How to Recognize and Avoid Fake Profiles

One of the biggest myths about online dating is that dating sites fill their websites with fake accounts (bots). While this myth is has some truth in that there are bots on online dating sites, the ratio of real people to bots greatly favors real people. You're still going to want to avoid these fake profiles so that you don't end up wasting your time online talking to robots rather than making plans to get laid. Follow these tips on how to recognize fake profiles and you'll never have to worry about dealing with them.

First of all, what are bots? Bots are accounts that have been generated by a program developed by a hacker or other devious individual. They are able to send automatic messages and responses to messages, but within specific parameters. The bots are used to try and get personal information from you to steal your identity or get you to send them money. Scary right? Not if you know how to easy detect and avoid them.

Bots are much more prevalent on dating sites that allow free memberships. This is because it is easy for developers to generate unlimited accounts on these sites without having to pay for them to exist. When one bot gets blocked then they can easily spawn another at no expense. Whereas with paid sites, even their automatically generated accounts are still going to need a credit card to verify their account and gain access (another reason why paid sites are better). So if you're using free sites, then you'll have to be on higher guard than if you were on a paid site.

The easiest way to detect a fake profile is to simply read the entire profile. Most people that use bots are deploying them across multiple sites so their code won't work perfectly on all of them and that will cause their profiles to be incomplete and poorly put together. If a profile has very minimal information or doesn't seem to make sense, it's likely a fake.

Grammar is another red flag for fake profiles. Not everyone online is going to have the grammar of an English professor, but bots are generally developed by people over seas and their profiles are poorly translated. If you read a profile and it appears to be written by someone whose primary language is not English, then you should probably avoid it. You will also notice this in messages.

If their messages are poorly put together or sound very juvenile, that's another sign of a bot. Bots send automated responses to your messages based on your text so if you send it something that they don't have an appropriate response for it can confuse it. Also, if they repeat sentences or information as if they have no recollection of already saying it, that's a sign of a bot as well. If you're unsure if they are a bot or not, send them a specific question based on their profile or a current event and see if they actually answer it or just give a canned response. If you are still unsure, then ask to Skype or video chat with them.

Pictures that are obviously professional or overly photoshopped should cause alarm as well. Bots generally have random pictures that they've taken from celebrities or model agencies to attract the most visits from men on hookup sites. Don't let these glamorous pictures fool you. Also, if they only have one picture posted then never message them. That's another sign of an incomplete profile. Find a profile that has more pictures and is more complete.

You should be able to tell a fake profile from a real profile pretty quickly once you know to check their profile and pictures. It will become very obvious and save you time and concern when using hookup dating sites. Whenever you do come across an account that is definitely a scam, report them. Reputable sites will not want their names tarnished by these fake accounts and will ban them. Doing so will help clean the site as well as save others the frustration of dealing with the bots themselves.