Help/Scams

How to protect yourself against language exchange scammers

Polyglot Club makes every effort to fight against scams and false profiles. From January 1, 2020, new and more effective measures have been implemented to fight this. New profiles are now checked daily.

The scammers are using more and more sophisticated means so as not to be noticed by the administrators of our site. The purpose of this article is to help you spot potential scammers, in the event they are still present on our site.

Scammers take advantage of people looking for language exchange partners, by pretending to be the ideal person willing, for example, to help you improve your English. Be wary and careful, especially if you feel it is "too good to be true". They play on emotional triggers to get you to provide money or personal details.

Clues for spotting fake profiles

Scammers typically create fake online profiles designed to lure you in.

They may use a fictional name, or falsely take on the identities of real, trusted people such as military personnel, aid workers or professionals working abroad.

Scammers will express strong interest for you in a relatively short period of time, and will suggest you move the conversations away from our website to a more private channel, such as phone, email or instant messaging. They often claim to be from Australia, the United States, England or another western country, but travelling or working overseas.

Scammers will go to great lengths to gain your interest and trust, sharing ‘personal information’ and even sending you gifts. They may take months to build what may feel like the friendship of a lifetime and may even pretend to book flights to visit you, but never actually come. Once they have gained your trust and your defences are down, they will ask you (either subtly or directly) for money, gifts or your banking/credit card details. They may also ask you to send pictures or videos of yourself.

Often the scammer will pretend to need the money for some sort of personal emergency. For example, they may claim to have a severely ill family member who requires immediate medical attention such as an expensive operation, or they may claim financial hardship due to an unfortunate run of bad luck such as a failed business or mugging in the street. The scammer may also claim they want to travel to visit you, but cannot afford it unless you are able to lend them money to cover flights or other travel expenses.

Sometimes the scammer will send you valuable items such as laptop computers and mobile phones, and ask you to resend them somewhere. They will invent some reason why they need you to send the goods but this is just a way for them to cover up their criminal activity. Alternatively they may ask you to buy the goods yourself and send them somewhere. You might even be asked to accept money into your bank account and then transfer it to someone else. Warning - the above scenarios are very likely to be forms of money laundering which is a criminal offence. Never agree to transfer money for someone else.

Sometimes the scammer will tell you about a large amount of money or gold they need to transfer out of their country, and offer you a share of it. They will tell you they need your money to cover administrative fees or taxes.

Scammers can also pose a risk to your personal safety as they are often part of international criminal networks. Scammers may attempt to lure their victims overseas, putting you in dangerous situations that can have tragic consequences.

Regardless of how you are scammed, you could end up losing a lot of money. The money you send to scammers is almost always impossible to recover and, in addition, you may feel long-lasting emotional betrayal at the hands of someone you thought loved you.

Warning signs

You meet someone online and after just a few contacts they profess strong needs to help you improve your language skills and ask to chat with you privately.

They will try and move you away from the Polyglot Club website and communicate via chat or email.

Their profile on the Polyglot Club website or their Facebook page is not consistent with what they tell you.

For example, their profile picture looks different to their description of themselves, or they say they are university educated but their English is poor. After gaining your trust – often waiting weeks, months or even years – they tell you an elaborate story and ask for money, gifts or your bank account/credit card details.

Their messages are often poorly written, vague and escalate quickly from introduction to love.

If you don’t send money straight away, their messages and calls become more desperate, persistent or direct.

If you do send money, they continue to ask you to send more. They don’t keep their promises and always have an excuse for why they can't travel to meet you and why they always need more money.

Protect yourself

Never send money to someone you haven't met in person.

Always consider the possibility that the approach may be a scam, particularly if the warning signs listed above appear.

Try to remove the emotion from your decision making no matter how caring or persistent the language exchange partner is.

Do an image search to help determine if they really are who they say they are.

You can use Google image search. On Chrome navigator, right click on the profile image and select "Search for an image with Google".

See this detailed article on how to identify fake profile images with Google: https://www.hackread.com/google-image-search-social-media-profiles/

Be alert to things like spelling and grammar mistakes, inconsistencies in their stories and others signs that it’s a scam like their camera never working if you want to Skype each other.

Be cautious when sharing personal pictures or videos with prospective partners, especially if you’ve never met them before. Scammers are known to blackmail their targets using compromising material.

If you agree to meet a prospective partner in person, tell family and friends where you are going. We strongly recommend you do not travel overseas to meet someone you have never met before.

Be wary of requests for money. Never send money or give credit card details, online account details, or copies of important personal documents to anyone you don’t know or trust.

Avoid any arrangement with a stranger that asks for up-front payment via money order, wire transfer, international funds transfer, pre-loaded card or electronic currency, like Bitcoin.

It is rare to recover money sent this way.

Do not agree to transfer money for someone else: money laundering is a criminal offence.

Be very careful about how much personal information you share on social network sites. Scammers can use your information and pictures to create a fake identity or to target you with a scam.

Have you been scammed?

If you think you have been scammed, send a message to Vincent, founder of the Polyglot Club website and communicate the following information about the scammer:

• the scammer's username

or

• the scammer's profile URL (example: https://polyglotclub.com/member/[USERNAME])

Send a private message to vincent here:

https://polyglotclub.com/member/vincent

If you think you have provided your account details to a scammer, contact your bank or financial institution immediately.

This helps us to warn people about current scams, monitor trends and disrupt scams where possible.

We also provide guidance on protecting yourself from scams and where to get help.

Spread the word to your friends and family to protect them.

Sources

• https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/types-of-scams/dating-romance
• https://www.hackread.com/google-image-search-social-media-profiles/