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The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/27/2013 6:54:08 PM   
TeamDomPhx


Posts: 5
Joined: 2/9/2013
Status: offline 		We've been on CM for nearly a year we have encountered an alarming volume of seemingly real people operating behind profiles that exist for some other nefarious intent.

The scams and email harvesters are kinda easy to spot, within a few days, they get desperate and start asking for money or an email address - uh, NO!

Slightly harder to vet are the identity thieves. While we want to assure a potential slave we are real (especially the females) this gets tricky when many females are almost anti-webcam, (without first a rather significant investment of time to "get to know each other").

This is where things have become downright disappointing... Seems the new threat isn't so much identity theft as much as it is people who are not what they say, and have become rather crafty at circumventing the "verification" for being real and serious to basically just get free cyber sex, kicks, and do nothing more that suck ones precious time thinking that something is being built toward a common end goal, when in reality, the user has no intention of taking it that far.

In one such case (granted it is extreme) the user managed to bilk us out of countless hours of our time over the course of 6 months and raised our hopes to such a degree that we were not "looking" as hard as we had when we first came onto CM.

The user claimed to not have a working webcam
Thus, in leu...
The user managed to complete a rather sophisticated series of photo-verifications. (including writing on herself with lipstick).
The user managed to call us, and speak to us in a female voice over our cell phone.
"SHE" also assured us that she kept needing a little more assurance from us before she would disclose any personal info - but she was close.

The user typically requested that we IM and we would speak through our mic, while she would type (again, no working mic).

Naturally, topics went from the basic interests and limits and boundaries to planning her relocation, and into detailed discussion about our expectations, her discipline and rewards for loyal service.

She would beg us for tasks and assignments and assured us with photographic evidence that she had complied with our demands.

Mind you - yes, we were a little skeptical, we never had her #, no text messages, but we heard her voice, saw the pics, and best of all, we fell for her little sob story - making some of these little "issues" not just plausible, but reasonable.

During a web chat play session on Yahoo last week at night time, we asked she take some photos of her new outfit.

We posed her, and made her take several photos - my wife was first to notice that there was light coming through a window off in the background. (and a clever crop would have covered it). But, some of the other photos got the window closer into the main area of the photo.

Yes, damn-it. there was DAY-LIGHT shining through the windows!

My wife and I took a small time out, gave her some tasks and we went on the hunt.

Sure enough, not all her pics, but many showed up littered across the internet. Some dating as far back as 2010!

We then dug up her emails, and got an IP address, which put her in Connecticut (NOT Texas as she claimed).

Long story short, we confronted the user about SOME of the pics (we held back the most damning evidence). They tried to continue the charade with excuses, and all kinds of BS.

So, we restarted our play session where she could here us on mic, and she would type responses.

We then dropped the bomb, but not only did we full-on accuse the scammer of being up to no-good, we assured them we had evidence of their location and their REAL identity and demanded the USER get on the phone as we demanded an apology - and if not, we lauded threats of real harm. (We'll stop there and leave the details to your imagination).

Bottom line...
Our 24 year old bi, female, full-time slave was actually a man in his late 30's with a wife and a daughter. He had no intention to steal our identity, money or anything else. But for him, it was an opportunity to live vicariously through a fantasy.

After giving him a good firm ass-reaming and a long lecture about his actions being a theft of our TIME we made some suggestions about how he could redirect his desires into a more "honest" representation. He cried and begged our forgiveness.

While this post is partially to vent, it is also to educate other CM users to be extra thorough and diligent in your screening & verification procedures. The user we encountered was educated by someone, somewhere on HOW to pull off this trickery, as we have in the last week exposed almost all of the females we were communicating with. Please be advised, the tricksters have become very clever - we have even encountered one who used choppy, poorly focused video, played in front of the cam. Again, the excuses seemed realistic, plausible and believable - until we saw a tip of a finger in the frame.

Perhaps the biggest piece of advice we can offer is to not let someone sell you a line of BS (even if it sounds reasonable) people worth meeting will, do, and can have the resources to better comply with more intense screening & verification BEFORE letting things get too far. Always keep in mind your downside risk is LOSS OF TIME. Anyone that refuses a web-cam verification is likely up to no good in the long run.

Two tools that were invaluable for us are knowing how to find IP addresses, using image search tools like google and tineye and lastly, capitalizing on a little ignorance on behalf of the user.

We realize and patiently tolerate that in this world, at first, it is best to error in favor of anonymity and discretion. However, again we must say that it is necessary to draw a line in the sand and force compliance or walk. Do not let these users steal your most precious commodity, your TIME!

Happy holidays.

Master A and Mistress K
Profile   Post #: 1
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/27/2013 7:05:58 PM   
RedMagic1


Posts: 6470
Joined: 5/10/2007
Status: offline 		I've got a few days off, so I figured I'd run an experiment yesterday/today. I wrote to two women with my hidden profile, and they wrote back. One loves Bach and Gustav Klimt. The other is a grad student and a photographic exhibitionist. Both sounded very female, and both thanked me for writing. Given the photos they have on their profiles, I'm confident they get a lot of mail.

If I can get two openers with a deactivated profile, I don't think the site has become completely overrun by fakes. I think the site is overrun by single male horndogs, and couples who have no idea how to hunt unicorns.

Put another way, the women on the site probably aren't looking for someone with a mindset that would cause them to type out a 45-minute rant about time wasters.

If you'd like advice for how to make a real-life connection here, you could ask, and try to learn something.

_____________________________

Not with envy, not with a twisted heart, shall you feel superior, or go about boasting. Rather in goodness by action make true your song and your word. Thus you shall be highly regarded, and able to live in peace with all others.
- 15th century Aztec

(in reply to TeamDomPhx)
Profile   Post #: 2
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/27/2013 7:12:18 PM   
MistressDarkArt


Posts: 5178
Status: offline 		Welcome to the boards, folks.

We get the 'fake/scammer/time-waster' diatribes here several times a week, sometimes several times a day so yours is no new news or surprise. I do, however, appreciate that you took time to detail some of the telling giveaways for less experienced folks to be aware of.

As SeekingTrinity says below, when what you seek is a rare commodity, the method you use to locate is of great importance. Unicorns exist, but connecting online not so much because they simply don't need to bother with the hassles it creates (as you've discovered). Once you've had enough online cr*p, please connect or reconnect with real people in your local lifestyle community. For those seeking unicorns such as yourselves, I think it would be a much more productive use of your time.

Good luck, and happy Thanksgiving.

< Message edited by MistressDarkArt -- 11/27/2013 7:34:14 PM >

(in reply to TeamDomPhx)
Profile   Post #: 3
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/27/2013 7:25:42 PM   
SeekingTrinity


Posts: 1834
Joined: 5/29/2012
From: The 'burbs of Portland, OR
Status: offline 		~FRing it~

Another little note to add...

Not everyone out there owns a web cam to verify identity. I don't and I've actually never owned one in the entire time I've owned a computer.

And not everyone out there is looking to screw you over. My guy and I began our conversation exchanges via CM, yahoo, and cell phones. He hates taking pictures of himself. If we blindly followed your advice and not exercised good old common sense, we'd have never met or become as close as we are. Like I was saying, not everyone out there is running game.

Online CAN be a good way of connecting with someone, but it's by no means the only way out there. You are seeking a rarity, so you have to expect a harder road to go down in your search. Same goes for sub males in relation to female dominants. You are all many fish in a big pond with few fisherman on the banks.

(in reply to MistressDarkArt)
Profile   Post #: 4
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/27/2013 7:33:19 PM   
peppermint


Posts: 5171
Joined: 10/18/2005
From: Montana
Status: offline 		You live in one of the most kink friendly areas of the US. Just in the east valley there are 2 evening munches, an afternoon munch, and a group that gets together at a different restaurant to share a meal with friends. There is APEX with something going on nearly every evening. You don't have to use the internet to search for your unicorn. You can go to events and meet her face to face. Wow her with your great personalities. As a friend who lives in Phoenix tells us, there is a munch or party or something happening every single day of the week. Why waste your time using just the internet?

_____________________________

We are stardust, we are golden, and we got to get ourselves back to the garden.

Yes, I am crazy about feathered creatures. I have a dozen chickens, 3 ducks, 5 geese, and 2 parakeets.

Revise that number. Just got 14 new chicks and 5 turkeys.

(in reply to TeamDomPhx)
Profile   Post #: 5
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/27/2013 7:35:07 PM   
Apocalypso


Posts: 1104
Joined: 4/20/2009
Status: offline 		Or, when you meet someone on the Internet, arrange to meet up IRL. Not in a romantic or sexual way. Coffee shop or other public place.

_____________________________

If you're going to quote from the Book of Revelation,
Don't keep calling it the "Book of Revelations",
There's no "s", it's the Book of Revelation,
As revealed to Saint John the Divine.

(in reply to peppermint)
Profile   Post #: 6
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/27/2013 10:51:51 PM   
AthenaSurrenders


Posts: 3582
Joined: 3/15/2012
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Apocalypso

Or, when you meet someone on the Internet, arrange to meet up IRL. Not in a romantic or sexual way. Coffee shop or other public place.


Yep. The quickest and easiest way to cut out the cyber sex hunters is to stop offering cyber sex. A fifteen minute meeting in public is much simpler than months of elaborate photo verifications and excuses. Make yourself a rule - face to face meeting within three weeks or you move on. There might be a small number of genuine people who don't like this, but it's a risk worth taking since exactly zero of the online fantasists will go for it.

Since there are two of you, you have practically nothing to lose. You won't have to sit there alone waiting to be stood up, and you won't have to worry as much about personal safety.

Now if you were enjoying giving out sexy cyber-tasks, that's fine, but you'll have to weigh up whether it's fun enough to be worth your time even with the high likelihood you'll be talking to a man. If not, then why bother with months of assigning tasks at all? Their willingness to write your names in lipstick on their tits does very little to determine if they are compatible with you.

Edit to add: your threats to 'destroy' the life and world of anyone you deem to be fake by finding their real identity is likely to put off all serious applicants. Even if I was looking for what you offer I would pass you by because that seems like a vicious response to internet time wasting, which is just a fact of internet life. I wouldn't want to risk you deciding I was 'fake' if I decided not to be with you, and have you out me to my family or employer.
Add to that you are searching for a very rare commodity and have what looks in my eyes to be fairly harsh conditions to offer - I'm not saying you shouldn't hunt for what you want, but you should be aware that your profile is going to attract more than the usual number of fantasists.

< Message edited by AthenaSurrenders -- 11/27/2013 11:01:59 PM >

_____________________________

Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your desire?

(in reply to Apocalypso)
Profile   Post #: 7
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/28/2013 5:11:54 AM   
needlesandpins


Posts: 3901
Status: offline 		I didn't even bother to read your uber blah blah whinge fest because we've heard it all before several times a week from people not getting their own way.

suck it up, it's the internet, it happens, move on. me personally; i'd avoid you like the plague from reading the other replies in here. any other potential unicorn can read this, and now avoid you too. well done.

welcome to the forums btw where we don't give a crap about the fakes and scammers on a different website to collarchat here.

needles

_____________________________

I deserved better. Not than you, but from you.

(in reply to AthenaSurrenders)
Profile   Post #: 8
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/28/2013 6:39:08 AM   
kalikshama


Posts: 14805
Joined: 8/8/2010
Status: offline
quote:

Anyone that refuses a web-cam verification is likely up to no good in the long run.

I've meet double digits of men from online sites (the majority from this one) and do not own a web cam.

quote:

Two tools that were invaluable for us are knowing how to find IP addresses, using image search tools like google and tineye and lastly, capitalizing on a little ignorance on behalf of the user.

The two rules most valuable for me were to date local guys only and drop anyone who was unable to meet within two weeks of good conversation.

quote:

Perhaps the biggest piece of advice we can offer is to not let someone sell you a line of BS (even if it sounds reasonable) people worth meeting will, do, and can have the resources to better comply with more intense screening & verification BEFORE letting things get too far.

Conversation over coffee is the best screening and verification process for me.

(in reply to TeamDomPhx)
Profile   Post #: 9
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/28/2013 7:42:28 AM   
shiftyw


Posts: 2837
Joined: 6/6/2013
From: The Shire
Status: offline 		I have met dozens of people online. My rules are always...cam verify...be willing to meet in a vanilla setting shortly after deciding to, and if they jump into kink or sex too early in chat...ditch em. It isn't a sign they are serious. Its always a sign they are seriously horny, which isn't worth considering to me.

I can't understand how in this day and age with all the Google image searching that can be done, cam verifying, and media/news reports about these things happening that people still can pull off these sorts of things.

And to just emphasize what Athena mentioned...if I were a potential sub of yours and clicked that view forum posts button in your profile...I would be turned off. If you let someone you don't even know yet get you to the point of threatening them like you have over this or get you frustrated enough to post to a bunch of other strangers online...I don't see you as very in control of yourself, much less want you to control me.

(in reply to TeamDomPhx)
Profile   Post #: 10
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/28/2013 7:53:16 AM   
ChatteParfaitt


Posts: 6562
Joined: 3/22/2011
From: The t'aint of the Midwest -- Indiana
Status: offline 		You've gotten some excellent advice, why haven't you come back to thank people for their time?

I can see your nick is still here, so it's a good bet you're reading the responses, but don't choose to reply.

I'm pointing this out for the benefit of anyone who's thinking of becoming involved with you two. Not only are you utterly clueless, you're impolite about it. Thank goodness all a prospective sub needs to do is click on your forum posts from your profile page to see how you respond to others.

You two have a great Thanksgiving now !!



_____________________________



(in reply to TeamDomPhx)
Profile   Post #: 11
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/28/2013 7:55:07 AM   
MsMJAY


Posts: 515
Joined: 3/17/2013
Status: offline 		These are my standing rules also and I have met some pretty amazing people on CM over the years. (Friends, partners, etc.) My positive experiences far out-weigh my negative ones.

quote:

ORIGINAL: kalikshama

The two rules most valuable for me were to date local guys only and drop anyone who was unable to meet within two weeks of good conversation.

Conversation over coffee is the best screening and verification process for me.



(in reply to kalikshama)
Profile   Post #: 12
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/28/2013 8:34:33 AM   
searching4mysir


Posts: 2757
Joined: 6/16/2011
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: TeamDomPhx


The user managed to complete a rather sophisticated series of photo-verifications. (including writing on herself with lipstick).





When I was searching, anyone who asked for that was kicked to the curb. I don't have to prove myself to anyone. I don't put up with fools who are essentially calling me a liar without any reason to.

Keep it local and meet quickly. That's all the verification you really need.

< Message edited by searching4mysir -- 11/28/2013 8:35:15 AM >

_____________________________

No longer searching -- found my one and only right here on CM


(in reply to TeamDomPhx)
Profile   Post #: 13
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/28/2013 8:59:35 AM   
Spiritedsub2


Posts: 3316
Joined: 7/18/2012
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: ChatteParfaitt

You've gotten some excellent advice, why haven't you come back to thank people for their time?

I can see your nick is still here, so it's a good bet you're reading the responses, but don't choose to reply.

I'm pointing this out for the benefit of anyone who's thinking of becoming involved with you two. Not only are you utterly clueless, you're impolite about it. Thank goodness all a prospective sub needs to do is click on your forum posts from your profile page to see how you respond to others.

You two have a great Thanksgiving now !!



And I am impressed by all the forum regulars who take the time to respond to the ten millionth fakes/scammers thread. I'm not that generous.

_____________________________

Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.
~ Rumi

Laughing Dolphin

(in reply to ChatteParfaitt)
Profile   Post #: 14
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/28/2013 9:18:11 AM   
Apocalypso


Posts: 1104
Joined: 4/20/2009
Status: offline 		I was going to mildly disagree with "local" (on the grounds that public transport isn't that expensive). But then I remembered that Americans and Brits have very different definitions of that particular word.

_____________________________

If you're going to quote from the Book of Revelation,
Don't keep calling it the "Book of Revelations",
There's no "s", it's the Book of Revelation,
As revealed to Saint John the Divine.

(in reply to Spiritedsub2)
Profile   Post #: 15
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/28/2013 10:33:26 AM   
TeamDomPhx


Posts: 5
Joined: 2/9/2013
Status: offline 		To those that offered advice, thanks. Much appreciated and opened our thoughts to some alternatives.

Would love to dog the "critics" but we have better things to do on Thanksgiving than sit in front of a computer as opposed to enjoying time with our real life friends & family.

Also learned: another reason why we do not engage on forums, meh.

(in reply to Apocalypso)
Profile   Post #: 16
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/28/2013 10:50:55 AM   
crazyml


Posts: 5568
Joined: 7/3/2007
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: TeamDomPhx

Also learned: another reason why we do not engage on forums, meh.


Excellent! That'll be a win for you, and a win the people who enjoy the forums. That's like a win-win.


_____________________________

Remember.... There's always somewhere on the planet where it's jackass o'clock.

(in reply to TeamDomPhx)
Profile   Post #: 17
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/28/2013 10:59:24 AM   
needlesandpins


Posts: 3901
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: TeamDomPhx

To those that offered advice, thanks. Much appreciated and opened our thoughts to some alternatives.

Would love to dog the "critics" but we have better things to do on Thanksgiving than sit in front of a computer as opposed to enjoying time with our real life friends & family.

Also learned: another reason why we do not engage on forums, meh.


and yet if you'd actually taken time to engage in the forums like civilized human beings you may have learned a thing, or two before posting your utter drivel. all you've done is show yourselves up to be horrid people. seriously take a long hard look at what you are doing, take a step back, look at it as the person you are actually trying to attract, and then ask yourself whether you really think you are good people.

you seem willing to try and ruin someone for not jumping through your hoops, that you play judge and jury on, and find guilty. no-one in their right mind should want to be anywhere near the two of you. my advice to anyone reading this having looked as a potential to contacting you is to not touch you with anyone else's barge pole, let alone their own. run away, run away now!

if in real life you are anything near as arrogant, and conceited as you appear in this thread then give this lot up now. you stand to be very disappointed. unicorns exist, but the are rare creatures with the pick of the crop.

needles

_____________________________

I deserved better. Not than you, but from you.

(in reply to TeamDomPhx)
Profile   Post #: 18
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/28/2013 11:15:17 AM   
DesFIP


Posts: 25191
Joined: 11/25/2007
From: Apple County NY
Status: offline 		One, I don't own a cam.
Two, anyone who approaches me with the premise that I'm a liar gets short shrift. And that's what you're doing by demanding people prove themselves to you. You are deliberately making all the honest people avoid you which means you are deliberately picking liars. I suggest you folks do some soul searching for why you are sabotaging yourselves.

Probably due to the fact that both of you aren't on board about him finding someone else to play hide the sausage with.

Fix the relationship, only do what the least interested person permits, and meet people together. But I doubt you'll take this advice.

In which case, hire an escort.

_____________________________

Slave to laundry

Cynical and proud of it!


(in reply to needlesandpins)
Profile   Post #: 19
RE: The Epidemic of Scams, Fakes & Time-Wasters - 11/28/2013 11:54:26 AM   
RavenKittenSub


Posts: 15
Joined: 1/1/2008
Status: offline 		Well, I for one totally feel for the OP here. I mean, I get why posts like this aren't always a good idea... coming off as bitter and mistrustful is never a turn-on. But sometimes you've just got to vent.
And if I may offer a bit of addendum to the rant... the poses/fakers/time-wasters don't just waste time. They also damage your ability to trust so when you do find someone legit, it's all you can do not to be all paranoid at them.

(in reply to DesFIP)
Profile   Post #: 20
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