Like everything it is about using your judgement - if you saw a ferrari for sale for £1.50 you'd be suspicious. So, in the same way if someone seems 'perfect' from their online description then you have to use your common sense and realise that if someone seems to good to be true online; then they probably are.

There are some websites that use integrated VoIP so that you can ring people online. But, if you go out with anyone online and I did - I gave my friends/family the persons contact number, address et al so that if anything jumped off. People knew how to find me.

offtopic.gifAs for fakes I remember a woman a few years ago who took a text dating company to court, as she had spent £15,000 textinga man through a text dating agency - it turned out to be a team of staff at the text date company, the guy never existed. She only found out as amember of staff felt so guilty that they met her in person to let her know it was all a lie.