Below is a list of what we consider to be the dating sites most littered with online dating scammers that you should be avoiding at all costs. The list is compiled with data from Alexa.com. Although some of these sites may be removing scammers from their site or just hiding them from real members, the simple fact that they have such a large percent of traffic from these high risk countries is dismaying and is what we will be surveying in this post. The countries most associated with these 419 scams are Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and Cote d’Ivoire. We will not be sparing “let’s just meet up” sites like Badoo.
1. Badoo. This site is the biggest offender. They have a higher percent of scammers than any other dating site, mostly from Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, etc. which are the scam capitals of the world. The list of countries in which they are the most popular in is absolutely appalling. Their site is more established in the big scamming countries than anywhere else. Take a look at the top 5 countries they are most popular in:
Cameroon 6
Democratic Republic of Congo 6
Cote d’Ivoire 13
Colombia 23
Nigeria 23
They are the 13th most popular site in Cote d’Ivoire, while they are the 1,765th most popular site in the US. Utterly astounding.
2. ChristianMingle. Scammers are well known for being religious in their profiles. Maybe they think it will help to build up trust among their victims. Either way, ChristianMingle is second on the list of having the highest percent of scammers.
3. Tagged. Next up is Tagged. Pretty hard to find a real person on this site.
4. Facebook. While it is the most popular social network, most people are unaware that Facebook has more registered 419 scammers than all dating sites combined. It’s nearly impossible to use Facebook and not get multiple friend requests mysteriously from very cute girls, etc. who live on the other side of the world and who you’ve never seen in your life.
5. Twitter. About the same percent of scammers as Match, however, they don’t clear them off the site by any means at all or prevent them from interacting with other real members.
6. Match. While Match does a decent job of clearing scammers from their real members, they are an absolute hotbed for illegal 419 activity. By not utilizing much TV and radio advertising like their competitor eHarmony who has a significantly lower scammer index from our research, they have ranked theirselves up with the best of them. I also find it very interesting that they have such a strategic partnership with no other than Yahoo!, the company well known for being the email provider of choice to 419 scammers, hence the name of the well known scammer group ‘the yahoo boys.’
7. Zoosk. Millions of members with millions of scammers registered. They do a decent job of clearing some of the fakes from the real members.
In no way does this list clear the names of smaller time sites like Cupid.com, etc. We believe there are many other smaller sites with similar high percents of scammers, but there is currently not enough data from external aggregating sources such as Alexa to provide us with this data. We would currently consider eHarmony to be the safest site from scams and another notable site that has been lowering its scam reputation to be PlentyOfFish.
