Are you worried about online scams? If so then one of the
main ones you should watch out for are dating scams. This might seem like an odd term since dates are supposed to be about meeting new people for starting
romantic relationships.
This type of scam is closely related to romance scams, and they’re closely related. What are they all about? Dating scams are about scammers exploiting people who
are looking for a romantic relationship. This is
through various channels including dating sites, mobile apps, and social media.
People involved in this scam take on the role of prospective
companions. However, their real intentions are to steal the identity and money of the victim. This can be a very tough scam to get out of because it involves emotional triggers
that get you to give the person money, presents, or information.
This type of scam also known as “catfishing” often happens on
dating sites. However, there are other ways scammers can contact potential
victims, such as through social media. Sometimes the tricksters even call
people and introduce themselves.
The reason is that the people launching dating scams make it seem that they’re real people. For example, they use online profiles that are
used to trick people into believing them. They use profiles that take on the identities of people who can be trusted. They include military personnel, charity
workers, or professionals employed abroad.
Scammers involved in these romance scams show strong feelings
for you. However, while true love can take months or years to develop those
involved in dating scams show their affection
very quickly. Another red flag is that they quickly
suggest moving the relationship off-site to a
private platform including email, instant messaging (IM), or phone. Again,
this happens very quickly compared to true
romantic relationships that frequently take much more time to develop.
Another key feature of this type of trickery is that the
scammers often claim they’re from a western country such as the US, UK, or
Australia. However, they claim that
they’re traveling/working abroad.
Why would the scammers go to such great lengths? The reason
is they’re setup up dating scams by gaining the confidence of their potential
victims. Once they have your interest and trust, it becomes much easier for people to be
caught off guard. In fact, they might even start showering the scammers
with gifts and money.
This is when the
situation becomes dangerous. The scammers often ask for you to send them gifts,
or they ask for your bank/credit card/debit card numbers. This can be a problem because they can access
your sources of income.
They might even ask you to send a picture. This gives them
the chance to commit identity fraud and especially if they have your financial
information already. Identity theft can be just as serious as financial fraud. The
reason is that it can be used to access not only bank accounts but also social
security information.
Another thing that makes this scam seem realistic is that the
scammers will claim there’s an emergency. That could involve the hospital,
jail, IDs, etc.
These are some of the key facts about dating scams.
