Voyager!!!: SIGNS YOU'RE ABOUT TO BE CATFISHED!!!!

These days, most don't wait for probability, chance meetings, fairytale settings, serendipity to meet the 'one', they take the bull by the horns and decide to go out', do the searching by themselves, even better now that we have the internet and we can do all these from the comfort of our homes. Unfortunately,times are hard and survival is paramount, so that handsome,well to do,hard working young man who you met on Facebook or Linkedin could actually be a proper romance scammer. These are people who prey on others who have high hopes of being romantically involved with them or who they claim to be, in other words, Catfish!!

It’s easy for some of the smartest people to lose all sight of common sense when they're being reeled in by a catfish: an online imposter who tries to win your sympathy — and your love — by creating an elaborate scheme.

I was reading on stella's blog a few weeks ago about a lady who met this handsome guy who claimed to be a staff of Schlumberger or Halliburton(not sure),and pretended to be interested in knowing her better.. anyway, they started chatting frequently, exchanged numbers and planned to meet, he was all she wished for bla bla and so she decided to give him a chance. Long and short of the story is this man wasn't a staff of where he claimed, wasn't who he said he was and was able to get close enough to gain her trust, make her fall in love and used that to scam her. These people are so many nowadays, we just have to keep our guards up.

Let me give you a few tips on how to avoid or identify these romance scammers so we won't be telling stories that touch one day.

If someone is too interested – too quickly – in getting to know you beyond the safety of your computer, this could indicate a problem. If you have just met someone online and they are trying to encourage a meet-up before you really know them, they may not just be overly eager.

Let your relationship take a slow and steady natural course of events and let your gut decide when it is right to call them.

I would suggest no less than a month of chatting online before calling them – but this should only happen when you feel totally comfortable doing so.

When you do finally decide to meet up, decide on a neutral and safe location (a restaurant or a café) and have a friend or family member bring you and let them meet your date. If you cannot arrange this, make sure you tell someone close to you about your plans. Include the name of the person you are meeting, where you are meeting them and when you expect to be home. Write down any personal information that you have on your date also – like an address or cell phone number, and the dating site you met them on – and give it to your friend or family member.

Then tell your date that you are doing this. Blame it on your overly protective friend or family if you feel awkward about it. If your date has any issue with this and gets angry or cancels your plans at the last minute then this is a huge indicator that they may not be legitimate. If they don’t respect your need to be cautious, then move on.

If anyone wants you to give them any personal information be extremely guarded. Never give out banking information, details of how much your stock portfolio is worth, or the value of your home. And NEVER give money if it is asked for – even if they seem like a genuine person. Scam artists are exceptionally good at seeming like really nice people who just happen to need a few hundred dollars for some emergency!

Persistence. When they just won't quit even though you've told them you're not searching,insult them or say you're not interested. When this happens ,be guarded.

Promises.. These people are skilled at knowing what you are lacking in your life,they can smell desperation from miles away. When a contact starts promising a job too quickly or marriage or when the say their brother or uncle is so and so and can get you such and such... hmmm *raised eyebrow*

The aim of a romance scammer is to get something from you. Could be money,sex,connections, information etc. When the start to stylishly ask for these even when you don't know each other too well, be careful.

Handle your social media presence with caution. Double check your posts,tweets etc to make sure you are not revealing too much information about yourself. Some scammers read through the tweets and posts of their potential victims to understand them well and act as someone the victim will find interesting or attractive.

A friend works at PTDF and told me that she doesn't reveal her place of work to guys who want to get to know her, she said she has been a victim so many times and usually says she's still searching for a job or works at ministry of works,lol.

Try as much as possible not to post emotional statuses as this could give scammers information on when is best to strike say for instance, a lady just broke up with her boyfriend and tweets through it,a scammer could see that as a good opportunity to strike!

SIGNS YOU'RE ABOUT TO BE CATFISHED!!!!

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