Every year, thousands of people are conned by romance scams and their numbers have gone up during the Covid pandemic when lockdowns forced people to hurry to the Internet to end their isolation.
Romance scammers make up fake profiles on dating sites and apps, or get in touch with victims through popular social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, or Google Hangouts. The scammers strike up a friendship with their victims to create trust in them, sometimes chatting several times a day. Then, they fabricate a story and ask for money.
Lies of Romance Scammers
Scammers often say they’re living or traveling outside of the country of the victim. They are scammers who say they are working on an oil rig, in the military or a doctor with an international organization.
Why do romance scammers ask for money? They ask for money to pay for a plane ticket or other travel expenses, pay for medical expenses, pay customs fees to retrieve goods, pay off gambling debts and pay for a visa or other official travel papers.
Scammers ask their victims for money by asking by wiring money, with reload cards like MoneyPak or gift cards from vendors like Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, or Steam. They do this because they can get cash fast and remain anonymous at the same time.
How can you Avoid Losing Money to a Romance Scammer
Here’s the advise. Do not send money or gifts to an online date you haven’t met in person.
The minute you suspect a romance scam you should stop communicating with the person immediately. You should talk to someone you trust, and listen if your friends or family say they’re worried about your new love interest. You can do a search for the type of job the scammer holds to see if other people have heard something similar. You should do a reverse image search of the scammer’s profile picture to see if it’s linked with another name or with details that are not adding up – those are signs of a scam.
How do you Report a Romance Scam
If you paid a romance scammer with a gift card, do not hesitate to contact the company that issued the card immediately. Inform them you paid a scammer with the gift card and ask if it is possible to refund your money.
Online dating scams are also known as romance scams or romance fraud. They happen when someone finds they have made a match through an online dating site or app. The scammer invariably but the person they are talking to is a fake profile. The scammer manipulates the victim so that they can either ask them for money or procure personal information about them to steal their identity.
The coronavirus pandemic – which led to a stop in-person meetings and led to people spending more time online – led to situations that romance scammers could utilise.
While there’s no age to fall victim to romance scams, older people can suffer a heavier money loss. Older people are more likely to be targeted by scammers because they have assets such as retirement funds or homes, which they can steal. A survey says that around two-thirds of romance fraud victims are women, whose average age is 50.
Online dating fraud is cruel since it plays on people’s feelings and emotions. The terms catfishing or catfish scams arise in relation to romance fraud. Catfishing means when a scammer creates a fictional persona or identity on a social media or dating site to target a victim. Besides financial gain, catfishing can take place to cause distress or harm or allow the fraudster to carry out a fantasy or wish fulfilment.
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