Online dating is growing everyday. People get to browse personal ads and pick out a person they like in the same way they may browse an online store for shoes or a purse. You put in the size and shape and color you want and 100 potential dates pop up on your screen.



But who are these people? Are they being truthful in their profiles? Is it a recent pictures. Do they really earn what they claim?

There are some major pitfalls and well none scams associated with online dating services:

1. Fantasy Role Playing.

Many times the cute blond coed you think you're flirting with is really a man pretending to be a woman.

2. Russian and Nigeria Scams. Many times you'll get a response to your ad from a picture of a beautiful woman claiming to be visiting overseas. This is just the beginning of a scam to try to get you to mail them a plane ticket.

3. Damsel In Distress.

This email from a beautiful woman will describe horrible domestic abuse and will ultimately end with her asking you for money to escape her abusive partner.

But there are far more sophisticated scams that may run on for weeks. They will flirt, profess their love and devotion. You can be chatting for weeks or months but you have a distinct feeling that something is wrong.

This is when you should do some investigation. There are many ways to check out a person if all you have is an email address. You can do a reverse email search to find out their real name address and phone number. Then you can run a back ground report to find out their marital and financial status.

You can also do some Internet investigations to secret blogs and secret Myspace account. There are dating service searches and escort service searches to see if their email is associated with memberships on those sites.

The bottom line is that if you suspect something is wrong it probably is. If you have suspicions or feelings of uncertainty about an online relationship you should hire an investigator that can perform the types of investigations described in this article.

But you need an investigator that has experience in tracing emails and online infidelity investigations. Do an online search using Google to find out if they are an expert in online investigations or email tracing. Compare prices as well as experience.

No one should live with suspicions or feeling of uncertainty. Not when it's so easy to find out the truth.

Copyright (c) 2008 Ed Opperman