It looks like the POF-Plenty of Fish website is becoming more and more spam ridden. Lately I have noticed a big increase in the number of e-whores posing as women. If you remember from this post, e-whores are simply guys and occasionally girls who use dating sites for the sole purpose of selling something. In some cases you aren't even dealing with a real person but rather a bot designed to harvest your email address and then spam you with some sort of worthless offer.
Fortunately POF seems to be fairly vigilant about banning users and even suspicious IP addresses when they receive complaints about malicious activities. While this helps, you will want to know how to spot an e-whore yourself just in case you come across one. I have quite a few POF accounts so my chances of getting spammed are quite a bit higher than most peoples but just in case...
Signs of a POF E-whore
1. Responds with a message that asks you to email them directly right away. Most women want to know something about you before they give you an email address. This is not a definite indication but it is a very common one.
2. Has an email address watermarked on one of her photos or hidden in her profile. No woman wants to get spammed by publishing her email address publicly. If you see this just move on to the next profile.
3. Asks you to "verify" that you are anything such as an adult, not crazy, not someone she knows, etc. by joining any sort of membership based site. The popular ones are adult friend finder and ihookup but there are tons more out there. If she is directing you to these her profile is fake and you are wasting your time. Not only that but you are helping the guy at the other end make money just by clicking on his links. Don't fall for it. More recently e-whores have gotten wise to the fact that their profile will get blocked eventually so they will instead harvest a lot of direct messages and then spam everyone at once. If she doesn't respond for a day or two and then asks you to contact her by email, wait another day or two. I'll bet money that her account is gone by then.
4. Her reason for getting your email address is that she is afraid her ex is stalking her on POF. This is one of the most common ploys that I see. These guys should really get more creative.
I will add more as I think of them. For now I would encourage you to report any e-whores that you find. If we make their job difficult enough then maybe at least some of them will find another way to make a living.
