Online Dating Scams

Singles Hug is another get verified scam, that is common in online dating. Unlike many sites like this SinglesHug.com is very generic, it doesn’t tie it self to craigslist, backpage, Tinder etc. It refers to the murder in the classifieds as reason for you to “get verified”.

This one signs you up for cam and porn sites, at a cool $130.00 month if you’re not careful.

SinglesHug.com

The Singles Hug site has the same webpage design and code as other scams, such as the Safe and Single family of Get Verified scam websites.  SinglesHug.com is not safe – it is the unfortunately all too typical get verified scam.  The process of sign-up asks for a user name and an email,  then on the next page you are to enter your credit card.

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The set up 

The scam starts when you get an email from “Sophie”,  she is interested in meeting you.  I will spare the agony of the sloppy email for you, but suffice it to say it is littered with copy-paste remnants and difficult to read.  Eventually, she gets around to telling you she wants you to get verified, and sends you a link to the Singles Hug web site.

SinglesHug.com welcomes you to Bagledesh.

Sort of… Singles Hug is owned by Shahadat Hossen, who reports his location in Dhaka, Bangledesh. However, SinglesHug.com is not where you are typing your information.  Thru use of a web programming command called IFrame, you are really typing you information in another website without your knowledge.

Here is how it works –  the controller site

SinglesHug.com is what you see in your browser.  The iframe uses controller sites to present their content:

• clkvst.com
• xflingsociety.com
• freedatinginvites.com

These sites are actually presenting other pages where you type in your email, credit credit card number etc.  Where you actually land, is a rotation of sites.  That is each person, each different click will result in content from a different site.  The controller site that is active varies.  Depending on which controller site is active, you will be routed a different way.  If clkvst.com is in control,  you are presented content from branded dating sign-up/billing sites.  Here is a small sample:

• masgte.com – Moral Singles Unite
• tngsnglsmt.com – Outgoing Singles Meet
• cmpnfndr.com – Online companion Finder

clkvst.com has a lengthy redirect chain, and it is not clear exactly which site controls where you end up.  This obfuscation creates a deliberately difficult chain of command so-to-speak.    Here is an example.

Each of these sites has a charge of $39.99 hidden from view by the iframe

Your access to Free Cams Tonight includes a 2 day free trial promo to Online Companion Finder. If you choose to remain a member of Online Companion Finder beyond the trial period, your membership will renew at thirty nine dollars and ninety nine cents.

What is very clear, is that the branded dating sign-up/billing pages are designed specifically for the iframe.  They are not user-friendly web pages.  There is nothing else on them but the data entry, and the hidden disclosures.

Singles Hug Fine Print: $130/month

If xflingsociety.com is in control, you are presented a different set of sites, that are pornography related.  What you see is something like this:

This is what you don’t see because the iFrame command is preventing you from seeing it (my emphasis):

Let me summarize that for you

• Free 2 day trial promo to Premier Passport; after that it bills at $39.95/month
• EroticDvdsOnline.com – 7 Days Free Trial, after that it bills at $39.94/month
• XXXHDVault.com – 10 Days Free Trial, after that it bills at fixed $49.95/month

That’s nearly $130.00 a month! 

When freedatinginvites.com is functioning, it is also directing to porn sites

And remember, you don’t know these terms are there.  Your first knowledge of the charge is likely to be when you get the credit card bill.  By that time you have passed the “trial period”.   If you go to one of the billing sites, they indicate that you should have received an email.  Such an email could easily end up in the spam folder, and since you were not looking for charges, it is easily missed, in my opinion.

If you notice the text “Terms and Conditions”.  That in-fact is a hyperlink to a set of Terms and Conditions link.  In this case, those T&C’s are referring to a company Halsey Investments ltd. in the UK. There you can read the $39.95 / month billing.   The other charges are not listed.    The site holding the T&C’s has a pornographic name. It states that Halsey does business as WebCamBabesHD.com.  I have a copy of it and the full web address.  Not going to post it.  No reason to go there.

Who is Halsey Investments Ltd.

Halsey Investments has 3 directors

• David Hammond – 64 Rectory Lane, Byfleet, West Byfleet, Surrey, England, KT14 7LU
• Angela Thompson
• EMB MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS LTD

David Hammond was the only person with an address that was not the company address. Halsey Investments address is UNIT 1 CONSETT BUSINESS PARK, VILLA REAL, CONSETT, COUNTY DURHAM, DH8 6BP.   According to Companies House (the UK registry of companies), there are 22 companies in a tiny little office park building.  Hmmm.

In the Terms and Conditions Documents I have found, Halsey Investments Ltd. also reports its address as 2 BEVERLEY GARDENS, CONSETT COUNTY DURHAM DH8 5ND, UK, doing business as, InstaCuties.com.  Beverly Gardens is barely more than an alley.  The street has row houses on one side, with the back sides of houses and garbage cans on one side.

Of course Halsey’s site is just one of many places you could actually end up.  There are hundreds if not thousands of these sites.

Follow the Money – Singles Hug

Now we see how they are making their money.  A Bangledeshi entrepreneur sets up a web site, then underneath you get signed up for a subscription to a pornographic site. The cost is hidden, and when you find the bill on your credit card its too late.

No doubt the idea is to sneak a charge in on your credit card, and by the time you actually get it off, you are happy to have it stopped, and be done with the hassle, even if it cost $130.

The rotating sites are front ends for a while label porn site/company.  The front end site does the marketing, while the White Label company billing, and collects the money.       If you want to understand how these relationship are connected, and see how the money flows, read my blog post Get Verified: Tinder, Badoo, and Craigslist – Matrix of a Scam

craigdating.com   another singles hug site

A site that is currently active, the woman Sandra Hubbard directs you to this site.   This is a “young woman” who says she is new in town.  Sandra Hubbard has cute pics, but I have seen them before.  The reality is that the site URLs (craigdating.com)  of all of these sites change on a regular basis.   The scam underneath is always the same.

No Happy Ending here

Your date “Sophia” is just a few lines of code in the web page where this all started.  Singles Hug is not safe.

If by chance you happened to type in a credit card and find out later, it is difficult to get your money back.  Information here is very scarce.  What I have been able to find, is not good.

Of course you should never enter  your credit card in one of these sites.   Hopefully, what you can take away is to recognize the pattern early.  No legitimate person is going to ask you to sign  up to a website to verify yourself.  As soon as that happens just move on.

If you have been snagged in this kind of a scam

What you need to do is call your bank, and dispute the charges.  I have no problem with you referring them to this article to back up your story.  Any fraud investigator at a bank will be able to take the information I have posted here and verify if needed.  Chances are the bank will just reverse the charge as deceptive or fraudulent, and that will be that.  Except you also need to cancel your credit card.  You cannot be sure who in Cyprus actually has your card.

On a happier note…

Hey its Christmas time.  Why not get ready for the holiday parties by building your skills with women?

I suggest that you spend some time and invest in yourself.  Find out what is attractive to women, avoid common mistakes, and gain the confidence to meet any woman, anywhere, anytime, including how to be your best in Online dating.  Click on the banner below to learn more.  And oh by the way, that will help keep this site running.

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Post Script

Recognizing an Online Dating Scammer

Here are some of the quick things to watch for on Craigslist, or any internet forum for that matter.

• Poor use of the English language (or what ever language is native to your location)
• The poster places quick contact information in the ad, such as  phone number, email address, Kik ID, etc.
• Fake pictures – see my page on Tineye Search
• Lots of blank spaces between the end of the text and the bottom of the post (the bot has a bug that they don’t seem to care about)
• 2 pictures that are the same
• Cell phone numbers that are not from Retail Providers
• Patterns – really, they use the same text over and over again.
• Over the top language – There are some real women on sites, the approach that a woman uses (even in casual hookups) is not likely to be  like something from a porno flick.

For additional information, you can visit the FBI, which has additional behaviors of the typical scammer.

https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/sandiego/news/press-releases/fbi-warns-of-online-dating-scams

singleshug.com – Registry

Registrant Name: Shahadat Hossen
Registrant Organization: 
Registrant Street: Tangri, Madhupur, Tangail
Registrant City: Madhupur
Registrant State/Province: Dhaka
Registrant Postal Code: 1996
Registrant Country: BD
Registrant Phone: +880.1717608506
Registrant Phone Ext: 
Registrant Fax: 
Registrant Fax Ext: 
Registrant Email: freelancexpert007@outlook.com

WebCamBabesHD.com

WebCamBabesHD.com is registered anonymously. It is in the billing terms and conditions where I found the link to Halsey Investments Limited, and David Hammond.