Romance scams

A romance scam is a confidence trick involving feigning romantic intentions towards a victim, gaining their affection, and then using that goodwill to commit fraud. Fraudulent acts may involve access to the victim’s money, bank accounts, credit cards, passports, e-mail accounts, or national identification numbers ; or forcing the victims to commit financial fraud on their behalf. Number of cases rose from to in only two years.

Online dating sites offer a convenient match-making service. Unfortunately, fraudsters use these platforms to scam people at their most vulnerable.

That may come as no surprise since tens of millions of U. In fact, the Identity Theft Resource Center, which I lead, has received calls from victims of online dating scams. In one instance, a male victim met someone through an online dating service. Here are two of the highest profile scams that have directly affected online dating participants:. Horror stories about romance scammers who use sweet talk to steal money from their victims are all too common.

Many of these scams are rampant on social media platforms, not just dating sites. Some victims have reported falling for extortion, especially once the talk, shared photographs, or webcam chats turn intimate. What happens next? So how can you look for love online while still protecting yourself against potential scammers?