Fort Myers police say beware "Plenty of Fish" online dating scam

The Fort Myers Police Department is warning residents of a dating scam.

The police department has received three complaints from customers utilizing an online dating site, Plenty of Fish. The customers are stating they are being contacted by the “Fort Myers Police Department” with the actual police department number showing up on their caller ID.

The scam entails a customer being contacted through Plenty of Fish by another member with “Interest” to meet and exchange phone numbers.  Once the customer provides their phone number, they are called “by the police” who indicate they have actually been conversing illegally with an underage person and need to pay money to have the charges dropped.

The police department wants to remind citizens that at no time will the police department solicit funds to “drop charges” and that all criminal investigations will be handled by official personnel.

If citizens are ever in doubt about who is calling them, they can request the name of the person with whom they are speaking; hang up and call the police department directly at (239-321-7700) and request to be connected with the person they were speaking with. Citizens should never provide any personal information, banking information over the phone or e-mail, especially from a non-solicited source.