Be Educated, Be Protected… Understanding and Avoiding Romance Scams

For the most part, the majority of people signed up to online dating sites are just like you. Honest and decent souls looking for love. However, there are also those out there who don’t have the right intentions. And I’m not just talking about those creeps sitting on their computers with a spouse and kids in the next room. Recently, many online daters have fallen victim to romance scams. Great news, right? Now not only do you have to watch out for your precious, fragile heart, but you have to watch out for your wallet as well.

Anatomy of a Romance Scam:
So you may be wondering, “What exactly is a romance scam?” This lovely little treat is a con involving false romantic communication with a victim, usually via the medium of online dating sites. Through claims of “undying love and devotion” with flowers and poetry, the orchestrators of these scams gain their victim’s affection and seek out their vulnerable qualities; then they strike. Using tales of family tragedies, medical problems, and other hardships, the schemers will ask their victims to send money to help them in their time of financial crisis. The kind of fraud typically involved with a romance scam includes access to the victim’s money, bank accounts, credit cards, passports, email accounts, and other personal identification or financial information. The con artists responsible for these acts target individuals through online dating websites, usually as a part of a wider money laundering operation.

Profile of a Real-Life Victim:
Take online-dater Laura for example. Laura was fresh off the tails of a nasty divorce and with some encouragement from her friends and in an attempt to try her luck on the web, she joined a popular online dating site. In her quest for cyber love, Laura happened to strike up a connection with a man with devastating good looks (according to the picture on his online dating profile) and they quickly began exchanging emails. Before long, Laura was swept off her feet by this man and his messages professing his love and promising her the world….if only he could just get to her. You see, this dreamboat claimed to be a US citizen who was stuck overseas working on a new business venture in Nigeria. With his smooth-talking ways and charm (all scripted material), this man explained that he needed to tie up a few loose ends with his business in order to travel back home. So Laura adhered to his request for funds and transferred $3,000 into her online lover’s bank account. She then chilled champagne, filled every room with roses and waited for her man to arrive at her doorstep. This may come as a shock, but the guy never showed.

Unfortunately, these romance scams are happening more and more frequently. It may seem like you are on your way to a new romance, but if you experience any of the signs or strange behavior that Laura did, proceed with caution. When it comes to online dating, you should never be required to give money to someone. If that should happen, cut off all communication and report the scammer to the dating website; they will aggressively take action. Remember that when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Signs to Watch Out For:
Are you involved in a potential romance scam? If a scammer is trying to pull a fast one over on you, here are some common factors in which to look for:

• You’ve never met face to face
• Correspondent’s profile picture looks like a model out of a magazine
• Love is professed at warp speed
• You receive flowers and other gifts right away
• Correspondent uses atrocious spelling and grammar that does not align with their alleged education level or career
• Correspondent claim to be from the US but is overseas working, often times in Nigeria
• You are asked to give this person money for issues surrounding family emergencies, medical problems, business affairs, etc.
• Correspondent continually asks for money, but never visits