The increase of traffic on dating websites at this time of year creates a higher chance for users to fall prey to online romance scams.
What begins as a simple message to a possible mate can turn into the victim sending money to a scam artist or fielding money that the artist has conned off of another victim. This scam is something that is threatening adults of all demographics.
The New York Times talks more about the dangers of romance scams.
“I don’t think there is a general understanding of how much of this romance scam stuff is out there, how it works and what the consequences are,” said Steven Baker, director of the Midwest region of theFederal Trade Commission. “It’s staggering how many people fall for it.”
Scammers typically create fake profiles on dating sites and apps like Match.com,OkCupid, eHarmony, Grindr and Tinderusing pictures of attractive men and women — often real people whose identities they’ve filched off Facebook, Instagram or other social media sites. This lures victims who swipe or click to begin corresponding.
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“They have a canny ability to mirror what the victim seems to need and to create a sense of intimacy very quickly,” said Debbie Deem, a victim specialist at the F.B.I.’s Los Angeles bureau. “They are able to manipulate the victim into believing they have found their one true soul mate.”
Victims are as likely to be men as women, young, old or middle-aged, gay or straight, highly or poorly educated. After a few days, weeks or even months of romantic and sometimes hotly erotic back-and-forth via email, text or Skype, come the requests for money.
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In the latest twist, scammers coax victims into taking explicit photos and videos of themselves and then threaten to distribute them to their Facebook or Skype contacts if they don’t pay them money or help them launder money.
While many people have found a perfect mate from online dating, it is important for users to be on the lookout for scams while searching for their special someone.
Photo by Martin Cathrae via Flickr CC License
