Are All Online Dating Profiles Faked? Get the Facts

Online dating... the whole concept sounds very exciting yet mysterious.

There are people around the world who have done the online dating thing, many of which were able to find their soulmates.

Most of us have dated at least offline, and some of us have dated online. Either way, online dating can be a good experience for each one of us - if we don't let the bad outshine the good.

It has been said that risk is required to attain great reward. And after having heard some of the stories about the online dating experience, you just about have to concede that sometimes online dating brings with it great risk. Well, everything in this world involves some drawbacks and dangers with it and so does online dating.

Where there are good people, there may also be bad people. It is a risk we all take when we choose to socialize with others.

The greatest risk of online dating is that the person with whom you are speaking is not who he or she says that they are. Of course, that could happen in the real world of dating, but it is not as prevelent as it is online.

The people who are faking their online identity fall into one of three groups: lonely people, married people (sometimes also lonely married people), and the criminal element.

Ladies, don't think that a reference to the criminal element only includes men who seek to harm women. More so, most of the criminal element in the online dating world are those who are looking for a mark for an identity fraud or money scam. Whether you are a man or woman, you should be forewarned that if someone starts asking for money to pay for some emergency expense, then you are probably talking to a criminal involved in some sort of money scam. You know, it might be different if you have met this individual in person, but if you have never met them and they are asking for money... BEWARE!

Faking an online identity on a dating website is not always indicative of a fraudulent mind. When lonely, some people simply create an online identity that might be more exciting and more attractive to others. This kind of fake may not hurt you physically or financially, but it may very well put a long-term relationship on the rocks as the deceptions are discovered.

By far, the most common reason for faking an online dating website identity is the ignorant spouse at home. He or she might be a wretch, but being a wretch does not make them dangerous.

The online dating websites have gotten pretty good over the years at setting up systems to identify and target the criminal elements within the dating site. Typically, the male or female criminal scammer will be identified and deleted from the dating websites' database within 24-48 hours. So, if you find yourself talking to someone and their profile is shown to be deleted in mid-sentence, you can usually rest assured that the online dating site just saved you a world of headache and heartache.

While the dating websites are good at detecting and deleting the criminal scammers from the dating community, the dating websites are less inclined to eliminate the married members from their database. However, some of the bigger dating websites have provided mechanisms for members to prove that they are who they say they are, for the purpose of giving the website a method to tell its other members whether the individual has submitted proof of identity to them or not. The married guys and gals usually won't go through the proof of identity process, for fear that his or her significant other will find out about the attempt to cheat.

But before you go jumping to any conclusions about an individual on an online dating website, keep in mind that many people simply will not go through the identity verification process, for a number of reasons:

1. Too much hassle;

2. It sometimes costs money; and

3. Some people are afraid to give private data to some unknown third-party that might be operating the website.

The truth is that the online dating community should be treated as a buyer-beware process. While most people who frequent the online dating websites are honest, single and looking for love, there are a few out there who are not.

If you gather a group of people in any single setting, whether it is an online dating website, a church, or a grocery store, most of the people you will find at that setting are good, honest, hard-working people. So, when you are online, you should look at the online dating experience as one where most people will be above-board, honest, and sincere. But you should also keep in the back of your mind that you do not know for sure what you are getting until which time you are able to prove to yourself that the person at the other end of the conversation is exactly who you believe that they are.

When searching for that proof of sincerity, keep in mind that lesson from our youth... Liars will never be able to keep their lies straight, and they will always begin to make mistakes and let the truth slip out.

At the end of the day, the online dating community is just one more way for people to meet a potential love interest. It is a way where you can meet people that you would not have been able to meet otherwise, and who knows, it might work out to be the best love connection you will ever make.