Online Dating - Scam or Not Quite? Few Facts to Consider

Probably from the very beginning of online dating industry people are divided into three camps.

The first camp 100% believes that it’s a super transparent and fair business.

The second camp has some doubts about it but still gives it a chance.

The third camp thinks that online dating sites is a total rip-off and aggressively oppose them.

All three groups are coming from the very simple idea about the online relationships. In fact it is a bit more complicated.
Here are some facts to consider before making any hasty conclusions.

Continuity

As we all know online dating services appeared almost immediately when the internet became global and available for regular users. Hence, it’s somewhere in 90th.

So, they exist for 20+ years. Some sites don’t exist anymore, others transformed in something else. But the thing is that this industry lives and successfully develops.

Moreover, according to the data from American Public resource Statista, online dating industry is constantly growing. Despite all the bad stories it gets more users and attracts more funds.

Scam

In order to be as objective as possible let’s try to review all the possible levels of scam:

Site itself. There were lots of deceiving sites that either stole site members’ money or used their personal information improperly. I’m pretty sure that there are still some dishonest dating websites.

Luckily nowadays we have plenty of different info resources and review portals where we can read about them and avoid suspicious services.

Site worker. This is a rather dangerous case, when the site itself is secured and legit but some of the workers are not. This may happen with any website or company, but in online dating industry it is super dangerous. The site members not only share their billing information, but also their personal photos, chats with other members, etc.

So, the website has to develop tools to protect their users from both external and internal threat.

Site member. This one is also an unpleasant case. Indeed, sometimes people create fake accounts, steal personal information while chatting with other site members, mislead others about the site services, etc.

Therefore, the site has to monitor suspicious activities and have tools to “report frauds”. For instance when you read the Golden Bride site review you find out that they have a special algorithm that reveals such accounts to protect other site members.

What do you actually receive?

If you use a reputable and reliable online dating service you will have an access to some services. Usually they are:

• Access to the community that looks for pretty much the same things.
• Creating and managing a personal profile.
• Opportunity to check other profiles, photos, videos.
• Communication via emails, chats and webcams.
• Offline and online events arranged by the dating site.
• Customer Service.

It’s interesting to know that far not all people register on a dating site to find a husband / wife. Some site members indeed have serious intentions. But not all of them.

For example, some people simply feel lack of communication.

Others want to have an attention from the opposite sex.

There are also some people that are simply bored and look for some new impressions.

Above all, there are some site members that are shy in offline life and use the dating site to develop the courage to communicate with other people. Of course it is more about guys.

Success Stories and Failures

As in any kind of business online dating has plenty of bad reviews and negative stories. And I can understand this. Unfortunately plenty of things are not under the site’s control. Failures in relationship may spoil the overall impressions about the service. So, no wonder there are numerous of negative feedbacks.

At the same time there are lots of success stories, especially in international online dating. It became a real trend when men from the USA, Canada, Australia and Europe find women from Russia and Ukraine. By the way they are different.
Here is the nice article about the difference between Ukrainian and Russian girls.

As you may know there are plenty of so called “niche” dating sites. They focus on connecting specific groups of people. For example, senior dating, Asian dating, gay dating, Slavic dating, etc. These sites pushed the industry even further, since their services are more precise to the needs of their audience, rather than large generic websites.

Wrapping Up

Online dating is a super specific industry. From the very beginning it was perceived in two ways. One way is help in finding a friend, couple, soulmate, husband / wife.

The other way is that they collect money without any guarantees of success.

Some people may spend lots of money fail in internet dating. In this case they may feel deceived. And I can surely understand them. You pay money and you want a result.

At the same time the dating site provides the communication infrastructure, but cannot interfere in a relationship. Although, they should do their best to help their site members to achieve their goals. For some people it’s a pleasant communication, for others - finding a soulmate.