Online dating warning

Email October 27

Just thought I would drop a line as a warning to everyone regarding a wellknown dating website and scammers.

I am a lady of a certain age who has never even entertained the idea of using a website to find new friends or perhaps more.

During lockdown, I felt down, unsure of myself and one of my friends said why don’t you join and have a laugh and a chat, it will cheer you up.

Anyway, with a little help from my friend I was up and running.

The matches started to come through and I thought this isn’t that bad and chatted back and forth. Then they asked for my email address and WhatsApp details.

ost were on contracts working abroad, being held up because of the lockdown. They all wanted a relationship, offering marriage and talking about their children, like me their partners had died.

They wanted to come and spend time with me, once lockdown was over which I panicked about, but it was nice waking up and having a message to read and just feeling part of something.

We chatted in general about all kind of things, music, and life but sometimes it felt you were talking to two different people, the wording was off.

Then after a few months, one said the machinery had broken down and he had the money but was short of € 7,000 and could I help?

Another with another machine problem asked me to transfer € 2,800. And there were more all asking eventually for money.

I am not a silly woman by any means, I just felt vulnerable, hurt and thought how could these people do this to others. I felt like sending a message saying “Well done, you were good, you nearly had me!”

Personally, I was strong enough to see what was happening and just cut them off, but some women might go along with it and give them money or anything they asked.

Am I still on the website? Yes, but as soon as they ask ' What are you looking for?', you know and then I block them. One actually asked what my favourite food was, I said “Italian, Indian, etc. he came back saying, "fried rice”.

Obviously, there are genuine people on the website, who just want to talk, have a laugh and perhaps get together for a coffee but I have to say I have had my fair share of scammers.

I am sure it also happens to men as well.

Name withheld

Email N. Ireland October 26

‘ The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society’ ( Bernays).

Therefore, we find ourselves in a pandemic, yet Richard Horton of the Lancet ( September 26) has called it a ‘ syndemic’.

As early as April this year, the BBC reported that YouTube was banning any coronavirusrelated content that directly contradicted the World Health Organisation's ( WHO) advice.

A plethora of medical doctors, researchers, and scientists were banned. This scenario is totally ridiculous, but because these unelected and ex juris tech companies implement this censorship, it becomes acceptable by default.

Professor Sucharit Bhakdi, who was censored, claims, for example, that the PCR test on its own is unsuitable as a diagnostic tool and claims there is a high level of background Tcell immunity.

Now this is a specialist in microbiology saying this. At worst these medical professionals could be termed, ‘ contrarians’, but to shut down these people is an act of tyranny and goes directly against the values and principles acceptable within a free society.

What people need to do is research the history of the WHO to realise that for governments to cede authority for global health to the WHO is a very rash move indeed.

I would research the WHO's antitetanus vaccination programme in Kenya in 2014 and the debacle over H1N1 where the WHO's estimated numbers of infected were vastly overblown and subsequently tens of millions of vaccines had to be destroyed.

Louis Shawcross,

Criticise the WHO and you will be exterminated