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Germany flagMiriam
How to fight scammers
Unfortunately, italki is full of scammers and I'd like to exchange and collect ideas how we as a community could fight them.

First of all: Does anyone know if there is any way that italki can detect and block them or do they have no choice but rely on users reporting them?

I think one important thing is regularly educating other users about the dangers of scammers and how to detect them. I developed a "scammer radar" over the years and often can just by looking at the profile picture see that someone is a scammer. Unfortunately, many users aren't aware of the typical characteristics of scammers and are just happy to receive messages by "native English speakers". So, here's how you can detect scammers.
  1. You always should be suspicious if you get contacted by a native English speaker who has close to no prior activity here on the forum. There aren't many native English speakers here who are actively looking for contacts. The discussion forum is full of English learners who are looking for native English speakers but hardly any native English speakers comment in these discussions, so, sorry to burst your bubble, but why would you be so lucky and get contacted by a native English speaker out of the blue?
  2. Scammers have very generic English names, so if a William Roberts or Patrick Adams contacts you, take a closer look if that user is legit.
  3. Scammers often pose as American soldiers stationed abroad or doctors working for the UN. If someone introduces themselves with this kind of job description: block and report. Solders in the field in Afghanistan and doctors busy with saving lives in Somalia don't have time to chat on italki. Read more about the American soldier scam here: https://www.army.mil/socialmedia/scams/.
  4. Scammers often have pictures of attractive men or women (often in military or doctor's uniform). Here you can see some examples of pictures scammers used and the real scammers behind it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX5sUlsN3Ag, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrIZcCS_vMM
  5. Scammers pose as native English speakers but often write in strange and faulty English. If you're not sure if someone is a native speaker or not, ask someone who is a native speaker themselves or advanced. The rule of thumb is if someone calls you "dear" or "friend", they're not native English speakers. Also, a message like this is likely not written by a native English speaker: "hello how you doing hope you don't mind I get to know you". Also, if someone is dazzled by your beauty or outright declares their love to you in their first message: block and report.
  6. Why is it important to block and report scammers? They're good at manipulating their victims, making them fall in love with them and finally extracting money out of them or worse, use them for crimes. I saw a video about an Australian woman who faces the death penalty in Malaysia now because a scammer made her transport a suitcase from China to Malaysia. She didn't know that she was used as a drug mule. Why do people fall for such scams? Well, love is blind.

There are also scammers who post in the discussion forum, looking for language exchange partners. Just yesterday I reported a scammer who was posing as native English speaker looking for German and Italian language partners. He used a stolen picture from a Turkish doctor.

Do you have any ideas how we can fight the scammers more effectively?

Comments · 70

8
I understand how important it is for some people to see their nations as perfect or, at least, better than the others. No American (or even an American teacher) could take responsibility for the way his more than 300 million compatriots communicate. The same rule applies to other nations.
8
A new profile should only be allowed a certain number of posts. Let's say, 10 a week, for the first month. A scammer is probably sending out hundreds of messages a day, hoping for a hit. Reduce the potential pool of victims by reducing the number of contacts the person can make each day. Most 'normal' users would not even notice this sort of restriction. The point is, the normal user posts 'P' amount, and the scammer (almost certainly) posts 'P' x 100.

Greater access to messaging and posting to forums should be limited to those who actually book or teach lessons. So once a person has booked, let's say $100 worth of lessons, they get greater access. This access can be leveled up with time and money spent. The same sort of structure can be established for the teaching side. The more lessons you've booked, the more students you've taught, the greater access you have.

Lastly, as you say, scammers use scripts and have predictable patterns. Italki should mine their data to identify these patterns to develop an algorithm which will automatically flag problem accounts for human review.
7
Excuse me, Miriam, but you are speaking about English native speakers as though they are saints. Several already called me 'dear' on the website :) Americans could call an unknown woman 'dear' without a problem.
7
I was contacted by a scammer on this site once. Here are additional signs you should look for:

1. Being contacted by someone who doesn’t speak a language you are learning.

2. Assuming the person doesn’t speak a language you are learning, the person cannot provide a credible reason as to why he/she contacted you.

3. The person who contacts you uses a picture of an attractive person of the opposite sex.

4. The person tries to get your contact information to communicate with you off the italki messaging system as soon as possible.

5. When speaking with this person, the topic of money is brought up in some way. Normally, if it is a legitimate language exchange partner, you may talk about your jobs, but money and salary is never brought up.

6. The person discusses crypto currency with you.

7. The person asks you for a favor or discusses a great business opportunity with you.

8. The person wants you to make a decision involving your money or to do some sort of favor quickly. This is so you don’t have time to think.

A good way to avoid scammers is don’t engage with anyone who isn’t learning a language you are learning or speak. 

Another way is to be inquisitive and skeptical and keep asking “why?” Scammers rely on people to make decisions quickly and without thinking. Ask “why is this person contacting me?” “Why is this person asking for money?” “Why would I invest with you when I met you in a language learning site?” and so on.

They also target people who are trusting and friendly to strangers. Don’t be too trusting. The people who contact you on here are strangers.

But in general it is better to err on the side of caution and block anyone you suspect may be a scammer.

Forgot to add, scammers will try to manipulate you emotionally in some way. The most common ways are romantically, pity and greed. Be on guard if someone tells you that they are down on their luck or he/she need money quickly for some emergency.
6
This is an excellent guide, thanks for taking the time to write it out!

Kalina: You are speaking of English native speakers as though they were saints. Miriam is right when she says “There aren't many native English speakers here who are actively looking for contacts”; they don’t have time to help random people for free, and most are not learning Bulgarian, and if they were, they’d pay for lessons. Sorry, but that’s just the truth. Miriam is also correct when she says they will not call you “dear” or “friend” here except in very specific circumstances. What makes you so sure those guys are Americans? I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: If you want my opinion, feel free to share any suspicious communications with me. I won’t be posting my criteria, however, as that would provide a how-to for spammers and scammers.

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