What Are Dating Scams?

Are you looking for love online? If so, then it is essential to watch out for dating scams. It’s a good idea to know some basics about them including the following facts:

1.  It involves building trust

This can take weeks or months. However, since it’s done over the Internet, it costs the scammers virtually nothing so that they have a device and web connectivity. There are times this part of the scam is done quickly, but sometimes it even takes months.

As in the traditional “confidence man” scheme, the goal is to gain the trust of the future victim before scamming them. Today’s dating scams work the same way.

However, after building trust, the scammer then claims that they’re in an emergency situation and need funds immediately. This could involve a medical emergency of them or someone they know, for example. It might seem like a reasonable situation since emergencies are a part of life.

2. It can involve multiple requests for money

There are sometimes then dating scams only involve one request for money. However, there are other cases when the scammer asks for money for all sorts of things. They could include groceries, rent, medical care, utility bills, and so on.

What makes this such a tough situation for the victim is if they’ve fallen in love with the scammer then they’re more vulnerable. In fact, they might have a sense that something is wrong. However, if they’re thinking with their “heart” rather than their mind, the results can be disastrous. It’s possible for the victims to lose everything including their life savings and retirement fund.

3. It’s increasing with online dating

It should be noted that not only are dating scams increasing, but online dating is as well. This is due to various factors including the number of online dating sites and social media platforms. Both are common ways that people look for romance in today’s world.

The traditional methods of dating have been replaced greatly due to technology. Many people still make the excuse that they don’t have time to join the dating scene. However, technology such as social media and the Internet itself have made it much easier to find love in today’s world.

However, it’s also worth noting that as more people are doing online dating, the number of dating scams and the amount of money being scammed is also increasing. As with other online innovations while dating has become easier than ever it’s also become easier for scammers to find online victims.

4. It can include identity theft

In many cases, the romance scam is just about stealing money. However, in other cases, the victim is convinced to provide personal information. That, in turn, can result in identity theft, which can be even worse.

What can happen? The scammers might open new accounts in the name of the victim. They could then threaten people to give them money, and all in the name of the victim.

These are some of the most critical facts you should know relating to dating scams and how to avoid them.

Everything You Need to Know about Dating Scams

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.

Dating Scams, How it Works & How to Stay Protected

There is a growing amount of people who are looking for romantic partners via the many dating websites, social media or apps available today. There are others who take advantage of the emotional triggers of such romance seekers and the anonymity of the internet and resort to dating scams. Their objective is to extract money by adopting tricky and trapping techniques.

• THE MODUS OPERANDI

The dating scams are also known as catfishing. As first introduction, the scammers make tele-calls to their prospective victim. They also create emotionally enticing profiles by using fictional names or by impersonating the identities of persons serving aboard, military personnel or aid workers. After a short period of introduction and very little communication, they suggest to move from the website to other means of communication such as phone, private channel instant messaging or email. They say they come from Australia or any other Western country or are working overseas,

• Gaining Trust

Operators of dating scams take every possible measure to gain your trust and interest and shower you with sweet romantic words. They don’t hesitate to share with you, fabricated personal details and even offer you gifts. They give you an impression that it is going to be a life-time affair. They show their great desire to visit you by air flight but postpone the same on some or other ground. Sometimes, they will ask to pay you for the air flight ticket.

• Asking Money

When they feel that they have gained your trust and control over your emotional trigger, they ask you, either directly or subtly details about your credit card. They may ask you to send intimate things such as videos or your pictures. The following are the likely reasons for asking money to meet personal emergency

●     Expensive operation of a close relative

●     Supporting a failed business

●     Air ticket and other expenses for travelling to meet you

●     Buy goods yourself and send to specified person

●     Accept money to your bank and transfer the same to someone

●   They trigger your interest by requesting to move a large amount of money or gold that is required to be transferred out of their country and offer you a share in return for your help. Then, they will ask you certain amount of money to meet the administrative expenses and taxes.

• Risk Factors

Those operators of dating scams are accomplices of an international criminal network. They may be a risk to your personal safety. They may even entice their victims to go overseas and put them in hazardous environments that may bring you tragic consequences. You can never recover your money from them

• PROTECTION

The following are the protection measures against dating scams

●    Think twice before parting with any photo or video. They may blackmail you by using compromising materials

●   If at all you decide to meet a prospective partner, inform your friends and family, the location you are visiting. Never travel overseas with an unknown person. Go through the advice given in www.smarttraveller.gov.au

●     Never yield to their request for money

●     Never transfer money for someone else.

●     Take precaution while sharing on social network site.

Dating scam is injurious to your social and financial status. Keep yourself away from it.

How Can BigScammers.Com Help You Avoid Online Dating Scams?

Phishing fraud and online extortion scams are some of the most prevalent Web crimes in many countries today. Credit card scams, identity theft, fake ecommerce offers and bogus money-making opportunities are all directly related to phishing fraud. On the other hand, ransomware fraud, fake tech support schemes and online dating scams are directly related to online extortion crimes. However, almost all of these extortion schemes on the Web can lead to credit card fraud and identity theft.

In general, phishing fraud is more of an automated method that's used by criminal syndicates and solo fraudsters to commit the relevant online crimes mentioned earlier. In contrast, the latest variants of online extortion schemes usually involve intricate manual processes and social manipulation tactics on top of automated distribution systems and technologies. For example, many fraudsters carry out online dating scams by building rapport and regularly talking to their intended victims.

In line with this, phishing attacks have been reported to victimize more users than online extortion schemes. As RSA FraudAction recently announced, more than 120 new phishing messages are automatically sent out to target recipients every hour, globally, and American users were targeted by over 48% of all phishing attacks in 2016.

There are relatively fewer cases of online extortion fraud. However, the number of incidents is still significant enough for the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) to start sending out reminders and alerts about the newest online dating scams to American users who hang out at the most popular dating sites and apps. The UK's national online crime reporting center (ActionFraud) also sent out reminders and alerts to UK users after noticing a significant increase in cases of online dating fraud across the country.

If you often go to online dating platforms to possibly find your ideal dates, then you should learn how to avoid the newest online dating scams. If you know others who regularly spend time in dating sites and apps, then you should tell them all about BigScammers.Com. Here's why:

How Can BigScammers.Com Help You Recognize & Avoid Online Dating Scams

First, you'll conveniently get real time alerts and instant updates from BigScammers.Com when you sign up at this online community. These are automatically sent to your email inbox by this website whenever other users anonymously post scam complaints and file Web reports in BigScammers.Com. You'll also receive these notifications each time a user leaves a comment in any published scam complaint or Web crime report. This means when a user posts something about the latest online dating scams, then you'll be able to instantly be notified about this. You'll then be able to learn the exact tactics and schemes that you should look out for whenever you're spending time in your favorite dating sites and apps.

Second, many agents of relevant cyber security groups, government offices and Web dating platforms regularly check the user-generated content database of BigScammers.Com. They also receive instant notifications and real time alerts from this online community. This means the details you anonymously provide in your complaints and reports against online dating scams can be used by these organizations to expedite what they're doing to track down, catch and stop any responsible party that's involved in these Internet crimes.

You should also check out the regularly updated repository of BigScammers.Com for helpful guides and resources. These are created and updated through the details that are provided by fraud victims who use this website's scam posting and Web crime reporting tools. From this content, you'll learn valuable tips and pieces of advice that can help you avoid online dating scams, phishing fraud and other extortion schemes on the Internet.