Mail Order Bride Profile Fraud, Know the Warning Signs

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Toi_Promma]Toi Promma
When people are "shopping" dating sites, they look at the selection of women featured on the site. The more attractive members the site has, the more likely it is that someone will join the site. So the battle between sites for attractive profiles is sort of like an "Arms Race". As much as competition as there is in the industry, the only definite loser in the equation are the clients who fork over thousands of dollars to "chat" or travel to meet women that don't exist. So it's important to know what to look for when considering joining a site.
In an effort to beat another site, many agencies simply surf the internet looking for photos of good looking women. Once they find someone they think will help "sell" the site, they will download the photo and apply a watermark, as if to say all of their profiles are "legitimate". One egregious example of profile fraud recently made the news all over Europe. Cheryl Cole, a famous UK pop star and a judge on "X-Factor", appeared on a mail order bride site from Eastern Europe. Obviously, Ms. Cole was unaware of this until it hit the news and sadly for her, there was little she could do as the agency prosecuted since they were based in a foreign country.
Another great tool for agencies in their effort to fool the public is PhotoShop. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with it, Photoshop is a software tool used to alter pictures and is an illegitimate agency's best friend. With Photoshop, you can take a middle aged women with bad teeth and make her look like a Hollywood starlet. It's really that powerful and nearly impossible to detect. However, a good test is to ask yourself if the picture looks like it was taken by a professional. If it doesn't look like the type of picture you would see on a Match.com, Yahoo Personals, or eHarmony, it's phony in one form or fashion.
Remember, the countries that mail order bride agencies are usually based in are working with women who don't have much money, so how can they afford professional photographers? If the agencies are paying the bill, than the site's not about relationships, it's about making money and getting women visas.
Another technique is to overwhelm men with profiles. One major romance tour company makes the claim that it has over 40,000 members that were selected from over 600,000 applicants...really?!! First of all, there simply would not be enough people to interview that many women, secondly, this number tells me that the agency is not removing old profiles, they are simply continuing to add to the profiles month after month. If you need any proof, go on to YouTube and search for "Mail order brides, scams" and you'll see a 9:59 video that will verify our statement.
Remember, look for "typical" pictures, not ones that look professionally taken and for additional information, read about profile fraud on the trusted [http://thaivalentine.com/famous-celebrity-appears-mail-order-bride-site]Mail Order Bride Source.
Toi Promma is the president of ThaiValentine, the leading Thai mail order bride agency based in Thailand.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Mail-Order-Bride-Profile-Fraud,-Know-the-Warning-Signs&id=6419969] Mail Order Bride Profile Fraud, Know the Warning Signs