How To Spot Bots On Ashley Madison
Since launching in 2001, Ashley Madison has made a name for itself as the premier online platform for hookups. Although this online network is open to just about any user, it’s particularly popular with married men looking to connect with like-minded singles who don’t mind playing the part of the other woman. If you’d like to learn if Ashley Madison works, check out my post.
Although popular with millions of users, Ashley Madison isn’t without its problems (Revolutionize Your Experience: Ashley Madison Tricks Revealed). For starters, it’s pretty one-sided, meaning men have to do most of the chasing. What’s more, there’s the growing issue of fake profiles, scammers, and bots. A guy looking for no-strings sex can spend hours, if not days, talking to a woman before realizing they’re actually conversing with a bot.
Admittedly, Ashley Madison has come a long way in recent years. As recently as 2015, it was estimated that there were as many as 70,000 active bots on Ashley Madison. Compared to other networks, the average user will only come up against bots now and again. That being said, you’re not completely immune to bots when navigating Ashley Madison. To save yourself precious time and ensure you’re not wasting credits unnecessarily, we’ve put together an invaluable guide to help spot bots on Ashley Madison.
Bots: What You Need to Know
Terms like bots, scammers, and fake profiles are used interchangeably. However, they’re not always referring to the same thing. Although bots can be used by human users, they’re not the same as sinister users looking to fleece men on dating platforms. Technically speaking, a bot is a type of program that’s been designed to interact with human users. The best bots are hard to distinguish from real people, with natural responses and questions that read as though they’ve been typed out by a flesh-and-blood female.
Once a scammer creates a bot, these programs can quickly create accounts and register with platforms like Ashley Madison. Although most dating sites have strict protocols in place to sniff out bots, they’re not foolproof. Once a bot has a genuine account, human users are ripe for exploitation.
If you’ve opted for automatic matching on Ashley Madison, it’s easy for a conversation with a bot to start. At first, it’s almost impossible to identify you’re dealing with a bot. Advanced bots are designed to perfectly replicate human behavior, so you’re unlikely to see any red flags with initial questions and conversation starters.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
Bots, and the scammers behind them, will quickly steer the conversation to get you to do something for them. Generally speaking, they’ll push you to part with your cash or undertake illegal activities. Sometimes, a bot may ask you to hand send a bank transfer for an urgent financial matter. Other times, they may ask you to provide your financial information so funds can be redirected through your account.
If you’re being asked to do this, you’re almost certainly being used in a money laundering scheme. At best, this kind of activity falls within a grey area. In a worst-case scenario, you’re dealing with criminal activity and you land yourself in hot water with the authorities.
Are Ashley Madison users asking for this kind of information? The moment the conversation turns to subjects like this take a step back. Ultimately, you should be reaching the block button. If you’re dealing with a bot, it’s the end of the story. If you’re dealing with a real person who’s prepared to entangle you in criminal activities, why would you want to continue talking to them?
Sometimes, so-called official bots are used by dating and hookup platforms. These bots are typically used to give the impression of more active users than they actually are. Many hookup sites and dating platforms suffer from a poor male/female user ratio, so bots are used to bolster things. Thankfully, Ashley Madison doesn’t use them. However, you’ll still need to up your guard to ensure you’re not falling foul of bots being used by scammers.
How to Spot a Bot
Worried you might be being scammed by a bot? There are several steps you can take to sniff out a bot and ensure you’re talking with an actual woman. Read on for our step-by-step guide on what to do if you suspect something untoward is going on.
1. Check Out Their Photo Gallery
Profile photos are a dead giveaway that you’re dealing with a bot, rather than a real person. It’s always a good idea to check out user photos as soon as you start dealing with someone on Ashley Madison. For starters, you’ll be able to decide whether or not you’re physically interested in someone. However, uploaded photos can also tell you a lot more about the legitimacy of a profile.
Not every user will have a profile photo or an image gallery. While some people may choose to avoid using them for privacy concerns, there’s no point wasting time on someone you can’t actually see. If someone refuses to send photos to you, even if they’ve seen yours, take this as a red flag.
If you can view photos, take a moment to see if they’re credible. Is there more than one photo? It sounds obvious, but make sure they’re all of the same people. Many scammers use stock photos to build profile galleries for bots. If these accounts have been created in a hurry, they may only have pulled together images of women that look vaguely similar to each other. When in doubt, do a reverse image search. To do this, simply rick-click the photo and then choose ‘Search Google for image’. The resulting display will let you know if these images have been pulled from stock libraries or other sources.
2. Don’t Skim Profile Bios
Profiles are there for a reason. For genuine users of Ashley Madison, they provide the perfect calling card to land a match. You can learn a lot by reading a couple of paragraphs. If you’re dealing with an actual woman, these descriptions will be more than a few sentences. If you’re looking at a profile assigned to a bot, expect generic sentences with little substance.
If you’ve been using Ashley Madison for some time and have seen your fair share of profiles, look for any recurrent lines or text that looks like it’s been copied and pasted from elsewhere. A single scammer may be using hundreds of individual bots and profiles. As such, they’re unlikely to be creating fresh content for each profile. Even if the bio description is fairly unique, think about the language used. If there are any recurring grammatical errors or spelling errors between profiles, you may be dealing with multiple bot profiles produced by the same person.
If a profile contains multiple images, compare these to the text laid out in a description. If there’s no correlation between a photo gallery and a bio description, this is unusual. Ultimately, it’s best to trust your gut. If something seems off, block the user and don’t entertain any notion of communicating with them in the future.
3. Once the Conversation Starts…
Bots are becoming increasingly sophisticated. They’re programmed to replicate human speech patterns and produce natural responses. However, even the best bot will have moments when it’s impossible to hide their artificial nature. You should remain vigilant at all times. However, it’s those first few exchanges you should be really focusing on.
Are their first few lines awkward and clunky? Sometimes, this can be attributed to nerves or that the user you’re speaking to is using English as a second language. Other times, it’s a sign you’re talking to a bot.
How relevant are their responses to the questions you’re asking? Don’t write off awkward responses as a translation issue. If there’s zero correlation between what you’re asking and the replies they’re sending, you’re most likely talking to a bot.
How do bots work? Well, they’re programmed to pick out keywords and phrases within your messages. Once they’ve gathered this information, they’ll fire back with automated responses that are vaguely related to these target terms. If the bot struggles to produce a response to one of your questions, it will change tact and shift the topic. This is a telltale sign you’re dealing with a non-human user.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Get Personal
If you’ve signed up to Ashley Madison, you’re probably looking for no-strings sex or a casual relationship. Men looking for affairs don’t like to get personal when touting for sex partners. However, sometimes you’re going to have to bite the bullet and get personal to rule out whether you’re dealing with bots.
Bots rely on pre-programmed responses and basic algorithms. In other words, they’re not equipped to provide long-winded and involved replies to probing questions. To get over any feelings of awkwardness, use their profile for inspiration. Pick out a few key pieces of information and frame questions around this. A lot of the time, bots won’t take into account the content of their profiles. If there’s an obvious disconnect here, you can guarantee you’ve wasted time talking to a bot.
It’s also important to keep an eye out for inconsistencies. Don’t assume that conflicting details and replies are the result of casual users. In many cases, this inconsistency is because a bot can’t keep track of the crap it’s been spouting.
5. What to Do if You Suspect a Bot
If you think you’ve sniffed out a bot, stop engaging with them. Block the profile and up your game when replying to future exchanges from other users. Once you’ve dealt with a few bots, dealing with potential scammers in the future will come as second nature.
However, if you want to help your fellow man, take the time to report your findings to the mods at Ashley Madison. As mentioned before, Ashley Madison has taken great steps to eradicate bots from the platform. By sending over details of suspected bot profiles, you can help mods and the developer team safeguard other users from similar scams.
Other Tips for Detecting Bots
Whether you’re browsing for hookups on Ashley Madison or testing the waters elsewhere, there’s a lot you can do to protect yourself against bots.
Want to practice your line of questioning? Think about firing up a free-to-use chatbot first. Obviously, you know you’re dealing with a program from the off here. However, you can start asking basic questions to get a feel of the kind of language a bot will use in response. This practice method is particularly handy for helping you spot repetitive patterns in the future.
Not completely sure you’re dealing with a bot? A good way to lure out a bot is to ask about current events. Advanced bots will be able to delve into news feeds to pull out information, but the standard bots used on dating sites like Ashley Madison are clueless. If you’re talking to a bot, expect unrelated answers with little to no relevance to your line of questioning.
Another quick way to lure out a malicious bot is to switch from English to another language. The good news is that you don’t have to be fluent in a second language to deploy this trick. Simply use Google Translate or something similar to put together a quick question you can paste into your chat window. If the person rapidly replies back to you in the same language, you’re almost certainly talking to a bot that automatically deploys language translation.
Stop Wasting Time and Money on Bots Today
If you’re looking to start up an extramarital affair, the last thing you want is to waste countless hours talking to a bot. Ashley Madison is largely free of bots and criminals, but there’s still a slight chance you could end up the target of a scam.
Rather than waste time and money talking to a piece of software, make sure you’re taking the right steps to sniff out a bot. If you’re thinking about making first contact, take the time to study their profile in full. Study photo galleries carefully to ensure there aren’t any stills from stock libraries crammed in there. When in doubt, reverse search. Especially given that Ashley Madison isn’t cheat and costs money.
You’ll also need to study up on their profile bio. With this information at your disposal, you can ask probing questions that will easily determine whether you’re dealing with a human. Very occasionally, you may find yourself talking to an advanced bot. However, even these programs show their true colors quickly enough. Once the conversation turns toward money transfers and sob stories, you’ll know where you stand. Block the profile, stop talking, and send a report to Ashley Madison immediately.
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