Dating Scams Account for $82 Million in Losses
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 02/11/2016 07:17 AM
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Have you found your soulmate online? It may actually be a room full of scammers after your personal info or your bank account.
It all starts with a fake online profile. Scammers may use a name or steal the identity of a real person. They say they are out of the country or are in the military which is why they can't meet in person.
It soon becomes serious with strong emotional feelings in a short period of time, which keeps the victim psychologically engaged. It soon moves to email or instant messenger. And then there is a tragedy. A sick relative or a failing business. They need money.
While declaring their love and devotion for the victim continually, the scammer may directly ask for money to be wired to them, send a check or money order and ask their sweetheart to cash it for them, or send a package and ask it to be reshipped to a different address.
The losses aren't cheap. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reports that the average complainant loses over a hundred thousand dollars to internet dating scams. In 2014, it is estimated that losses to dating scams totaled more than $82 million. Women accounted for 82 percent of the losses with men making up the remaining 18 percent.
The FBI has published some tips on how to spot a scam:
• Presses you to leave the dating website you met through and to communicate using personal e-mail or instant messaging
• Professes instant feelings of love
• Sends you a photograph of himself or herself that looks like something from a glamour magazine
• Claims to be from your home country and is traveling or working overseas
• Makes plans to visit you but is then unable to do so because of a tragic event
• Asks for money for a variety of reasons (travel, medical emergencies, hotel bills, hospitals bills for child or other relative, visas or other official documents, losses from a financial setback or crime victimization).
Source: Avast
It all starts with a fake online profile. Scammers may use a name or steal the identity of a real person. They say they are out of the country or are in the military which is why they can't meet in person.
It soon becomes serious with strong emotional feelings in a short period of time, which keeps the victim psychologically engaged. It soon moves to email or instant messenger. And then there is a tragedy. A sick relative or a failing business. They need money.
While declaring their love and devotion for the victim continually, the scammer may directly ask for money to be wired to them, send a check or money order and ask their sweetheart to cash it for them, or send a package and ask it to be reshipped to a different address.
The losses aren't cheap. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reports that the average complainant loses over a hundred thousand dollars to internet dating scams. In 2014, it is estimated that losses to dating scams totaled more than $82 million. Women accounted for 82 percent of the losses with men making up the remaining 18 percent.
The FBI has published some tips on how to spot a scam:
• Presses you to leave the dating website you met through and to communicate using personal e-mail or instant messaging
• Professes instant feelings of love
• Sends you a photograph of himself or herself that looks like something from a glamour magazine
• Claims to be from your home country and is traveling or working overseas
• Makes plans to visit you but is then unable to do so because of a tragic event
• Asks for money for a variety of reasons (travel, medical emergencies, hotel bills, hospitals bills for child or other relative, visas or other official documents, losses from a financial setback or crime victimization).
Source: Avast
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