As much as I would like to say there is a way to avoid this, there just isn’t. It’s pretty hard to go anywhere these days and not run into someone with bad manners and questionable intentions. Early on in the dating journey, I recommend that you accept their existence (much like we do junk mail) and that unfortunately they come with the territory, and then proceed to ignore/delete/block them and report them to the dating website if necessary. For the more subtle jerks, the ones that seem OK to begin with and then eventually get a one-track mind involving  rushing into anything like sex, expensive dinners or moving in together, trust your gut. If you start feeling uncomfortable about anything in your exchange with someone, call them on it. If you don’t get a satisfactory answer, end it. Life is too short for jerks. Don’t give money to anyone you meet online no matter how great their tale of woe is. Seriously, anyone with an ounce of integrity is not going to go asking complete strangers for money, particularly those they claim to be madly in love with.