Beware of these pitfalls. They apply equally to free dating web sites and to those that offer a free trial but do not require payment information during the trial period:

1. Scammers – Nigerian scammers, Malaysian scammers and those from a dozen other countries are notorious for scouring the internet looking for free membership-based sites. They especially prey on dating sites. They create a fake profile using a very real-looking photo of an attractive person. They have also been known to steal photos and profiles from other dating sites – so they appear extremely authentic. Their goal is to have you provide them with your email address – which they’ll use to steal your identity or to outright scam you for money.
2. Predators. Free sites don’t collect credit card information – they ask only for an email address. Many don’t ask for verification that the email address is real.  Without requiring a credit card, there’s no name/address verification and tracking taking place. Thus making it an ideal environment for criminal predators, rapists, etc. Quality, safe dating sites collect and verify information that can be provided to law enforcement officials if necessary. Since the scammers and predators know this, they steer clear of paid sites and stick with the free sites.
3. Quality online dating sites generally charge no more than a few dollars a day. Are you really interested in meeting someone who is either too cheap or too broke to make this small investment to find the right person?
4. Married people posing as single – no payment info means no credit card or PayPal transactions for their spouse to see.
5. People who are paying for a service will generally get online and use it until they reach their objective. In this case, that means finding someone compatible. When you take away the financial aspect, the sense of urgency generally goes with it. Free web sites are full of members who haven’t logged in to the site in months – perhaps years.
6. Bogus profiles. Ever notice that many dating sites boast thousands of members? Most of the time, these claims are built on fake profiles that the web owner created to give the appearance of a successful dating site. Why? — see reason number 7.
7. Advertising, more advertising and SPAM! Free web sites are never really free – after all, they have to make money to support the site somehow. They do this through advertisements on the site, through email campaigns that bombard you with advertising messages in your mailbox and by selling your email to list brokers – who then sell your email address to thousands of other web site owners. What you save in dollars ends up costing you in wasted time sorting through the onslaught of marketing messages. Is that how you really want to spend your time?

The bottom line is that very few (if any) people actually find a quality person to date on free dating sites. If your intention is to find someone to date – perhaps even someone to spend your life with – expect to pay at least a few dollars a month to protect yourself and find quality singles on the sites you use.