Yahoo Personals - NEGATIVE!!!

[&TheHorseYouRodeInOn]

I don't think I need to explain this one. This is where my first scammer came from and is chock full of baddies

[Marisa]

yeah, this is definately negative. A lot of scam there, one of the most popular place among Russian scammers who have access to stolen credit cards, and Nigerians I don't even mention.

Just look how many "singles" they have in a tiny city of Keller, Virginia!!! Probably more than even population of this city. And you know why? Because Keller, Virginia happens to have the same zipcode as Nigeria: 23401

[Almost_Fell]

I submitted a question to Yahoo Personals telling them that a member had been identified as being a Nigerian dating scammer. I asked them what they did when they got a report for this type of scam? How is the problem handled? This is the reply I got. It doesn't answer my question and I guess I'm not really surprised at the response. I would think they would come up with a different type of form letter at least.

Dear XXXXX,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Personals.

Yahoo! Terms of Service (TOS) states: "It is Yahoo!'s policy to take
reasonable measures to respect the privacy of Yahoo!'s users."

Yahoo! may, in appropriate circumstances and in its sole discretion,
terminate the accounts of users who appear to have violated our Terms
and Conditions. Any action we choose to take is confidential. We will
not release this information unless required to do so by law or under
other similar circumstances.

We are not able to make exceptions to this rule.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Personals.

Regards,

Denisse Fox

Yahoo! Customer Care

50482366

[MRD864]

So far, I have encountered at least 2 scammers that I recently terminated all communications with. There is also at least 1 other scammer on this particular site that I did initiate contact with - because "she" was allegedly in my local area - until I saw her posted as a confirmed scammer on this site.

The site to use extreme caution on - or, better yet, avoid - would be:

YAHOO! PERSONALS

I've reported the ones I confirmed as being scammers - email addy searches on Google and on this site - but so far, they still remain on their site. No actions, to date, have been taken to remove them.

[mojo4653]

I joined Yahoo about 4 years ago and the only scammers were by IM. Now I do a "search" and 3 in 10 are OBVIOUS scammer profiles with professional pictures and paragraphs in the "about me" stolen from other profiles. If you copy a paragraph from the profile and paste it in "search by keywords" up pops the poor person who's special words were stolen. I reported my scammer nearly 3 months ago and he is still on there "active within 24 hours" OMG... what the heck is Yahoo Personals thinking?? I wrote - this "person" scammed $17,000 from me, I have any proof you need"... isnt that enough for them??

[Foxy]

OK but sending money (especially 17000 dollars!! ) to somebody met online and never met in real is just complete madness.

[mojo4653]

The actual Madness is joining a dating site after being married for many years and having NO clue about "scammers-r-us" and NO clue about these wonderful sites... The professional scammers are very different to your every day model picture scammers.. I googled "him" many times and not once did his name come up and it took 6 months for him to work me enough to completely brainwash me. We naturally give trust until it is brutally removed, so yes, on the surface it's easy to say it was "madness" but when you are alone, its a very different story.

[FrumpyBB]

I know. They simply spot our weak spot and exploit us from there

[guyverx]

Sad thing is yahoo personals was ok years ago.
Quite a few of these sites, match.com, the friendfinder network, americansingles to name three were places that I actually met real women several years ago. Seems like since the mid 2000's they have bevome rife with scammers and spammers.
I have rejoined each of these for a couple of months each and they are very degraded now.

[Foxy]

The actual Madness is joining a dating site after being married for many years and having NO clue about "scammers-r-us" and NO clue about these wonderful sites... The professional scammers are very different to your every day model picture scammers.. I googled "him" many times and not once did his name come up and it took 6 months for him to work me enough to completely brainwash me. We naturally give trust until it is brutally removed, so yes, on the surface it's easy to say it was "madness" but when you are alone, its a very different story.

No the madness is being able to give thousands of dollars to someone you never met in real. Just incredible. And with such an amount (always growing) you have never imagined that something was wrong? When you're alone or not, loneliness never forbides good sense. Someone who is really interested in you will never ask you money.

[ber6318]

Just to add an update to this thread - for fun I posted a free profile on Yahoo Personals on 10/10/09. Withing 6 hours of making it visible I was getting messages from scammers. I'm 53 and most of the "women" that were messaging me were 28-32 and looked like models.

I live in Springfield, IL, the state capital. There is a local population of about 200,000 people. Why in God's name would a real 28 year old beauty contact a 53 year old guy??? These scammers aren't even trying to be believable anymore.

So sorry Yahoo, it's still thumbs down on your personals site.

[ber6318]

Further update. 11/13/2009. The scammers are popping up like craze on Yahoo Personals right now. The free profile I posted just for laughs is getting view after view from "women" that list their home as Springfield, IL and their info includes "post-grad education" with an income of under $24k/year. The spelling and grammar is far below what my 10 year old nephew could produce.

Here's the most recent profile that viewed me:

"On this site I to find new friends. And the most important thing, I wish to find the person for development of relations. If you wish to communicate to me, write to me, I will be glad to dialogue with new people. I like to cook various food, to read books and to look romantic comedies. The person for relations with me should be kind, clever and cheerful."

Yep, sounds like a 28 year old post-grad to me! The only way this could be real is if she is a very recent newcomer to the US, but the only language she lists as spoken is English. There are SOME real listings there, but be very cautious!!!

[RachelGolden11]

I couldn't agree more....Yahoo is a Lion's Den for the Nigerian Scammers. Since I started baiting one about a month ago, I've had at least 4 others try to contact me. I figure I'll get my money's worth of entertainment...and then I'm cancelling.

Then, I set up a second free profile and my original scammer took the bait and is now "spending time" with my second profile...all the while awaiting the $50,000 I've promised him next week from my original profile. If he only knew. He spends so much time wooing me, that when my second profile tried to talk to him, he was too tired (2 am Nigeria Time).

That's the thing about scam baiting...it is time consuming...Oh but what stories there are to tell...and it keeps these jerks away from other unsuspecting woman.

I've reported my scammer from both of my profiles...and no action has been taken by Yahoo.

[GeeMegan]

5 thumbs down for Yahoo Personal. It miffs me to pay money and then be deluged with emails from men who are fakes. Although I have only been with Yahoo for less than a week, I am amazed how many scammers use the same language, poor grammer/spelling, profess they are looking for a soulmate, do not care how much distance is between he and me--of love is right, love can find a way, are widowers with children; are professional men but do not state their profession, do not respond to my questions but send a very long response that has nothing to do with the type of person I seek.....etc.........Quite honestly, it is entertaining, but that is not why I paid my money. I prefer to be entertained elsewhere.

[ber6318]

Well, its been over three months since I last posted in this thread. Yahoo still has taken no action to curb the scammers who (believe it or not) are still posting pretty much the same cookie-cutter profile. But now they are at least stealing photos from real profiles to dress up their fake ones.

For the last month or so I have been averaging about 4-5 scammers hitting my profile per week. I report each one to Yahoo, and sometimes a week or two later Yahoo finally deletes the scam profile.

Sadly, Yahoo appears to have adopted the mindset that is all too common in big business these days. We (you, me, the "real" people) are nothing more than an income source. We "owe" them our business and our money, so basically just shut the **** up and send the cash.

I'm a 54 year old with two degrees in business and I see it every day. I personally believe that business management attitudes of this type are more responsible for all the business that have failed the past couple of years than is the economic downturn. A company that offers good products and/or good honest services will garner more loyal business and survive economic hardship. But a company that focuses ONLY on profit is doomed (unless they can build up a large enough base of mindless saps to keep giving them cash for nothing).

The last time Yahoo got a dime out of me was about four years ago, but I keep the free profile going and with each scammer I report I remind Yahoo that will never get one more dime until they clean up their act. It doesn't mean squat to them but gives me a moments satisfaction.