The epidemic has likely left many individuals socially apathetic and isolated, which has led to a significant increase in romance fraud over the past several years. US victims of romance scams lost $547 million in total in 2021, an increase of over 80% from the previous year. The average victim loses $2,400, which is a sizeable sum for the majority of victims. Anyone can become a victim of romance scams especially if the victim is going through a breakup or divorce, the scammers will probably honey-trap them on social media and rob their wealth. In this article, you will learn how these scams work and how to avoid them.
How do romance scams play out generally?
Scammers will do something, which is called catfishing – meaning they will pretend to be someone else online than they are in real life. They would do that by using stolen photos and by connecting through text rather than voice. Sometimes scammers pretend to be a famous person or celebrity to learn the victim even more. They will use a fake persona to attract the victim and lure them into the trap. Romance scams play out well on dating websites and social media, these places are not uncommon to receive flirty messages from strangers.
Romance scammers will come up with excuses that for some personal reasons he or they cannot meet face-to-face with the victims. They will also tell the victims that they are in dire need of money because either they have lost their money. Furthermore, they will play with the emotions of the victim and use sweet words to cash out as much as possible. They will go to such an extent that would not back away from getting victims’ bank information. By that time, victims will know their online date is fake; their bank balance will be empty, and realize becoming a victim of online scams.
Detect and avoid romance scams
Never give money to someone you have not met in person if you want to prevent romance scams. While some romance scammers will meet their targets in person as part of a protracted deception, these are significantly less frequent than online scammers who rely on stolen images and text chat to present a false image and conceal their genuine identity. This advice can help you avoid the great majority of frauds. The rate at which the romance progresses are one of the biggest warning signs before the money request appears. It is generally a fraud when this conduct is coupled with a refusal or unavailability to meet in person. Running the images of romance fraudsters using a reverse image search engine is another approach to spot them early. This could point out where they got the photographs from, but it is not a flawless test; they might have gotten them from somewhere less obvious.
Report to the highest authority if you are a victim of a romance scam
Are you a victim of romance scams or dating scams? It is quite common to feel disgraceful and ashamed but if you do nothing about it, the stress will put you in a bad spot. Worry not you can still get a refund of what you have lost in the dating fraud, just do not waste time and hire the highest authority or a reputed scam recovery firm.
