InterPals.net

I joined interpals one month ago. I met friend there. His profile name Danilescott 45 yrs old from Switzerland. First sound like good person. But finaly he was not. I suspected the pictures of him on interpals are not him. This profile operated by someone who part of cyber crime. Because they will ask money and pretend to fall in love bla bla.
They connected to network crime as immigration officer etc. Please beware

I've used Interpals for over seven years and I can pretty much tell you this website used to be a good website to chat, talk and creat lifelong friendships and maybe meet a girlfriend, believe it or not.
Back in 2011, I met tons of people who I still talk to, few of them should I say, and back then it was nice and it seemed that people genuinely wanted to talk to you, get to know you and even learn your language, but here's when things kind of changed, from 2014 on I couldn't meet a single person, things got bored and it didn't have the sparkle anymore, you just would scroll up and down all day long and not a single soul would get back to you, which was very annoying, by the way.
All in all, it's worth trying and good to do some language exchance, but nothing more than that now, although you might be the lucky one and go past "hi, how are you?"

Well, I have used other similar websites and apps and I have experienced the same things on all of them.

People to whom you send a message and do not answer.

People that answer just one or two messages and then disappear.

People with whom you were having a good conversation and, all of a sudden, they stop messaging for no reason.

Among other things. It not only happens on Interpals, this happens everywhere else. I guess that knowing this beforehand will save you a lot of trouble. Still, I was able to make some friends like that. It may be luck, but it is possible. You may also not make any friends, but at least this site allows you to have some good conversations with people, even if you don't continue talking with them in the long run. Just like in real life, you don't continue talking with many people even if you considered them friends.

Overall, I think the site is good if you know how to use it, despite its flaws.

I've been on Intervals for years! Not consistently, but I still get on every now and then. I even have became friends with a guy on the site. We have been friends for about 6 years and nothing romantic, he is married and she is very lovely. We mostly talk about life and he has helped me a lot with speaking Korean. So, overall you win some and you lose some. After, weeding out the perverts, its not so bad.

I've been on and off as an Interpals member. I was active several years ago, tried returning, left, then came back more recently. Honestly, it hasn't changed as a site nor as a community, which is good and bad.

I'll start with the bad and try to sweeten it with the good.

CONS:

As a woman, I can tell you that other women can and will be spammed by 80% middle easterners, Indians, Africans, some obscure countries you've never heard of, all male, with photos that often look like mug shots (they aren't but I'm talking about the quality). Am I putting these countries or people down? Not at all. This is a rough estimate based on personal experience. During my first and second time trying to use the site, it was mostly middle eastern males. At the time, I actually did have photos up, and ironically it's middle eastern men and indian men roughly around 50 years old and above. Sorry, but I don't want someone the same age as my dad or grandfather hitting on me. I also had guys from various parts of Africa and the Carribean Islands sending me friend requests with no message. Like Facebook, that's just odd if you haven't sent me a message telling me why my profile interested you. Just the picture? Hell, I don't even think I'm average-level attractive.

In my current and probably last attempt at using this site, I chose not to upload any selfies. The sheer fact that I listed myself as female made the swarm show up. I only had middle eastern guys show up this time, but I preemptivly blocked certain countries from contacting me after one guy sent me a bunch of unsolicited videos. Just youtube and nothing bad, but what the hell can't someone just be normal and say hi? I blocked him and his country.

PROS:

It might sound like there are very little pros. However, after you configure your settings and filters, you can finally start sifting through the dirt to get to the gold. One thing that really, really helps is to write out a decent About Me section. Tell just enough about yourself and what you're looking for without offering up seriously personal information. There's a box labeled Requests. Fill this out and be specific about what you don't want people to do. A lot of people are actually dumb enough to use this site as a dating site. I thought this was a Penpal site, not Tinder's Rejects. Anyway. It is possible to make friends and find people willing to be friends and help you learn a language. The key is that you learn how to properly screen profiles and get that gut feeling for when something seem 'off.'

Now, if you want a more independent, alternative review, this Reddit thread is pretty open about more of the dark side of Interpals. https://www.reddit.com/r/interpals/comments/4gnfzs/interpals_review_why_you_should_and_shouldnt_use/

I have been a member of Interpals for 7 months now. I do think it is possible to make genuine people, as I have made 5 real people on the site since joining. One tip is to be quite specific in your profile message on your home page what you are and are not looking for e.g. you are looking for friends to engage in real conversation, and not looking for romance. I think the more things you put about yourself such as your interest, hobbies, etc, more people tend to show interest. I do agree however that there are a lot of time wasting people on the site, particularly men, who are looking to flirt, and use the site as a dating website! However there is a facility on the website to block unwanted messages and contact from particular people or countries if they are reoccurring. The thought of potentially meeting and making lots of friends from around the world, is exciting, however the reality is, that out of every 20 you contact, you probably will make one or two real friends. So it better to put your time and effort into developing friendships with a handful of people, than lots and waste your time, looking for new people every time you log on to build your circles it is tempting especially when you see different faces all the time!. The reality also, is that a lot of people have already established friendships or contact with a number of people on the site, and no matter how attractive your photo is, they just don't have the time to take on any more friends, so they wont respond. Don't take it personal, just understand. It might be an idea to search for new members, who are just starting out on Interpals, as they will be a lot more enthusiastic, and likely to respond. Also when contacting some one directly, say more than 'hi' or 'how are you' introduce yourself, give a reason why you are on interpals, and state a few of your interest and a couple of lines about yourself. You will come across as more serious, and stand out from those one word one liner messagers. If you manage to establish good trusting connection with others, rather than loose their friendship, it might be an idea to exchange email, Skype, or Whats app, once you become comfortable with each other, as this way you can maintain contact even if they stop using interpals for a while, and it also helps to sustain the friendship.

Well I hope this helps, and good luck!

This site is full of scammers Kurt Weller is one that keeps popping up on all the sites. He needs to be take down. He has scammed many and still at it. He uses so many different names and stolen pictures. But I have also met some very nice people on here.