by Chris Markel

Created on: July 09, 2008

Trust in the honesty of online dating site participants on at least one website is nonexistent. Participation on this site without doubt will likely lead to frustration, even heartbreak. Because within it there is a nest of defrauders and con artists that thrive on scamming others that use it. The outcome can be an emotional,if not financial, cost to the lonely and hopeless romantics who seek a meaningful relationship. Whether or not Migente is aware of this situation, it does exit

For a period of about two months this writer had contact with over 100 women from the website.
The majority of contacts were initiated by these women. Every contact that this writer had with these women tried to con him out of money after telling him how serious they were in establishing a meaningful relationship. Now it must beg the question, why would a relatively intelligent man want to seek a relationship on such a site? The best answer would be curiosity.
At least that is his answer now.

After recognizing that there was a definite pattern, and a method of operation in and with these women, a series of questions began to formulate. The first question was, could these scammers be operating from a central location? Another question was are some of these women actually men masquerading as women? And is it possible that they are organized? And the most thought provoking question was, is this particular website a base for an international business that is organized for the sole purpose of using a telemarketing technique to con men and women out of their hard earned dollars by fabricating cyber romances?

Some of the patterns that developed were the similarities in the sad stories, some word for word. Many of the pictures that the women posted on the site, were professional photos, and at times the same pictures were posted with different names. Many scams that they used had the distinct appearance of being scripted; some women asked for money to buy web cams, so "you can see me while we chat". Others asked you to purchase calling cards for them so that "I can hear your sweet voice". Then again, a few would even ask for money to purchase food or other items. But, when confronted with questions or answers that doubted the validity of their request, they would sign off, never to be heard from again. However, they would later show up back on the web site with a different name.

Then one day, this writer came in contact with a woman who had the same sad story about their situation that was given

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