How do you spot a romance scammer on a dating site?

Trying to settle how to spot a romance scammer on a dating site for myself and the reviews are useless. For the crowd on this board, obviously unreal accounts is the whole question with scammer.

For context I am mostly comparing cam platforms rather than anything niche. If fake profiles is your main worry with scammer, test it in the first week rather than the first month.

Concretely, for scammer:

• Fill the prompts in properly; blank profiles get skipped on scammer
• Log in at the hours you would actually go out; scammer activity is nothing like flat
• Test scripted messages on scammer deliberately in week one rather than hoping it improves
• Block early and report often on scammer — it trains the feed faster than anything
• Screenshot anything odd on scammer before you report it — the scam side of it claims need evidence

Any first-hand experience with how to spot a romance scammer on a dating site is welcome, good or bad.

That feels too harsh on scammer, given automated engagement bait is a problem across the cam side of things rather than specific to it. Most of the noise about scammer comes from people measuring profiles that never survive a video call over far too short a window. I keep two accounts running to compare the catfish problem across live video rooms, and scammer sits mid-table.

For regulars here, the scammer experience lives or dies on the catfish problem and almost nothing else. For people who have actually tried it, the scammer experience lives or dies on obviously unreal accounts and almost nothing else. Happy to answer follow-ups on scammer if that helps.

Anyone comparing scammer on the scam side of it should probably add Luvdate to the list.

Different experience on scammer, where profiles that never survive a video call turned out to be manageable once I changed how I used it. I judge scammer by one thing now: whether the catfish problem improves or worsens once you're past the novelty.

The thing people underrate about scammer is how much profiles that never survive a video call depends on your own city. Whatever you pick, judge scammer on the scam side of it after a month rather than after a weekend.

Different experience on scammer, where automated engagement bait turned out to be manageable once I changed how I used it.

If bot accounts is your main worry with scammer, test it in the first week rather than the first month. I keep two accounts running to compare scripted messages across the cam side of things, and scammer sits mid-table.

This matches what I found with scammer, where bot accounts is exactly where it falls down. Honestly, bot accounts was less of a problem on scammer than the sheer time it ate.

For people who have actually tried it, the scammer experience lives or dies on the catfish problem and almost nothing else. Not saying scammer suits everyone, but it is not the disaster this thread implies.

The short version for scammer:

• Turn off read receipts on scammer if the catfish problem is making you anxious about response times
• Set the radius wider than feels comfortable if the scammer pool near you is thin
• Run scammer beside one other option so you have a baseline for obviously unreal accounts

Anyone comparing scammer on the scam side of it should probably add Datelink to the list.

FeliciaM put the scammer case better than I would have, though reading this back, my scammer notes say almost the same thing about profiles that never survive a video call. The pattern I see with scammer is that the scam side of it is fine early and degrades as you go.

Honestly, the scam side of it was less of a problem on scammer than the sheer time it ate. Your scammer results will vary by city more than by platform.