Carl Estep found his way into the hearts and pocketbooks of women
through online church dating sites. During an undercover meeting with Estep,
the FBI Salt Lake City Division caught him on camera declaring that he was just
a ranch kid from Idaho who had worked hard for every dime he had earned. After
that law enforcement operation, Estep went to prison convicted of swindling two
women he met on the Internet out of more than $300,000. According to the FBI,
"romance scams" are a crime that can break the hearts and banks of
women. Annual reports released by the Internet Crimes Complaint Center show
female complainants have lost $80 million in the past two years to such
schemes.
KSL gathered a group of tech-savvy women who have used online dating
sites to find out how to identify the scam artists. "It is daunting when
you first try it," one of the panelists said. Stories of the women's
online dating experiences ranged from the bizarre one man who said he wanted to
date a woman who would consider a polygamist lifestyle to other encounters that
were more dangerous. "He would come to me and used his physicality and his
bigness to overtake me quite scary and I had to pretty much run," another
panelist said. "I do not think I have had any horrible experiences, but I
have had some disappointing experiences where people misrepresented who they
were," another woman said.
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According to a Pew Internet and American Life study, 54 percent of
online daters have felt that someone else seriously misrepresented themselves
in their profile. "I told
him, 'I am not going to tell you where I live.' He said, 'I already know where
you live.' "
28 percent of
people polled said they had been contacted by someone in a way that made them
feel uncomfortable. Several of the panelists said it had happened to them. "Just
today a man said he was married and looking for someone on the side and I had
to gracefully decline," a panelist said. "I will check to see if they
are a registered sex offender." These women said they recognize that
delving into world of digital dating comes with its share of risks. One of them
discovered that she learned her Facebook pictures revealed more than she
realized. She said she thought she was taking extra precautions by not posting
her address or where her online photographs geo-tagged. However, she said the
man who was courting her online, figured out her location all on his own. "I
told him, ‘I am not going to tell you where I live.' He said, ‘I already know
where you live.' "
Another panelist said she recently met a man on Facebook she knew was
too good to be true, but she was surprised at what KSL had uncovered when
reporters started investigating the man who claimed his name was Harry Smith. Using
a website called www.Romancescam.com,
KSL learned the e-mail she had received originated in Nigeria and the photo he
had sent her was really a picture of a male model. Other online schemers had
also used the same model's photograph with several different names. The
panelists said there are ways to be successful in online dating and they
offered helpful advice for women to avoid being scammed. They suggested not
allowing a relationship to drag on over the Internet and if someone refuses to
meet, it is typically a sign it is a scam. For safety reasons, the panelists
also said not to give out a home address and instead to meet someone during the
day in a public place. They also suggested letting family or friends know where
you will be and when the date will end. Each of the women pointed out many of
the risks that exist online also exist offline, but there are more chances to
meet people online. "I have had a lot of good experiences where it has
gone somewhere and lead to a relationship," a panelist said.
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