known scam forums
• If you have any doubts about the authenticity of a profile, ask friends or acquaintances for their opinion. An objective second opinion can often help you.
• Request a phone call from your online acquaintance and observe their reaction.
• Don't be afraid to report serious cases of fraud to the police.