You’ve met the love of your life online, and things seem to be going very well. Better than anticipated. How could you be so lucky? You have the same interests, the same background, similar family structure, and comparable views on relationships. You couldn’t ask for more.

He showers you with compliments all the time, and calls or texts continuously throughout the day. And has a very good job.

The trouble is, the job is one of the causes of him never being able to visit you. Or so he says. He travels a lot and works out of the country, always a business deal to follow up on or an emergency to deal with. As soon as he gets this one issue taken care of, then you’ll get together.

But another one pops up.

This type of behavior is a red flag in online dating. The two of you can never quite get together. I’m not saying that all online relationships are suspect, but online dating is rampant with scammers looking to find someone to enter into a relationship with for the sole purpose of furthering their scam. 

Certain types of jobs seem to be favored among scammers such as working on an oil rig, being in the military, or employed as a contractor. Anything that gives him or her a plausible reason for being out the country so much they can’t quite find the time to meet with their new love.

In these types of relationships there is always one more excuse, one more cause for delay. If you’ve seen this type of behavior in your online love-interest, and especially if you’ve seen dates planned and then broken on more than one occasion, pause for a second.

If you see this red-flag there are probably others that are visible, and possibly being ignored. Do some self-reflection before committing any more time and energy to something that may not be there.