Disappointed with Match.com

After a week with Match.com, I'm disappointed. The site seems to be covered with scammers. Some are clearly from overseas running the classic Nigerian scams. Others are right here in New Jersey.

Such a disappointment.

Match.com scammer update

The scammers that I was chatting with this morning have all been booted off Match.com. I was surprised at the quick action, though now I understand why the scammers try to move me into Yahoo chat as quickly as possible: They will lose their accounts as soon as someone reports them, or as quickly as Match.com can find out that they've used a fraudulent credit card to sign up for the service.

Ah, well. I did get one of the scammers onto Google chat. I'll post some of the better bits of that conversation later. For now, gird your loins; it's back into the devil's den for me. I'll keep you updated.

Currently playing with Match.com scammers

I was surprised at how quickly the scammers jumped on my new account at Match.com. They are relentless. Right now, I'm just playing with them. I'll block them later. But first, I want to know more about how they run their scams - how long it takes for the money requests to come in. Below are the three that I'm chatting with this morning:

righteouslove300 says:
I am single never married i have no kids.. i am originated from Ohio but now base in Ghana due to my parents divorce am willing to relocate as soon as i meet the man of my dream .. well if you are interested we can know more about each other and see what the future might hold for as .. there is no harm in trying what do u think .. we can talk on yahoo and share pictures as well...

Honestytracy001 says:
I am Tracy by name and i am single live in San Francisco,i am new on here and i am into buying and selling of Antiques,due to my job i travel alot to many countries and right now i am in Nigeria to get my Antiques from Ebay Company and i will be back to state in 2weeks time....

findlovetessy05 says:
if you can look through my profile ,you wcan see there that i am fromNJ,NW but presently in west africa country collecting some antiques but i will be back to states very soon

Match.com Experience

Within minutes of joining the site, I was IMed by three scammers. I really didn't mind. I've been divorced for more than two years, and I've led a solitary life since then. So even hearing from the scammers was not out of line. I recognized them for what they were, and I spent some time chatting with them.

There seems to be a lot of single women my age in my area. In the couple of hours that I've spent looking through the site, I've found 14 women that I have something in common with. All live near me.

I don't know yet whether I'll contact any of them. I don't know that I'm ready for a relationship. But I am ready for female companionship. I miss that.

ADDENDUM

It's getting harder to tell the scammers from the real folks. At first it was easy. Scammers tend to post pictures of cute 30-somethings to try to lure older folks. I'm sure that scheme works for some. Me? Hell, I've been using the Internet since 1991 - all the way back to the old DARPA days. I've seen it all. But now, some of the folks are getting closer to my age. That makes it harder to spot them out right away. I have to engage them in conversation.

Luckily, I've got a disposable email address.