Just a suggestion for use

While the birds are chirping around in the bright sun outside, I'm sitting here at the head of my table, looking forward to the buddleia blossoms and the butterflies that inevitably come with them.

The pandemic isn't causing any problems for those out there, at least none that we as humans really notice. The effect is different for us, because even if the first crowds are already back in holiday and party mode, we are far from finished.

But it is human nature to want to exchange ideas, so many people seek this closeness and exchange on the Internet. Not the worst idea, you don't need a face mask and the necessary distance is also maintained.

But as always and everywhere, those dark figures who want to play tricks on other people's feelings are not far away. It's not for nothing that we also have to regularly warn against love scammers.

But what kind of characters are they actually?

To put it simply: " Nepper, tugboat, pawn catcher ", in this particular case they want to capitalize on the desires of the users, which doesn't necessarily have to be monetary (but it usually is), because in my opinion this also includes those who only, to inflate their own underdeveloped ego, play with other people's feelings just to feel validated. (This includes requesting erotic images or sending them unsolicited).

You could say that the marriage fraudsters are also digitally networked.

I don't want to go into much detail here about the characters' motivations; firstly, that would go completely beyond the scope of this topic and would also require a degree in at least sociology, and would therefore be far beyond my event horizon.

What I want to do here is give my readers who might want to embark on this digital exploration of interpersonal relationships a few thoughts and tools so that they can be prepared for any eventuality out there.

Come what may, a bunch of scammers or true love.

The simplest advice right at the beginning, just like on the rest of the Internet and in the interpersonal courtship dance there - remain suspicious, deceptive packages are often beautifully packaged. Don't believe everything right away.

But now the big question is, how should you check this?

Humans are visual creatures, and the visual recording of our surroundings is a significant part of our lives. Designed as a flight animal, it was not insignificant for our ancestors to be able to recognize whether a predator with powerful teeth or just a field hamster was roaming through the local botany.

With this by no means new insight, it is not really surprising that the initial arousal of interest in the building of interpersonal familiarity also relies on visual stimuli. A phenomenon that we also find in the animal world in their courtship behavior.

A very brief digression: due to evolution, there is now a significant difference between human and animal courtship and mating behavior. While in the animal kingdom the most colorful, strongest or loudest are predominantly the first choice, human seekers also like to go along based on character or mental performance In other words, “every pot has a lid”.

Back from the excursion.

Now let's look at one of the "dating" sites, which is New German for "dating agency" because English is so modern.

No matter which page, they all initially show the pictures of the contact seekers, and you can then go to the respective profile by simply clicking on the picture.

So here, too, it's clearly about the optics, but if we're being completely honest, even when we get to know each other regularly in the surrounding area, it's all about the visual stimuli. “Looks nice” “Wow” “I would like to get to know the person better” etc. but it all starts with the look. It is not for nothing that all genders spend several moments before going out generally preparing an appearance that they consider presentable.

Many of the scammers rely on exactly this optical preselection; they choose other people's pictures, actors, athletes, dancers, photo models, everything up to and including porn actors, for their fake profiles. Only rarely are the familiar faces, the respective relationship boxes are too well known for that. But in addition to Bollywood actors, you can find Brazilian extreme athletes and colored musicians from Africa.

That's why I would now like to show you how you can check photos on the Internet quickly and easily. This doesn't offer 100% security, as some photo galleries cannot be searched, but it does have a non-negligible effect. If you deal with the pictures, you already fulfill the first important point: “always be suspicious and careful”.

Brief explanation of the following instructions. Since these are general instructions, I am not taking any current cases from a fake profile. If only for the reason of avoiding possible legal action by those issuing warnings. Instead, I take a royalty-free image from Pixabay.com and we are on the safe side - the golden Else is also a beautiful object.

Instructions for desktop users:

1. So first save the image, either with a right click - save as, or if necessary with a screenshot.

 

 

2. You then paste this into both Google and Yandex.

Yandex:

3. Look at the results, not all of them are as obvious as the example.

As an example, I chose the result from Yandex, but on Google and Bing the results look almost identical, the image is found.

There are now websites that offer to help with the search, but I would always recommend checking the results yourself. Because “this is practice” and over time it gives you the feeling of having the matter in your own hands and not being dependent on others again.

Mobile devices

On mobile devices you have to choose a different route, as the mobile pages of the search engines do not directly offer this search. However, there are already apps that make this search easier, for example “Reverse Image Search”:

We then take a screenshot of the image we want to search for; this can be done differently depending on the smartphone. At Huawei e.g. B. by tapping on the display, others wiping the edge of their hand across the display and so on. No matter how, we create a screenshot.

Then it goes like this:

1. Open the app (but it can also run in the background).

2. Click on the plus at the bottom right of the app

3. Select the image from the gallery (top selection).

4. If necessary, crop using the tools on the left in the main image of the app

5. click on the magnifying glass

6. After the search has been completed, the app shows us the results from Google, Yandex and Bing.

This time the result from Bing serves as an example, but as you can try for yourself, the results from Google and Yandex also look similar on mobile devices.

This shows whether and where the image has already been used. If there were other dating sites (wonderful Denglish), you can compare the data provided wonderfully. If there were other sites, you can also compare them, or, as in our case, you can immediately find an indication of a scam.

Test passed?

If the images pass the test, you should still exercise caution.

You can also recognize scammers later in the conversation, for example by repeating empty phrases or if topics and questions are not discussed in more detail at all. They, the scammers, like to work on generally valid values, family, desire to have children, career, etc. but even then the questions rarely go into depth.

At some point, sooner rather than later, great love is declared and the desire to visit is expressed, but you cannot travel to the contact because there is some kind of crisis there, so travel to us - here comes the request for money. NEVER SEND ANYTHING NOT EVEN €20 THEY ARE JUST GONE.

Sick relatives, accidents, sudden bills and whatever other reasons there may be as to why a trip is currently impossible are also welcome. What is currently being cited is the data volume, which has now been used up, now that people would really like to send pictures. As mentioned, never ever send anything.

If it is a scam, you can immediately break off contact and report the profile to the site operator to protect other users.

So should dating sites be demonized because fraud can lurk there? No, then swap meets, small parts markets, flea markets and online marketplaces would also be the work of the devil. You just have to approach everything with healthy skepticism and rather check more than once too little.

The instructions above also work wonderfully for all other images that are shared with you, e.g. B. the largest crowd at a presidential swearing-in, flying sharks, demonstrations, riots and so on - the results often lead to, among other things, mimikama, which is not surprising because debunking is part of everyday life for us 🙂

Stay healthy, be careful and good luck with your search.

Image source: pixabay.com – Victory Column