A network of online romance scammers came crashing to the ground this week after nine men were arrested in Canada for stealing a staggering $1.5 million from 7 victims.
The arrests go to show that despite being one of the most recognised and long running scams on the Internet, romance scams are still prolific and extremely lucrative for the scammers who orchestrate them.
Romance scams can be particularly damaging for their victims as they have the potential to con people out of more money over a longer period of time than other scams. They can also inflict severe psychological damage onto their victims.
Despite the arrests made in Canada, prosecuting these criminals is often extremely difficult because many of them are located abroad, often from African nations or Russia.
Romance scams are often initiated through dating websites or email. Scammers strike up a relationship with the victim through the anonymity of the Internet. Often posing as handsome and wealthy members of the opposite sex, the scam is typically carried out through a series of communications online, such as through instant messaging or email.
When a relationship of trust is established, the scammer will attempt to trick the victim into sending them money. How this works can vary depending on the scammer, but for example the victim may be told about an “investment”, or the scammer may claim they are having financial difficulties, or that they need funds to visit the victim.
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Whatever the excuse, a request for money is made by the scammer to the victim. Upon the victim sending the money, many scammers will continue to create excuses to get the victim to send more money over a time period that in extreme cases can go on for years, though typically a matter of weeks or months.
So how do you keep yourself safe from romance scammers?
1. Do your research. If they have provided you a photo of themselves, do a reverse image search in Google to see if the photo has been used elsewhere under different pretences. Scammers often steal photos they find online as they do not want the victim to see their own photos. Also check the name out on social media to see if you can find more information about them. No information isn’t always a bad thing, but it should make you cautious. After all, most people these days have at least a social media account.
2. Don’t trust unsolicited emails. No one sends out spam email looking for a relationship, so if you have no reason to expect the email, you have no reason to believe the email is genuine.
3. Watch out for broken English. Of course there are legitimate people looking for love online that won’t be from English speaking countries, and there will also be those who simply can’t type great English. But nearly all types of romance scams derive from non-English speakers, so this should be something to watch out for.
4. Don’t add them on social media, and don’t share too much information. At least not early on. For at least the first few months you shouldn’t be giving away too much information like your home address, or any information someone can use to commit identity fraud, such as your date of birth, family details or details about where you live or what school you went to. And since many people share this type of information on their online social media accounts, you shouldn’t be adding people you meet online until you can be 100% sure they are legitimate.
5. Don’t send money to people you’ve never met. Of course the golden rule here is to never send money to people you haven’t met. Many other sites state that you should avoid sending money to people you don’t trust which is rather redundant advice, given that victims of romance scams thought they could trust the people they were communicating with, hence why they gave them large sums of their own money! Romance scammers rarely meet their victims for risk of being identified.
6. If in doubt, ask a friend. Two heads are better than one, and many romance scam victims could have avoided their ordeal if they shared their situation with a friend. Sometimes looking into a situation like this with a fresh pair of eyes will soon reveal more than the victim could see. Still confused? You can always ask us.
7. Meet in public. And for some more general online dating advice, if you do ever meet your online love for the first time, make sure it is somewhere public.
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