Sporty Rods!

An Actual Fake Personals Ad

Scam

Photo Credit: Tara Winstead

If a man visits an internet dating forum where it is possible to estimate both the number of:

on a given website there might be 10 profiles claiming to be from a man for every 1 profile claiming to be from a woman.
Of those 1 in 10 posts purporting to be women searching for men, many will be scams.
I came upon the post below in 2025 on the Austin, Texas section of doublelist.com when I was researching the topic of my website.
Mentioning that I found the post on doublelist.com is in no way intended to say that the website doublelist.com is itself a scam.
While the post appears to be designed to hook only the very most desperate men, not all scam profiles will be this obvious.

"I’m a happyly married woman looking for a bi-sexual guy only!!
Hey there! I’m Sarah, 28, and I’m looking to meet someone fun, genuine, and adventurous.
I enjoy hiking, cooking, and trying out new restaurants.
Let’s see where things go!
There is only 1 hookup community left that has not been ruined by cheats and cat fishers.
Its called > [ website being promoted ], and its easy to find me.
Just search for > [ website being promoted ], and there it is at the top of all search engines.
Looking forward to hearing from you and hopefully getting to know each other better.
Let’s make this a fun adventure!
Details: 28 years old, in Austin.
Looking for 22 - 72 yrs old.
Posted 2 hours ago."