Police investigated more than 100 cases of Romance Fraud in Dorset in the year to October 2021
Last updated 38 minutes ago
Family members of online daters are being urged to help protect their relatives from becoming victims of romance fraud.
Figures from Dorset Police show more than £1.9M has been lost through dating scams in Dorset.
In the year leading up to October 2021, Dorset Police investigated 111 reports of romance fraud.
Action Fraud say daters who strike up online relationships between Christmas and Valentines Day tend to be the most susceptible.
On their website they say:
“Criminals often use a range of stories to get victims to transfer them money without it raising suspicion. The stories are often believable, to a certain extent, and something that the victim would find hard to say no to, especially because of their emotional attachment.
“Examples of stories include funding travel to visit the victim, money to pay for emergency medical expenses, lucrative investment opportunities and pretending to be military personnel or working overseas.”
How to help protect people you know are online dating
Action Fraud have this advice on how you can keep people close to you who are dating safe.
Here are there top tips:
Help your friends and family to ensure they have adequate privacy settings on their social media accounts to ensure strangers don’t have access to their personal information.
Stay in regular contact with your friends and family who are online dating to help spot any changes in behaviour or things that don’t seem right.
Make friends and family aware of the signs of romance fraud so that they are conscious of the tactics criminals use to carry out these scams and reiterate that you should never transfer money to someone that you have never met in person.
Encourage people to report to Action Fraud and the police if they have become a victim of romance fraud and not to be embarrassed about doing so.
Dr Hannah Shimko, Comms and Policy Director at the Online Dating Association, said:
“Online dating is now of the most common ways to meet a romantic partner. While most users are genuine, there are always those who are looking to take advantage of the vulnerable looking for love.
“It is essential users educate themselves on how to be a smart online dater, and to be aware of the actions fraudsters will use to manipulate them. Daters should check in with trusted family and friends during their online dating journey to share experience, and friends and family can watch for any change in behaviour.
“Other healthy online dating advice includes staying on the dating platform which has processes in place to protect users; getting to know the person, not just the profile; and never disclosing personal information until the dater is ready. Finally, remember to never send money to someone met only online.”
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