The past few free communication weekends have been chock full of potential scammers signing up. I refer to them all as Nigerians since that is where the bulk of them originate, but of course I don’t know for sure that they all originated from there.
I was contacted by several, all with gaping holes in their story, poor english composition skills, outlandish inconsistencies (among my personal favorites were:
- the gentleman who purportedly lived in the “foothills of the Adirondack mountains”, which are apparently now located in the Bronx;
- the gentleman born and raised in Italy who couldn’t speak Italian;
- the “marine engineer” who couldn’t answer even the most basic questions about his occupation;
- the childless widowed gentleman who suddenly volunteered that his 14 year old daughter and he prayed together before beginning communication with me (it’s a miracle I tell ya!);
- the gentleman who claimed to live in a certain town that, unbeknownst to him, my family founded in the 1700′s, and yet having lived there all of his life and being a history buff … he didn’t have a clue as to what I was talking about when I mentioned my family;
- the gentleman who works on an “oil rig” and lives in the Bronx (what a commute he must have!);
etc …. and I reported them all, along with a note about how I wasn’t paying to be matched with scammers … and I got this nice response:
Dear Shar,
Thank you for your recent notification. We regret to hear that you have encountered numerous matches that appear to be suspect and/or may have been closed by eHarmony. Please be assured that this is not typical of the type of matches our service normally provides and that we are continuing to investigate the matter. Although, we encourage our members to always report any matches they believe have misrepresented themselves or may have acted inappropriately, we also monitor any unusual situations in which a member has been matched with multiple people that they have had to report for suspect behavior. (Hmmmm …. hope the staffer assigned to monitor me doesn’t fall asleep reading some of the lame responses I get, lol)
Making your eHarmony experience safe and successful is important to us. Please know that we take your concerns regarding these matches seriously and have investigated the matter immediately. We have reviewed and closed the accounts in question. (Thanks eHarmony!) We do not recommend any further communication with any of these matches. (But I was having fun wasting their time!)
Based on your matching experience, we would like to offer you an extension of your membership, free of charge. (SWEET!!!) Your new expiration date has been set to XX/XX/2008. Our customer’s safety and security continues to be a top priority at eHarmony. Notifications such as the ones you submitted help us find ways to improve our service and reduce risk. We truly appreciate the time you have taken to report the matches you have had concerns with. (And I appreciate that free month!)
Sincerely,
eHarmony
Customer Relations
YAY eHarmony!
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