People looking for love on dating apps are being lured into cryptocurrency scams.
Here is what red flags you should be on the lookout for when swiping right to more than just love.
Amie Mitchell is the CEO of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Eastern Oklahoma. She said complaints have started to come in from Tinder and Hinge users who say that rich and successful profiles that grab people’s attention have been leaving people broke and scammed.
“They really want to get you off of the platform. Whatever social site that is and get you into text messaging. They continue to form that relationship,” Mitchell said.
Here’s how the scam works, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman.
A profile on Tinder catches your attention.
At first, the person on the other side who peaked your interest doesn’t talk about money at all.
But after you get to know each other, the other person wants to get off Tinder.
Instead of asking for your phone number to call or text, they insist using WhatsApp or WeChat. It’s there that the alleged source of riches are revealed.
The person either claims to be a crypto investor who is doing well, or in some cases, they have a family member who is good at crypto investing.
They then ask you to get in on the action.
“Then all of a sudden they have all this extra cryptocurrency or they want you to invest in cryptocurrency because they’re a millionaire,” Mitchell said.
The BBB has taken complaints from people who have invested $3,000 up to more than $80,000 into alleged crypto transactions that are actually just people sending money directly to a scammer.
The BBB gave the following tips on how to protect yourself from this scam.
Never send personal info or money to someone you’ve never met in person.
Try to stay on the dating app as long as you can until it is time to meet or go on that date. You also can’t exchange money on the dating app.
Research profiles. Try to see if the pics are stock photos or belong to someone else.
And ask them about their lives to see if they can keep their story straight.
Keep in mind when it comes to anything you do with cryptocurrency, federal and state law may not cover some of these scams and other issues that will come up. Laws are still being written about crypto on a variety of topics, including crime.
If you lose your money in a crypto scam, you could easily consider it overseas and gone for good.