I wanted to scope out some of the SD profile to get a sense of the competition.
I have no picture up, just some corny wording under the description. It's amazing how many SD's have messaged and continue to message that profile. Some really funny stuff too.
I've been exchanging some messages with a SB whose profile appeared recently in my area. She's young and attractive. She granted me access to her private pics which look great. She asked if I'd like to exchange phone numbers so I sent her mine. She texted me so then I had hers. Up to that point there was nothing odd about the situation, nothing which triggered my spidey sense.
But then I did what I always do when I get my hands on a phone number. I entered it in the Facebook search box, a technique I learned here on this forum. As often as not, there's no info found. But sometimes, I guess when a person has connected their FB page to their phone number, it reveals who the person is. Sometimes their public info includes pictures, real name, and lots of other data.
In this case the phone number search came back with a guy's name! No other info whatsoever, no pic, no text, nothing. But certainly a big red flag. Is this a guy posing as a SB with some sort of evil intent? Is there any plausible explanation for why She would have a guy's phone number? All questions I'm asking myself.
Next thing I'm going to do is a Tineye search on each of the SB's pics and see what that reveals. But have you guys encountered any men posing as women? In a situation like this I sure miss the TER reviews, P411, and other screening tools we have available in the Hobby world!
A family plan can have multiple phones; I have three plus two tablets. I only need two: one for me and one for my SO. But it's cheaper to have a family plan and the minimum number of phones required is three so I also have a spare phone. I wouldn't be too suspicious about it. Or it could be her BF's. Many SB's have BF's who are too broke to take them to nice places and buy them nice things. No big deal either. It's P4P.
Paid phone search engines do not always give the correct ownership, either. That is a different question that whether there are guys posing as girls on SA.
Had a faker today, actually.
But then I did what I always do when I get my hands on a phone number. I entered it in the Facebook search box, a technique I learned here on this forum. As often as not, there's no info found. But sometimes, I guess when a person has connected their FB page to their phone number, it reveals who the person is. Sometimes their public info includes pictures, real name, and lots of other data.
In this case the phone number search came back with a guy's name! No other info whatsoever, no pic, no text, nothing. But certainly a big red flag. Is this a guy posing as a SB with some sort of evil intent? Is there any plausible explanation for why She would have a guy's phone number? All questions I'm asking myself.
Next thing I'm going to do is a Tineye search on each of the SB's pics and see what that reveals. But have you guys encountered any men posing as women? In a situation like this I sure miss the TER reviews, P411, and other screening tools we have available in the Hobby world!
Checkmate account to check phone numbers and backgrounds. More than once a number has come back with a guy's name, family plan. Sometimes it get's no results at all so I know it's a burner phone, so most likely a pro or semi pro. A lady I know who uses Boost called me the other day and said Hi from a number I didn't know. I checked it and it came back to a lady I didn't know. I said who is this? It's Heather. I changed my number. Oh. Go change your account info then.
If the reverse pic searching doesn't get results (try Google search as well as Tineye) you can move the ongoing dialog to a quick Video call to get some face time. Just be really interested, but too busy due to a "crisis at work" to meet this week.
Suggest a 10 minute chat (Skype, FaceTime, Google Hangout, Snap, etc.) to let her get to know you so she knows you are worth the wait.
Not a good sign. Were you suggesting another way to search the pics?
if it's a "he" that agrees to meet in public, THEN we have a problem. lol
Some of the people creating SB profiles and corresponding to potential SDs almost certainly are male. They steal photos, sell photos, and want money up front. The only ways to ensure that someone is real--and female--is to Skype, FaceTime, talk on the phone, or meet in person. My guess is that close to half the scammers are male.
I wanted to scope out some of the SD profile to get a sense of the competition.
I have no picture up, just some corny wording under the description. It's amazing how many SD's have messaged and continue to message that profile. Some really funny stuff too.
My Tineye search showed no results on all 5 pics "she" posted. Thanks for all the good ideas and advice. I'll keep y'all posted if I find out more.
But then I did what I always do when I get my hands on a phone number. I entered it in the Facebook search box, a technique I learned here on this forum. As often as not, there's no info found. But sometimes, I guess when a person has connected their FB page to their phone number, it reveals who the person is. Sometimes their public info includes pictures, real name, and lots of other data.
In this case the phone number search came back with a guy's name! No other info whatsoever, no pic, no text, nothing. But certainly a big red flag. Is this a guy posing as a SB with some sort of evil intent? Is there any plausible explanation for why She would have a guy's phone number? All questions I'm asking myself.
Next thing I'm going to do is a Tineye search on each of the SB's pics and see what that reveals. But have you guys encountered any men posing as women? In a situation like this I sure miss the TER reviews, P411, and other screening tools we have available in the Hobby world!
And yes, I have created fake SB profiles before as well, mostly to scope out the competition and see what guys say when they message SBs. As much as we make fun of SBs and their messages and lack of operational security, guys really aren't that much better.
Thanks for corroborating my own thoughts on this. If a phone number is found on a Facebook search it really does mean something.
As some have mentioned there are definitely fake profiles on SA.
But I am hopeful that these generally fall into 2 types based on intent/motivation:
1. Scammers, whose intent is to take SD cash and not get caught
2. What I'll call "Researchers," whose intent is to better understand the SD / SB landscape to either make more informed decisions, or perhaps help ensure the authenticity of another profile and the person behind it.
The key difference for me is that those in #2 do not (generally) initiate contact and start pressing for sugar, especially before a meet & greet.
So my advice in this situation stays the same: get a real, "live" connection through a phone call, face time, skype, etc. before meeting.
Alternately, you can take a slightly more risky path and ask her about the FC account. If's "she's" a scammer, she will either go radio silent or provide lame and probably contradictory explanation.
If she is legit, she may be insulted or scare and bail or she may come back with a reasonable explanation such as:
1. Married, divorced or BF; not a show stopper, but...
2. Pimp/Manager; again not a show stopper, but moves this into a new category and rule set.
3. The FB profile might be faked by someone who is trying to scam her. I get one or two new friend requests a month from people who are already a FB friend (I have over 400) and these always turn out that my friend's account was hacked.
Either way, you already know not to send money in advance and not to divulge any more personal info unless and after you get some in-person experience.
Good luck.
-The Cat
-- Modified on 3/27/2017 12:34:12 PM