Only one photo. All group photos with no clear indication of which person is the profile owner. No age listed. No city listed. An immediate push to move the conversation to WhatsApp before you have exchanged three messages on the app. Immediate compliments in flawless English on an otherwise Spanish-language profile. Refusal to video-call before the first in-person meeting. Any two of these signals appearing together on the same profile is a real warning, not a coincidence.
The romance-scam script has been remarkably stable for a decade in Spain. It starts with an unusually attractive profile that matches quickly, moves the conversation off-app within days, avoids video calls with a rotating cast of plausible excuses, builds emotional intimacy for three to six weeks, and then introduces a small, urgent financial request — a stuck bank transfer, a medical emergency, a family crisis. Once you know the pattern, it becomes almost comically easy to spot.
The other red flag category is subtler and more common: love-bombing, overly fast declarations of exclusivity, aggressive jealousy inside the first week, and pressure to meet family members before you have even had a second date. None of these are illegal, but all of them predict difficult relationships.
Trust your gut. Cancelling a date costs nothing. Ghosting a suspicious match costs nothing. Sending money, sharing ID, or ignoring your own instincts about someone can cost everything. When in doubt, ask a friend to look at the profile — an outside eye will spot in ten seconds what took you three weeks to feel.
"Common patterns to watch for on Meetic, Tinder, Bumble and Badoo."
Written by the Best Dating Spain editorial team and reviewed before publication by a relationship coach based in Madrid. We test every app ourselves and never accept sponsored placements.