You've been trying for weeks, months or years, but the love of your life just keeps coming. Tinder and Co. didn't bring you success or there was simply no one there who was serious about it. Then you come across a new dating platform. Registration is free and registration takes just a few clicks.
The next surprise is about to follow, the site is full of people who are interested in you. No message goes unanswered and you will quickly find a person who appears to have been looking for you!
However, there is a catch: in order to continue chatting with the person in whom you slowly but surely recognize a soul mate, you have to buy coins. While signing up for the site was free, every interaction with another person costs credit. You think to yourself: “Everything costs money these days” and are happy about the newfound connection.
Acquaintance insists on paid chat
You keep trying to switch to a free chat service, but the other person is unsure. The person has had a bad experience, feels safer on the platform, or has no other chat options. Over time the costs pile up.
Sometimes doubts arise. Your acquaintance always writes back, no matter what time of day or night, but a video chat or phone call is impossible. Whenever you arrange a meeting, something comes up: an accident, illness or problems in the family.
The reason you can't meet the person you've fallen in love with is because that person isn't a "real" person. It is a fake profile behind which there are a large number of moderators (also called animators, CUsers, operators or controllers). In order to maintain the facade, several moderators always run a profile, so the person is almost always reachable.
Admitting that the person who pretended to understand or even love you isn't real is hard. In this article you will learn how these chat and dating platforms work to keep unknowing customers engaged.
Behind the great love there is a fake profile
The important thing to understand is that you never chat with just one person. Rather, the entire portal is designed so that different paid moderators chat with different customers. The person you are chatting with is just a facade. It is a fake profile behind which there are a number of different moderators.
The moderator's set-up looks like this: The moderators see the customer's profile on the left side, and the profile of the persona they embody in the chat is displayed on the right side. In the middle is the chat window with all the messages exchanged between the customer and the fake profile. This means that different moderators can chat with different customers at the same time without them falling behind. In most cases, customers on the platforms do not realize that they are chatting with paid employees with whom it is not possible to meet in person.
How to recognize that you are chatting with fake profiles
- No switching to WhatsApp: Your chat partner refuses to switch to a free chat tool. Apparently your acquaintance doesn't have WhatsApp or wants to wait. You can assume that this person is paid to keep you on the chat portal for as long as possible.
- No video chat possible: Does your acquaintance keep finding other excuses why video chat is not possible? This is an indication that it is a fake profile. People with genuine intentions like to see the other person's face.
- Meeting impossible: Accidents, illnesses, unfortunate coincidences – the list of why a personal meeting is not possible is endless. If an agreed meeting repeatedly does not take place, this could be an indication of a fake profile.
- Pay to stay in touch: Ultimately, this rule of thumb applies: If you have to pay money to stay in touch with a person, your alarm bells should ring.
Coins: The money-making model of dating portals
This type of dating site attracts its customers with free registration. The cost trap only follows in a second step. Once you have registered on one of these portals, you will receive messages from interested people almost immediately. But in order to be able to answer these, you have to buy credit in the form of coins (also flirt points, flirt coins). On average, a message costs around 5 coins, with an equivalent value of around €1.
The portals offer different packages; you can buy several hundred coins for several hundred euros. Some platforms work as a subscription system, but in most cases you have to buy additional credit to stay in touch with your friends.
These dating sites use moderated fake profiles
We found suspicious clauses in the terms and conditions of the following dating sites. The following pages all state that they use moderators, controllers, animators or CUsers with whom a real meeting is not possible.
- thecasuallounge.at
- bl.mdates.com
- mdates.com
- loluva.com
- gnoxx.de
- flirtera.de
- relationships.com
- idates.com
- michverlieben.de
- meetmyflirt.com
- 50slove.at
- loveü50.at
- loveat50.at
- hotdates18.com
- affaerentreff.de
- idates.com
- xpartner.de
- flirtfair.at
- dailyflirt.at
- casualmatch.at
- clubx.at
- realwild.at
- bangexperts.at
- cheating69.online
- yourseitensprung.com
- passion.net
- Mydates.com
- Idates.com
- Moredates.com
Here's how you can try to get your money back
If you have only recently transferred money, you can try to get your money back or seek a goodwill solution with your payment service provider. You can find support for this at the Internet Ombudsman Office.
If you live in Germany or Switzerland, you will find advice and offers of help here.
Source: Watchlist Internet
Also read:
Tinder fraudsters: These are the current scams in online dating
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )