BlackMatch.com taking some action

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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 1:39 pm

I think this is probably the right place for this. I got this email today, and I also posted it elsewhere. Members of BlackMatch have been receiving this email:

Controlling the African Scam Artists on BlackMatch.com

Dear BlackMatch.com Member,

Over the past several months we have received a large number of complaints about unsavory individuals on BlackMatch.com who have been soliciting our members with fraudulant financial propositions - most originating from the West African countries of Ghana and Nigeria. We've tried many...many...many times in the past to control this problem, but all they did was come back using a different username and email address. This problem is not unique to BlackMatch.com alone - ALL dating and community based sites are reporting this ever growing problem worldwide!

In order to eliminate this problem once and for all, we requested the assistance of several international law enforcement agencies. As a result of months of hard work and diligence on our part, the owners of the accounts in question are currently under investigation by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations, Interpol, Ghana�s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), The Israeli Special Police Unit (YAMAM) and other African, Middle Eastern and international law enforcement authorities. We have turned over all records including IP addresses for all computers in question. It is our intent and desire that these individuals be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of international law!

We apologize if the activities of these criminals have negatively impacted your experience on BlackMatch.com. In addition to cooperating with international authorities, we are in the process of implementing next generation security enabling software that will filter out criminals from our site so that your experience will be a positive one.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or to report a scam artist by completing the form located at the link below.

Sincerely,
BlackMatch.com Fraud Control Unit

Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 2:04 pm

Wonder how effective they will be, still nice to see someone taking some proactive measures

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

It would be nice to see other organizations *coughyahoohotmailMSNcough* attempt a similar approach.

Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 2:27 pm

Well if they introduced fee paying email for all email addresses even $5 a year then that would set lads back a lot. Imagine for each email address that was closed down they would lose $5.
That would be the end of 419 scams

Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 6:11 pm

Good news Miyu Very Happy

Not quite a Newb Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 24

It sounds great, and while I hope they can and do get the bad guys, isn't it often the case that these guys are logging on in internet cafes? They'll trace it toa cafe, and the owner will plead ignorance, and point to the signs he posts about not using his computers for scamming.

As someone else said, they've got to make a dent at the freemail sites, so it's not so easy to get a free email address, and that the providers will move quicker to nuke addresses used for scams.

Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 1:22 am

The proof will be in the kitchen, or whatever they say. still, I think it is encouraging that at least one dating site is trying to (hopefully) take some action. I hope it will lead to good things.

I know from a friend of mine (occasional baiter) that the scammers are really hitting the black dating sites. This is how I got signed up there. Maybe some of the other dating sites will follow this lead.

Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 9:47 am

Anything that hurst the scammers has got to be a good thing.

frankireland has a point too, about maybe charging for email accounts, but while i agree that this might add to the security level in that if the lads lose money they (with any luck) would leave the dating site. With many free sites there, would that also cause the genuine users to leve too - would they realize the benefits of the increased security or opt for a free site?

Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 10:17 am

A lad can sign up to anything using stolen CC details. If you had to pay for an email account then we'd have less lads, but the ones that'd be left would be the more sophisticated ones. And of course people would trust the emails more because they came from a paid service.

Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 12:08 pm

I have a personal buddy who builds the back-end services for several well known dating sites.
Here is what is happening from his side.

#1. Credit card companies are now seriously getting involved due to the large amounts of "returns" being suffered on behalf of the dating sites billings due to bogus/stolen credit cards.

#2. Users will not know this but if they join, then attempt to contact more than 5 other users on the first day, they will be put into a "holding pen." They will think that they are sending/spamming a bunch of people but their attempts will be blocked until the credit card process has completely cleared.

This is designed to stop "instant spamming" where someone joins the site with a bogus card then spams the site. This is extremely common.

So, it is a start and all the dating sites everywhere may adopt these policies. They are all getting hurt on the revenue side and the customer complaint side of their businesses right now so everyone is expected to adopt this simple new back-end "holding pen" technology.

It's a start and a welcome one at that.

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