With the rise of the Internet and e-mail, getting a phony ad or message out to a vast audience is cheap and easy. Even though the old work-at-home scams have taken on a modern twist, the typical profile of victims who are most susceptible to these scams has changed very little.

This also concerns online dating industry. I would call it the most profitable sphere for them cause they are taking advantage of our feelings and emotions.

It is estimated that the proceeds of Internet Dating Scams can exceed almost $US2.5 million a year. Elena Petrova(see the photo), owner of 'Russian Brides Cyber Guide', is the world's foremost authority on Internet dating. Elena effectively polices the industry and her site, and her comprehensive 'blacklist', is the standard to which all others should conform.

History:
The history of dating and marriage scams started ages ago, and ironically, it was not the Russians who invented them. Legendary 'scammer', Jeff Peters, who practised his skills in the matrimonial industry long before the Internet, and his loyal friend, Andy Takers, decided to organise a low risk venture by placing an ad in a newspaper for singles.

"Wealthy nice widow is looking for an honest man who will take care of her and her finances. Age and looks are not important but he must have a heart of gold."

To ensure that the police would not trouble them with their little enterprise, Peters, and the aptly named, Takers, found a real widow. Then they charged every male applicant 50 dollars to have his letter forwarded to the mystery "Widow X". Money came pouring in, expenses were covered, and the devious venture started to make a profit.

Our days
The base for the scams is cross culture ignorance, which allows criminals to impose their rules of the game. Today, it is very easy to set up such a scam. All one needs is a web site, a cluster of pictures of attractive women, and post them on the Internet.

The typical feature of Internet personals is overwhelming male presence due to their natural technical proficiency and embracement of new technologies, therefore female participants are in a great demand.

Normally personal sites would allow anyone to place a free ad, but RESPONDING ADS need so called "premium membership", which requires payment. Most people only place a free ad, and never pay, and women tend to use paid services even less than men.
Scammers pay the membership fee, which allows them to write to the members, and contact as many male members as possible posing as a female that that is interested in them, or place their own ad with a pretty picture waiting for male's responses. The first variant is prevalent in reported scams.

According to one of the Internet personals sites, scammers contact up to a staggering 3000 male members a day, so even with a small percentage of success, some men are destined to take the bait.

The way it usually happens
Usually the woman, actually a man using female photographs, will introduce 'herself' as living in Eastern Europe, Southern Asia, or Latin America, countries of the third world or former Soviet republics, of which an average western man has very limited knowledge and probably the most well-known fact is that it is common knowledge that there are women who seek a better life abroad, the so called "mail order brides".

Scammers write beautiful, heartfelt letters, skilfully developing the atmosphere of trust, and they send many beautiful and provocative photos, which can be downloaded from the Internet. These pictures are usually scanned from a magazine, or simply borrowed, and they are seldom photographs of the writers themselves. Of course, these flattering responses massage the man's ego and, in a very short period of time, "she" falls in love with the man. Shortly afterwards they request money for visa and tickets to visit to the man's country. Money is usually sent by wire transfer via Western Union or MoneyGram, and the amount can be anything from a few hundred to a few thousands US dollars.

Another popular variation of dating scams is where scammers request money for translations and sending letters via email posing as an agency that the women, and their photographs, uses for her correspondence.

The age of male victims varies between 25 to 60 years old, and their social status can be anything. Successful, well-educated good-looking young men, all too often fall prey to dating scammers.

Another favourite hunting ground for individual scammers and scamming groups are the Internet chatrooms.

The prosecution of Internet dating scams is difficult because the victim is in a different country to the criminal, and it is also not easy to prove the original intention of fraud.
(read more at www.newcriminologist.co.uk)

So I would like to note that both dating site admins and the users should be careful and check all the info about a person before sending money. Hope, this info will help.