Thanks to digital hookup scams, thousands, and thousands of American citizens looking for love end up heartbroken and poor every year. While social media and online dating websites have been increasingly popular platforms to find friendship and love, they have unfortunately also become popular platforms for romance scammers and fraudsters.
These fraudulent individuals create fake profiles to lure unsuspecting victims establish a romantic relationship, and extort money sooner or later. According to BBB or the Better Business Bureau, scam victims in the United States have reported losing at least $1 billion over the past couple of years to digital romance con artists.
To find out more about how to check the Better Business Bureau, click here for details.
Older users are usually the target of these types of fraudulent activities – and most do not realize they are getting victimized by fraudsters until it’s too late. This article will identify common digital hookup scams and how to tell if someone is scamming you on the Internet. We also have essential information about how to report dating scammers if these people victimize an individual or someone they love.
Common signs of romance scammers
These individuals are experts in manipulating unsuspecting people and can sound pretty convincing. A lot of these signs of romance scammers are subtle yet pretty compelling. Most of these signs are insidious and subtle because they are trying to build a relationship and trust before exploiting their victims. To avoid these fraudulent activities, people should always be on the lookout for these red flags when they are getting to know strangers on the Internet.
These scammers profess their love to the victim quickly, without meeting them in person
Usually, the first sign of online dating fraud shows up when fraudsters express strong emotions in a pretty short time. They may even say that they are in love with the person, but it is a method they are using to get them to give up personal information and answer security questions that the person is using to lock down their accounts on the Internet. People should guard their personal information. Guard these personal details with your life, and be cautious if a new love interest asks for this information soon after contacting you.
Want to know more about digital scams? Visit https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/staying-safe/online-scams-identity-theft for more info.
These fraudulent individuals claim to need money for hospital bills, travel, and other emergencies
Be careful of people who ask you for monetary assistance, no matter how important or dire their situation seems to be. If a person encounters one of these circumstances when they are talking to a new love interest online, there is a good chance they are doing dishonest activities.
These individuals plan to visit, but there are always emergencies happening and cancels the plan at the last minute
If a digital love interest makes plans to visit, but they always change their plans at the last minute because of “unforeseen” emergencies, traumatic events, business loss, or family drama, there is a good chance that they are scammers.
Usually, their cancellations will be accompanied by requests for short-term loans. People should look out for individuals who say something like that. “I want to meet you, but I cannot buy a ticket right now because of some family emergencies.
If you buy the ticket, I will pay you back as soon as I get there. I just want us to be together this Christmas.” These situations are very common, especially with old and divorced men, because they just want to have someone with whom they can spend time during holiday seasons.
Digital romance scammers will try to lure people off the dating website
Usually, these individuals leave the dating website or application like Hi Slut and use personal instant messaging or email to continue communication. At first, this action might not seem like in bad intention. When people are getting to know someone, they will naturally want to move beyond these platforms and use messaging apps.
Be wary when a person asks for your email address or phone number. It makes it a lot easier for these fraudulent individuals to access people’s personal information. If a person wants to communicate outside of the platform, make sure to set up another email address or use instant messaging applications that are not connected to any personal information like home phone numbers or primary email addresses.
