Fraud Awareness

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• Don't send money to someone that you met online, especially by wire transfer. Scammers often insist that their targets wire money, especially overseas, because it's nearly impossible to reverse the transaction or trace where the money has gone, so senders have no way to guard against loss.
• Don't give out your credit card number or bank information.
• Don't share your personal info, such as your SSN, phone number, address, etc.
• Don't share personal or financial information with people you don't know.

Certain red flags indicate that you may be dealing with a scammer. Be wary of anyone who..

• Immediately asks you to leave the site in order to talk on an outside email or messaging service
• Vanishes mysteriously from the site, and then reappears under a new name
• Talks an unusual amount about "destiny" or "fate"
• Claims to be recently widowed
• Asks for your home or work address under the guise of wanting to send flowers or gifts
• Makes an unusual amount of grammar and/or spelling errors
• Claims to be from U.S. but says he/she is currently travelling, living or working abroad
• Asks you for money, for any reason

Neumate's fraud prevention team works to protect our members, but we need your help to keep Neumate safe.

Online Safety Tips

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• Exercise caution and trust your instincts. If you feel unsafe or threatened, cease communication and report your experience to Neumate immediately.
• Protect your identity. Remain anonymous until you feel comfortable. Don't share your real name, phone number, email address, home address, place of employment, or other personal information while IMing or emailing until you have established a reasonable level of trust. Do not post personal contact information in your profile or username.
• Maintain control of your online access information. When accessing your account from a public or shared computer make sure that others are not able to view or record your password or other personal information. If you share a computer, you may want to disable the automatic sign-in feature.
• Get to know someone online before meeting in person. Communicate through the site before sharing personal contact information, and learn about the person before planning an in-person meeting. If you would like to find out more information about someone you've met, we recommend using the internet and government resources that are available to the public.
• Block abusive users. Block any member who behaves or treats you in an abusive way or who pressures you for personal or financial information and immediately report the behavior using the Report Profile link on the member's profile. Stop communicating with that individual to ensure your safety. To protect the safety of your community, you can block and report concerns or terms of use violations from any profile page and from your email or IM window.

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Examples of terms of use violations include:

• Married people or minors using the service
• Members sending harassing or offensive emails/IMs
• Members asking for money or donations
• Members behaving inappropriately after meeting in person
• Fraudulent registration or profiles
• Spam or solicitation, such as attempts to advertise or sell products, services, or websites
• Copyright infringement
• Non-local members who are not affiliated with the local communities they have joined.
• Any other violation of Neumate policies

Safety Tips for Meetings

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Getting to know someone online also builds up a pleasant sense of anticipation for that first meeting. First meetings can be exciting and fun, but be sure to use good judgment when meeting someone for the first time.

• Always meet in public. Choose a public location at a time when there are likely to be plenty of people around. Never go to a private or remote location. Keep your home address confidential until you get to know the person.
• Provide your own transportation. Drive yourself to and from the first meeting, or make your own public transit or taxi arrangements. Even if the person you're meeting volunteers to pick you up, do not get into a personal vehicle with someone you've never met.
• Tell someone you know. Inform a friend or family member of your plans and when and where you're going. If you own a mobile phone, make sure you have it with you.
• Stay sober. Do not make choices that would impair your judgment and potentially cause you to make a decision that you could regret.
• Don't leave your personal items unattended. Your personal information is valuable, so keep it close to you. Also, keep your beverage with you at all times so it can't be tampered with.
• Stay out in public. Going back to your date's home or bringing him/her back to yours on the first date is not a good idea. If your date pressures you to do so, you should immediately leave the meeting. Similarly, do not go to a hotel or motel with a person whom you have just met.

A word about long distance meetings

Long distance meetings pose special concerns. That's why Neumate promotes safer, local online dating in order to eliminate the added safety issues created by traveling far from home to meet someone. If you do engage in long distance dating on another online dating site, we advise that you exercise even greater caution and closely follow the above mentioned safety guidelines, as well as any precautions recommended by that site.