It’s a new twist on an old romance scam. A con artist offers to become your “sugar momma” or “sugar daddy” and pay your bills. But according to recent BBB Scam Tracker reports, it’s just a way to trick victims out of their hard-earned money.
This scam typically begins with a message forwarded through a dating or social media app. In exchange for your company and affections, the person offers to give you a “weekly allowance” of several hundred dollars. The offer sounds too-good-to-be-true, but the person seems legitimate – at first.
The scammer sends you a check or pretends to transfer money into your bank account. Then, he/she tells you to keep most of the money as your “weekly allowance,” after you do them a small favor. You are asked to transfer part of the cash to their needy friend, pay an outstanding bill or even make a donation to charity.
One victim reported the con artist wanted him to donate several thousand dollars of the money he received to an orphanage. Of course, the check or bank transfer was fake and the orphanage account was really just the scammer or an associate using a different name.
According to Better Business Bureau records, it cost one victim $19,500.
Watch out for other versions of this con too. Some victims report the scammer claimed to need access to their bank account in order to deposit money. They ended up sharing their banking info with a con artist.
The BBB offers tips to protect yourself from this scam:
• Know your rights and responsibilities when it comes to using checks. Banks will make the funds from a check available before the money is actually transferred into your account. If you spend the money and the check is fake, the bank has the right to recover the funds from you.
• Research your date first. Many scammers steal photos from the internet to use in their dating profiles. You can do a reverse image lookup using a website such as Google Images to see if photos on a profile are stolen from somewhere else. You also can search online for a profile name, email or phone number to see what adds up and what doesn’t.
• Ask specific questions about details in a profile. A scammer may stumble over remembering details or making a story fit.
• Never send money or sensitive personal information to someone you’ve never met in person. Cut off contact if someone starts asking you for financial or personally identifiable information such as your credit card number or government ID numbers.
If you’ve spotted a scam – whether or not you’ve lost money, report it to BBB.org/ScamTracker. Your report can help others avoid falling victim to scams.
