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Casteele -> RE: an obervation, anyone else seeing this (1/1/2012 7:19:23 PM)
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Off topic but related to the postings.. Take a class on how to run a scam.. Yes, they really exist, mainly to teach people how not to get scammed, but I've also seen ones which the scammer simply wants to "sell" their experience to make some legitimate money for a change :-P
Anyhow, it's amazing to me at times what should be common sense.. One of the first things a scammer tries to do is suspend your disbelief by telling you what you most desperately want to hear. So desperately that you'll literally scam yourself in to believing it's real and genuine. Perhaps what isn't so common sense though, is figuring out what the target wants to hear.. As someone else pointed out above, the "no family ties" to hold them back is a very subtle thing indeed. It's almost an unconscious thing many of us want to hear that we do not often think about. "Oh my gosh," you think, "they are free to drop everything and come here to be with me! I don't have to make any effort or work to figure out how to deal with my obligations and responsibilities; Just sit back and let them jump in to my lap!" Once that disbelief is suspended and you've already convinced yourself it must be real, the rest is easy for the scammer because you'll be doing all the work to convince yourself--people HATE making mistakes so much that they'll blindly hold on to a blatant lie in the face of clear facts just so they don't have to admit that they made a mistake.
So kind of back on topic.. Is this what so many of those profiles are/do? I don't know, as I haven't looked at many of those kind of profiles, nor have I corresponded with them. Is there anything else that stands out in their profiles? Are there common errors, such as listing "Alabama, New Jersey" as their city and state? Inconsistencies, such as claiming to be an Asian but having a bunch of self-pics which are all clearly Caucasian, blond hair, blue eyes? Not all of them are obvious.. I've seen many profiles which claim one thing at one point, then later on, say or write things later on which contradicts what was said earlier, or even self-contradicting statements. Examples include profiles which go like "U must B able 2 rite more'n 1 sentence n discuss inteligantly," or write at length about how open-minded and accepting they are, then have a long list of do's and don'ts, and strict/absolute qualifications. Do any of these profiles show any signs of that kind of stuff as well?
Also note that I see no difference here between scammers--people who try to con you out of money or what-not, and fakes--people who try to pretend to be something they are not in hopes of getting you to invest your time and energy in them, whether it's an intentional fake (game players) or otherwise (people who just think they're all that but really aren't).
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