But after you are meeting a nice girl that seems to be right for you make sure the person you are talking to is FOR REAL.
Frankly, looking for a partner abroad is not any different than any other search - search for a house, a second-hand car, or whatsoever, in one simple yet important detail: there will always be people that will try to take advantage of you.
The perception that you have built about dating scams can make you be cautious and suspicious all the time! That is even worse. Chances are you will make the same mistakes as other guys and destroy what was a really good and honest relationship - just because of being paranoid about scammers.
But what if I tell you that there are some specific signs that can make you solve the enigma of sincerity in your relationship and find out that the person you were corresponding with is not who she said she is?
1. Money is a key object to know a scam. At some point she begins to ask for money, frequently asking that it be transferred through wire services. She commonly states that the money is needed to help resolve a family tragedy or arrange for a trip to the United States. A copy of a fraudulent U.S. visa is sometimes attached to prove good intentions.
Beside this, there are other subtle signs that can make you be suspicious from the first e-mails she is sending you.
2. The most prominent is the fact that scammers don't really read your letters. They don't remember what you have written - actually, they don't relate to the content of your letters at all. They don't answer your questions.
3. Things move very fast, and she falls in love with you within 1-5 letters. Those letters she send to you could be sent to anybody: "her" letters are pure monologue that becomes more and more obsessed with "her love" to you and her desire to be together with you despite of everything that separates you.
4. She doesn't want to provide you with her phone number pretending that she doesn't have a phone or that she didn't speak English. Paper can bear anything, you know that. But even phone conversation can give you more clues of what's really going on (though men usually tend to misinterpret subtle signs excusing them by the language barrier).
5. Your name usually appears only once, or does not appear at all in the correspondence she is sending to you. She uses "darling", "sweetheart", "my love" and so on instead, because she is probably afraid not to mix the names of her victims or is sending the same messages to all of them only changing the names.
6. She lets you know from the very beginning that she is a student or how little she earns, including the size of her salary even though you never asked about it. But she never asks about the state of your finances - neither uses the word "financially secure" in her description of the prospective partner.
7. She writes you almost every day (keeps sending you photos even if you did not ask for) and in her letters she talks a lot about trust, honesty and sincerity. :)
So of course you must be aware of the fact that there are some individuals out there who may try to extract from you some amounts in cash, but remember that not all pretty girls you are meeting online are swindlers. Many men who were looking for a foreign wife, and met a wonderful girl without problems, are very surprised to find information about scams - they did not know that such a thing exists!
It is you who takes the choice and the risk.
Enjoy but don't get fooled.
