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Are romance scammers trying to trick you into sending money?
How do romance scams work?
How do you spot a romance scam?
How to avoid a romance scammer?
- If they say, "It's an emergency." "Romance scammers weave all sorts of believable stories to con people, but their old standby involves pleas for help while claiming one financial or health crisis after another," says Schulman.
- Their stories and background aren’t matching up. The Tinder Swindler was able to create fake personas—business partners, security guards and wealthy parents—to lure women to trust him.
- They start blackmailing you. Romance scammers do a great job at building trust and using it to their advantage. They might start holding private and personal things (i.e.
- They rope you into money laundering. While some scammers might not ask you for money right away, they can still rope you into illegal financial behavior.
- Overview
- Outsmarting a Romance Scammer
- Common Romance Scams
- How to Avoid and Protect Yourself from Romance Scams
- What to Do if You’ve Been Scammed
Romance scammers create fake profiles on popular social media platforms or dating apps and strike up a relationship with a potential victim to build up trust. Their goal is to win the trust of the unsuspecting victim and make up a story to swindle money from them. One way you can outsmart a romance scammer is to ask them tons of questions about their life and research their name, job, and profile online to see if you can catch them in the act. Keep reading to learn more.
Ask the scammer to send you a picture of themselves performing a specific action, like tugging their ear or holding up today’s newspaper or a spoon.
Copy and paste a romance scammer’s bio and profile pictures into a search engine to see if they stole them from another user.
Report the romance scammer to your country’s authorities, like the U.S.
Ask the person to send you a current picture of themselves.
Romance scammers often use photos that have been stolen from other places on the internet. [1] Ask them to take a selfie while performing a specific action like tugging their ear or holding an object like a newspaper or spoon. [2] Instead of DMing you a picture, a scammer might make up excuses to explain why that isn’t possible.
Asking them to take a specific photo works because these images will be hard to fake, especially if they’re using someone else’s images.
A legitimate love interest will understand if you ask for proof that they’re a real person.
Invite them to meet you in person.
A scammer will try to avoid meeting you in person at all costs. [4] They might say they’re living or traveling outside the country, working in an oil rig or the military, or working with an international organization. [5] They might even set a date, but cancel after they have a tragic inconvenience happen on the same day.
Romance scammers build up your trust over time.
Scams might vary case-by-case, but often a scammer will rush into a relationship, talk about marriage, and talk about a beautiful future together. However, they’ll never meet you in person or talk on the phone or by video.
Romance scammers set up a fake profile on a dating or social media platform and either use it to contact potential targets or wait to be contacted by other users.
Scammers might suggest moving the relationship to a more private channel like email, an app like WhatsApp, or over text, and forge an emotional relationship with you.
To build your trust, the scammer will usually have an elaborate life story that they slowly share, which might include a successful career, past failed relationships, hobbies, and interests.
After they gain your trust, the scammer will ask you for help.
Look for the most common warning signs.
Romance scammers often follow the same common scams, showering you with attention and affection to make you feel special quickly, but never making a move to meet in person.
Other signs a person might not be genuine might include:
The profile seems unrealistic, like having professional high-quality photos with unusually attractive people or listing a high-paying, prestigious job.
They use social media platforms to contact you, and you’ve never talked to them on the phone or in text messages connected to a phone number.
They always want to talk like they’re not doing anything all day because their main job is scamming others.
Stop communicating with the scammer.
If you realize that you’ve been played by a romance scammer, break off all contact immediately. Try to remember that they’re not a successful or attractive person who loved you, but a scammer who tried to take advantage of you.
Block all their attempts to reach you through email, text, or phone, and try to resist any temptation to physically locate and confront the scammer.
Reach out to those you trust, especially if the scammer made you feel like you couldn’t. The support of your friends and family is more important than ever right now.
Contact the authorities and your bank if you sent a scammer money.
Report the romance scammer to your country’s authorities, like the
If you are the victim of a romance scam, file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Tips for Avoiding Romance Scams: Be careful what you post and make public...
Apr 23, 2024 · Scammers do these things to pressure you into acting immediately by paying money. But it’s a scam. How to Avoid Losing Money to a Romance Scammer. Here’s the bottom line: Never send money or gifts to a sweetheart you haven’t met in person. If you suspect a romance scam: Stop communicating with the person immediately. Talk to someone you ...
Dec 13, 2018 · The first step is to get your loved one to sign an agreement with you. In the agreement, spell out two tests you are going to perform to prove to your loved one that their remote romance scammer...
- Roger Grimes
Feb 14, 2024 · To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov. When you have a new romance there’s so much to talk about. But if your new sweetheart only wants to talk about your money and how you should invest it, stop talking. They might be a romance scammer, like those who stole more than $1 billion from people last year.
According to the FBI, a romance scam occurs when a criminal creates a fake profile and feigns romantic interest in another online user – either through a dating app or website, an online chat room, or a social media platform – to create a feeling of intimate trust with the intention of scamming the victim out of money.
