JACKSON, Tenn. — Over the past three weeks, West Tennessee women have fallen victim to online romance scams, losing thousands of dollars to who they thought was their new found love.
Scammers stole a reported nearly $50,000 from two local women, just over the last month. That’s according to the Better Business Bureau, and recent reports from women — one as close as Hardeman County — who said they have been scammed out of nearly $24,000 each from an online love interest.
Both victims said the men they were talking to online told them they were in the military, claiming they couldn’t access their bank accounts due to being out of the country.
The BBB of the Mid-South says scammers often use “hard luck stories” to manipulate people into sending money.
“This is how the money becomes involved, so before moving on to asking you for money, the scammer may say, ‘Oh, I’m having some financial troubles. My heat may be getting cut off,’” said Toddnetta Trice, Communication Specialist for the BBB of the Mid-South.
Experts warn that many scammers steal photos from other social media accounts and pretend it is them. You can do a reverse image lookup using many sites like Google to see if the images are stolen from someone else.
Also, be wary of those who talk about the importance of trust. Experts say this will often be the first step to asking you for money.
“Unfortunately when it comes to the money aspect, a lot of the times that’s a lose-lose,” Trice said. “There is no way of getting your money back, but you definitely want to report it. You can always report it to our BBB Scam Tracker.”
The Scam Tracker is a free tool anyone can use to report scammers. Click here for more.
If you have lost more than $40,000 due to fraud, report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, another avenue for reporting online crimes. Click here for more.
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