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+--- Thread: CM renewal (/showthread.php?tid=172)
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RE: CM renewal - ezdays - 10-31-2024
(10-30-2024, 03:19 PM)William St. Guthlac Wrote: It is indeed a numbers game.
Speaking of, the Federal Trade Commission and to a lesser extent (but impressively up and coming!) Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have some interesting metrics.
In 2023 fraud in the US alone ran over $8,000,000,000 dollars. Yes, billions.
Most victims of fraud are young people! Inexperience I would guess, but! the deepest stings, the most money, was scammed from the elderly. Life's savings. Paid for homes. And so on.
Cultivation of the mark, the scheme is known rather nastily as "pig butchering" can last months or years. Most of it is not done by individuals, but by gangs, with tech support, actors, and as a calculated business. That explains the persistence and long range efforts.
They do need better script writers. The tales of woe are predictable, but perhaps because they work so well. Americans are gullible, and frankly many are utterly ignorant of the world. I have the Cold War and the US Air Force to thank for my perspectives which were set before my voice changed, lo that more than a half century ago when I had already been to four different countries, and watched the scams play out.
No one is completely immune. The odds just go down. Criminal law taught me that.
As for numbers, it's estimated that 3.4 billion spam email messages are sent out each day.They really don't need to hook a large percentage of that to make a really nice living. A pity on the younger side that they are not more educated in protecting themselves and on the aged side, that's even worse because they no longer have a chance to make up for what they lost. But victims fall in every category across the board. I've watched a number of Dr. Phil's show where both men and women have been taken. One lady sent all her money, sold her house and furniture and was living in her car because all cash went to a man she never met. Another case where Dr. Phil sent someone to an address in a foreign country to knock on the door of this woman's love interest only to find out they never heard of him there. Some refuse to believe the truth even with hard evidence exposing the scam.
My policy is simple, I do not give money to anyone just because they ask. We raised our kids and supported them financially and otherwise as needed but they are older adults now and should be able to support themselves, so when I say "anyone", I mean anyone. I do not give out personal information to strangers either, especially on the phone or Internet regardless of who they say they are. I'm just waiting for someone to call and tell me I have to pay a fine immediately or they will come and arrest me. "Great, the door is unlocked, come get me, I welcome the break from cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and paying utility bills. Nice to have the government do all that for me"... I wouldn't even ask what I did wrong and I'd be disappointed if they didn't show up.
RE: CM renewal - English Rose - 10-31-2024
I spotted another scammer on CM this week. Poof! They've gone. Why oh why don't CM clean up the site themselves? It's ridiculous to rely on ex members. Christian Connection manages to keep a clean site most of the time, so it's possible.
I miss the Nigerian Princes who want to give me millions.
Here we have people from India trying to scam us by phone. I give them some free counselling about how good their English is and how they could get a much better job.
RE: CM renewal - ezdays - 10-31-2024
(10-31-2024, 09:03 AM)English Rose Wrote: I spotted another scammer on CM this week. Poof! They've gone. Why oh why don't CM clean up the site themselves? It's ridiculous to rely on ex members. Christian Connection manages to keep a clean site most of the time, so it's possible.
I miss the Nigerian Princes who want to give me millions.
Here we have people from India trying to scam us by phone. I give them some free counselling about how good their English is and how they could get a much better job.
From what I understand, a lot of these folks are forced into doing what they do. They are treated like slaves under threat of physical harm. Some are as much a victim as the people they're trying to entice. The same goes for the drug cartels. A person is asked to go to work for them and when they refuse, they're taken out and shot. There are lots of mean people in this world, many have no concern for human life or the harm they do to others with their sale of drugs and their scammy operations...
A thief was asked years ago why he robbed banks and he replied, "that's where the money is". Not anymore, too easy to sit on your couch in your underwear in Nigeria and take advantage of some widow in Omaha. The thing is that there is no repercussions, most transactions are untraceable thanks to technology and clever people who use it to their advantage.
Regardless of they protection that banks and money transfer facilities put in place, there are those who still believe that some famous actor or rock star is in love with them, or that the federal government wants you to pay them in gift cards. They panic when they think their grandkids are in trouble or that their bank account is in jeopardy, and don't bother to check to verify that. Most often, it's loneliness, (that's why many are on dating sites in the first place), that drives them to think irrationally.
So much for my rant of the day.....
RE: CM renewal - susanb - 01-26-2025
(10-31-2024, 09:03 AM)English Rose Wrote: I spotted another scammer on CM this week. Poof! They've gone. Why oh why don't CM clean up the site themselves? It's ridiculous to rely on ex members. Christian Connection manages to keep a clean site most of the time, so it's possible.
I miss the Nigerian Princes who want to give me millions.
Here we have people from India trying to scam us by phone. I give them some free counselling about how good their English is and how they could get a much better job.
jogging my memory.......I got at least two per day.....
so this month I got 2 likes on CM...........it's tempting but a like means very little from
where I sit........lol
RE: CM renewal - English Rose - 01-27-2025
I got 2 likes on another site. I'm not a member and can't send messages so sent likes back. Poof they're gone.
At the same time discovered a weird and abusive guy I'd interacted with on CM had joined the site under a different name. Nothing, but nothing makes me want to join a dating site again.
I got 2 likes on another site. I'm not a member and can't send messages so sent likes back. Poof they're gone.
At the same time discovered a weird and abusive guy I'd interacted with on CM had joined the site under a different name. Nothing, but nothing makes me want to join a dating site again.
RE: CM renewal - susanb - 01-27-2025
(01-27-2025, 08:10 AM)English Rose Wrote: I got 2 likes on another site. I'm not a member and can't send messages so sent likes back. Poof they're gone.
At the same time discovered a weird and abusive guy I'd interacted with on CM had joined the site under a different name. Nothing, but nothing makes me want to join a dating site again.
I got 2 likes on another site. I'm not a member and can't send messages so sent likes back. Poof they're gone.
At the same time discovered a weird and abusive guy I'd interacted with on CM had joined the site under a different name. Nothing, but nothing makes me want to join a dating site again.
hi Sheena........................mostly how I feel
life is way too special to not enjoy better things than
guys asking for $$$$ or being weird
RE: CM renewal - English Rose - 01-28-2025
Far too special.
RE: CM renewal - MaryAlice - 02-06-2025
Tell the guy to go and get a job!
Oh, and I'm not his bank! One guy didn't like that when I said that to him (too bad)!
RE: CM renewal - susanb - 02-07-2025
(02-06-2025, 04:01 PM)MaryAlice Wrote: Tell the guy to go and get a job!
Oh, and I'm not his bank! One guy didn't like that when I said that to him (too bad)!
it's my day to read my message.......
bet he's fake
if it's juicy, I will make a report.......gasp
RE: CM renewal - enchantmentadm - 02-11-2025
It is interesting that in looking at the demographics of members on Catholic Match vs. Catholic Chemistry, Catholic Chemistry has far more younger members, i.e., people younger than 40. It's not that I am interested in that age group but sometimes I just like to get a sense of the overall demographic. The last time I checked this out on Catholic Match, there were very few younger members. Catholic Chemistry appears to have far more. My search for both sites was for within 150 miles of Albuquerque, New Mexico. This cannot be good news for CM. Catholic Chemistry is pretty much a disaster for my age group, however. Catholic Chemistry was founded in 2018 in part because certain aspects of Catholic Match were perceived as being out of date. For example, they had video chat about two years before CM did.
RE: CM renewal - susanb - 02-11-2025
(02-07-2025, 04:31 PM)susan b Wrote:(02-06-2025, 04:01 PM)MaryAlice Wrote: Tell the guy to go and get a job!
Oh, and I'm not his bank! One guy didn't like that when I said that to him (too bad)!
it's my day to read my message.......
bet he's fake
if it's juicy, I will make a report.......gasp
so I guess this cm guy met somebody or ????
he didn't read my message .....
and am definitely not paying for membership anyway
RE: CM renewal - April Maccabees - 02-11-2025
(02-11-2025, 04:55 PM)enchantmentadm Wrote: It is interesting that in looking at the demographics of members on Catholic Match vs. Catholic Chemistry, Catholic Chemistry has far more younger members, i.e., people younger than 40. It's not that I am interested in that age group but sometimes I just like to get a sense of the overall demographic. The last time I checked this out on Catholic Match, there were very few younger members. Catholic Chemistry appears to have far more. My search for both sites was for within 150 miles of Albuquerque, New Mexico. This cannot be good news for CM. Catholic Chemistry is pretty much a disaster for my age group, however. Catholic Chemistry was founded in 2018 in part because certain aspects of Catholic Match were perceived as being out of date. For example, they had video chat about two years before CM did.
That is good to know for single people in my age group. I don't know any Millennial who have found his or her match on Catholic Chemistry, but I do know those who have on CM.
RE: CM renewal - susanb - 02-13-2025
(02-11-2025, 08:45 PM)susan b Wrote:(02-07-2025, 04:31 PM)susan b Wrote:
it's my day to read my message.......
bet he's fake
if it's juicy, I will make a report.......gasp
so I guess this cm guy met somebody or ????
he didn't read my message .....
and am definitely not paying for membership anyway
so my message was read in the past two days......
.....perhaps he's real......but no reply.......all those ladies
to choose from.........smile
RE: CM renewal - English Rose - 02-14-2025
Saw this on a BBC news site: According to some experts, people are moving away from dating apps and finding love on platforms that were not specifically designed for romance.
And hanging out somewhere online that's instead focused on a shared interest or hobby could allow people to find a partner in a lower-stakes, less pressurised setting than marketing themselves to a gallery of strangers. For some digital-native Gen Zs, it seems, simply doing the things they enjoy can be an alternative to the tyranny of the swipe.
RE: CM renewal - susanb - 02-14-2025
that makes sense.......
my hobbies are giving me another burst of pleasure
happy valentines day, friends
RE: CM renewal - enchantmentadm - 02-14-2025
(02-11-2025, 08:45 PM)susan b Wrote:(02-07-2025, 04:31 PM)susan b Wrote:
it's my day to read my message.......
bet he's fake
if it's juicy, I will make a report.......gasp
so I guess this cm guy met somebody or ????
he didn't read my message .....
and am definitely not paying for membership anyway
My CM membership is up in two months. I will then have to decide whether to pay to renew or to just let it lapse. In the latter case, I will probably still leave my profile up. I found out that I can still play the trivia game as a non-paying member. It is hard to justify paying for membership when there is rarely anyone who interests me enough to message her. It appears that the quality and quantity of CM members has declined since 2016, which is when I first joined. This could be related to the trend away from dating sites and apps cited above. As a non-paying member, I would not be eligible to participate in Catholic Match Relate but I have rarely participated anyway. I don't see much point in interacting with people who live far away and would be difficult or impossible to meet in person. I have gone back to my original position on long-distance and could not see myself doing this beyond 100 miles or so. My experiences with experimenting with pushing out my geographic boundaries were not positive. On the other hand, CM membership is not expensive and I could view it as a kind of insurance. I have had some successes in the past. I was just thinking that I had dates for Valentine's Day in 2017 and 2019 with ladies I met on CM and it could happen again. I have a lot to think and pray about.