The Marketing Mentress: How Can You Tell A Fake Profile Online?

Have you been accosted by strangers on your social media platforms?

Have you wondered why people seem to think that they can use the same old line with everyone?

Pretty much every day I have someone from the male gender reach out and ask me to connect with them. They use the same old line, "My wife died "X" number of years ago and left me with my one or two children. I am lonely and am looking for a good woman to be my friend." Or the like.

They always say that they are educated, either a doctor or military colonel. Then you read what they have to say as they describe their situation.

Have you noticed how they live in the UK or the USA?

I hate to drop it to you, but these are fake profiles and the owners of them live in Africa, usually Nigeria. I know because I caught one out, so to speak. He arranged a phone call and as soon as he answered, I could tell he had an African accent.

What was he thinking? Do these men think that women over here are daft?

You do not want to make them mad at you if you happen to get connected with one, because they will send you an obscene picture before you have a chance to block and report them.

Usually I am very careful not to connect with any men who have only women in their connection list, or very few men with mostly women connections. You can bet your boots every time that these are fake profiles.

These profiles are from men in Africa who are trying to get into Canada or the USA by way of marrying a woman from here. Or they are trying to get all your information so they can clean out your bank account and credit cards.

Notice their spelling and grammar.

When they say that they are a doctor, remember that doctors have to write a lot of term papers. They also have to write a master's thesis and a doctoral thesis. In order to do all that writing, they need to be good at it.

When I read something from someone who says they are a doctor or professional, I read what they write. If it is full of grammatical errors and spelling errors, I question their validity.

Their writing will give them away every time.

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Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress