Home 
Even if bedazzled by the infinite landscape that is the Internet, one must hold on to common sense and beware of a tendency to be gullible.
The case of Allan Toor, a native of Florida, USA, who was duped into giving P100,000 to a ?virtual? sweetheart in Cebu he met on line may be the butt of jokes but his story serves as a warning to those who naively rely on the wilderness of the World Wide Web to find true love.
Like many users of Internet dating programs, Toor took his chances in finding a partner who was real, much less trustworthy.
He sent P100,000 for her air fare and never saw his money or the girl. She had used the photo of a Filipina actress-singer and disappeared with nary a word of thanks.
The regional police office in Cebu warned Internet users against getting carried away by such scams with simple advice.
Verify the information. Get to know the person you?re exchanging fond or risque e-mail with. If it?s a flirtation across the sea, make the effort to visit him or her.
But such engagements in the Web, whether one likes to admit it or not, does cost money.
The deception cuts both ways.
Tales of despair abound over mail-order brides, of wide-eyed Filipinas who hook up with men abroad and get trapped in unions with partners who are older, cruel and culturally alien.
So some enterprising girls or women turn the tables around by engaging in courtship scams(for want of a better term). Some go as far as stripping in front of Webcams to entice foreigners to pay for the view.
In Lapu-Lapu City, an online prostitution ring operated by a mother was busted last year by police, proving how easy it was to lure foreigners to part with their money for some look-but-no-touch cyberporn.
In that particular case though, buyers knew what to expect: cheap voyeuristic thrills.
Online users have to adopt their own internal warning system to detect scams. The government can do its part in coordinating with Internet service providers in tracking down swindlers.
The real defense, of course, is a healthy skepticsm that wonders if a woman or man who chats on line about true love, shouldn?t show more evidence than a gorgeous atavar.
Perhaps that way we?d hear fewer stories of heartbroken, wallet-flattened Allan Toors.
