Valentine’s Day might put you in the mood to look for love online. Unfortunately, criminals are also on the hunt, but for victims, not romance.
“Meeting people online has opened the door to romance fraud,” says Kim Casci-Palangio, program director of the peer support program at the nonprofit Cybercrime Support Network in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “You feel you can trust them,” she says, adding that cybercriminals often cultivate relationships for months before asking for money.
Reports to the Federal Trade Commission show consumers lost $1.3 billion in 2022 to romance scams. While romance scams can happen to anybody, here are some strategies experts suggest to reduce your risk of falling for one:
People can be especially vulnerable to romance scams around holidays, such as Valentine’s Day.
Beware of online relationships that move fast
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People are often eager to move relationships forward quickly, especially around official holidays, says Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit organization that provides advice and assistance related to identity theft. She suggests going slowly instead.
Scam artists, Velasquez explains, tend to shower their targets with affection, proclaiming their love early. Then, the victim feels compelled to send money when the scam artist says they need it. “They make up some excuse like an accident,” she explains. If their target doesn’t send it to them, they move on to the next victim.
Watch for common red flags
Another sign of romance fraud is if the person you are interacting with asks you to communicate off of the dating app, such as by using WhatsApp or email, says Ayleen Charlotte, whose story of being tricked by a romance scam was featured in the Netflix show “The Tinder Swindler.” Charlotte now works with BioCatch, a fraud prevention firm, as a scam advisor and banking customer advocate.
“They want you in a more personal environment to get to you,” Charlotte says, where they can interact with you on their own terms without any limits imposed by dating apps.
Casci-Palangio says another sign that something is amiss is if the person you are communicating with declines to have video calls with you or meet in person. They might cite reasons such as living overseas, serving in the military or working on an offshore oil rig.
“They may not be who they say they are,” Casci-Palangio says. They might also be using canned scripts that they send to multiple people; using terms like “honey” instead of your name is a sign you could be communicating with a scammer.
Do your own research
If you start to wonder about the person you are communicating with online, it’s time to go into investigative mode. Casci-Palangio suggests starting with a reverse image search of their profile photos. You can upload any photo to images.google.com to generate results. You might discover the images actually belong to someone else or are used across multiple sites with different names and identities.
“But they could also be using a newly created image. Having no online footprint is also a red flag,” she adds.
Melanie McGovern, national spokesperson for the Better Business Bureau, a nonprofit that promotes marketplace trust, suggests taking notes on your interactions so you can notice any inconsistencies. If your love interest mentions a high school they attended, then look it up and confirm whatever other facts you can.
“Make sure you’re asking all kinds of specific questions,” McGovern says, especially if they share a sad story about a sick relative or other compelling tale. Then, go back and ask the same questions a week later. “If they can’t remember details, you should be skeptical,” she says.
Avoid exchanging money
One common scenario involves the scam artist encouraging you to send money for an investment or asking you to accept a large deposit, which you then forward to another account. But then, the first check doesn’t clear and your own money vanishes, warns Seth Ruden, BioCatch’s director of global advisory.
“Don’t take funds from people you’ve never met, and don’t offer to circulate funds for others,” Ruden says. “If you authorize a money transfer, you are probably responsible for it,” he adds, which means you might never see your money again.
Let go of shame and report the fraud
“A lot of people feel stupid for falling into any type of scam, and that’s the taboo I want to take off. You are not stupid. This is what a fraudster does. This is their job,” Charlotte says.
To help victims feel less alone, the Cybercrime Support Network organizes groups for them to meet weekly to help process what they experienced and find emotional support. “Usually they haven’t told anyone yet because they’re embarrassed,” Casci-Palangio says.
People who have experienced romance scams can also get support and help others by reporting to their bank’s fraud department, as well as the FTC, a state’s attorney general’s office, the FBI, a local police station, the Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker and the Identity Theft Resource Center, among others.
Charlotte notes that “scams can happen to any of us. The right scam just has to find the right person at the right time.”
This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by The Associated Press.
The Nigerian Prince and 8 other common cybercrime characters
The Nigerian Prince and 8 other common cybercrime characters
“My Dear, a fortune is awaiting you … but it’s locked in an overseas account …”
Sound familiar? You likely have multiple versions of this email in your spam folder. As tempting as it is to think of easy money, the reality is that the Nigerian Prince is a scammer targeting you for money or personal information so they can steal your identity. Unfortunately, internet crimes—even ones with implausible, too-good-to-be-true stories like this—often work. In 2021, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported $6.9 billion in losses to cybercriminals.
Twingate compiled a list of nine common cybercrime characters encountered in criminal schemes through analysis of news reports and cybercrime statistics from the FBI, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, and other sources.
Cyberscammers continually adapt their schemes to evade law enforcement, with the latest scams leveraging “smishing” techniques—phishing for information through SMS/text messaging. In September 2022, RoboKiller estimated that the sheer volume of robotexts sent out is equivalent to every person in the U.S. receiving an average of 57 per day.
Another popular scam is the Business Email Compromise, in which criminals pretend they’re sending an email from a company account in order to fool an employee into thinking they’re colleagues. The victim then unwittingly transfers company funds to the criminal.
If you’ve been the victim of a cyberscam, report it to IC3. They’ll share the information with the proper authorities and alert the public. Read on to learn more about frequently encountered cybercrime personas.
The Nigerian Prince
When it comes to cyberscams, just about everyone’s been contacted by a Nigerian prince or someone similar recounting a fabulous story about a fortune that they can’t access—without your help, that is. If you just front them some money—or better yet, your bank account information—they’ll be able to get back their rightful fortune and share their windfall with you.
This type of scam is called an advance-fee scheme—you pay a “processing fee” up front and never get the delivered goods, loan, or credit. Legitimate businesses don’t guarantee funds up front and don’t ask for your personal information over email or text.
Ironically, in 2019 a real Nigerian prince named Osmond Eweka did scam hundreds of people looking for jobs. He agreed to a plea deal that kept him out of prison but cost him $50,000 in restitution.
The Federal Student Loan Administrator
President Biden barely finished announcing the government’s new initiative to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loans before scammers ramped up efforts to bilk people out of money. With the Federal Student Loan Administrator scheme, these scammers leverage telemarketers, texts, and emails to contact people—even if they don’t have student loans—with promises of debt forgiveness if they act quickly.
The scam tries to get them to pay upfront for services (that may or may not exist) to reduce loan payments, discharge a student loan, or forgive a loan. It does so with scare tactics like saying the program window is closing, or it’s only for those who sign up right away. Scammers also try to phish for data, particularly looking for FSA ID usernames and passwords that can be used as legal signatures.
The Federal Trade Commission tells consumers to be careful of these scams because the federal student loan payment pause and the loan forgiveness programs are actually free of charge and no service can get you into them faster.
The Phishing Boss
Phishing scammers will use public information about a company to pose as your boss to try to get money or information. The email looks legitimate because the “from” line is your boss’s name, but the actual email address will often have a discreet typo in it.
The message itself usually asks for something urgently—paying an invoice, doing a wire transfer, or buying and sending them gift cards to pay for a company party, which of course you’ll get reimbursed for as a business expense. With all of these schemes, they need to be done ASAP, and your boss is “tied up in a meeting” so you can’t call them about it. If that sounds suspicious, it likely is, but many people are still fooled by them. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center found that these types of scams bilked people out of $2.4 billion in 2021.
The Phone Company Bill Collector
Of the nearly 88 billion spam texts sent in 2021, some of them look like they’re from your own phone number. In this scam, phishers pose as your cell phone company, and spoof—or disguise—the number they’re using to text. These scammers often offer a so-called reward as a thank-you for consistently paying your bill on time. But to get the reward, you’ve got to click on the link and share some information. The text may also indicate that you have to take advantage of the offer urgently because it’s only valid that day.
The Aid Worker
Scammers see global crises as opportunities to separate well-meaning people from their money. The war in Ukraine has spurred an increase in the amount of fraudulent solicitations for donations to support humanitarian aid efforts in Eastern Europe.
In this type of scheme, criminals play on people’s emotions and sympathy to support a worthy cause. They pose as an individual who needs immediate financial assistance or an organization that’s trying to raise money—except that there’s no actual humanitarian organization behind the email. If you don’t know the individual or charity that sent an email or text, don’t respond, open attachments, click on links, or give them money. If you want to support humanitarian efforts, first research the charity online to make sure it’s legitimate, or find verified charities on Charity Navigator.
The Tech Support Guy
Even if you’re tech-savvy, there’s a chance you could still get ripped off by the Tech Support Guy scheme. This scam manifests mainly through pop-up warnings or phone calls. The plan is to make you think there’s a virus on your computer or other suspicious activity, and if you click the link or call a phone number, you can get the virus resolved. This often results in paying unnecessary fees or allowing someone to access your computer remotely, which also gives the criminals access to all of your files.
Scammers have gotten sophisticated with this scheme, even using company logos to make their pop-ups look legit. However, legitimate tech companies won’t monitor your computer, which means they also won’t contact you or ask you to contact them about specific problems on your machine.
The Package Delivery Company
With the growth of online shopping and package delivery during the pandemic, delivery scams sprung up to trick people into giving money and information to nefarious characters. Variations of this scam happen through text, email, phone, and even fake “missed delivery” tags left on your door. They can ask you to click a link or call a number for more information.
Clicking a link in a text or email can result in malware being installed on your phone to capture your personal information. Scam calls can trick you into thinking you have to verify the credit card number you used on a purchase, which criminals can then exploit for their own purposes.
Thwart this scam by going back to your original purchase receipt and tracking packages through the retailer. Also know that major delivery companies like FedEx and UPS won’t send unsolicited communication seeking your personal payment information.
This story originally appeared on Twingate and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
The article Romance Scammers: They Call You Honey, but Don’t Send Them Money originally appeared on NerdWallet.