Stretch Your Dollar: Avoiding online romance scams | #datingscams | #lovescams

(WTNH) — Romance scams are on the rise, so popular dating apps are developing new tools to help you stay safe.

Single mother of three, Christine Settingsgaard, was hoping to find love on a dating app. Instead, she connected with a swindler that duped her out of thousands of dollars.

“He’s like, will you please just deposit the check into your account and then wire me the money? And again, I mean, yes of course, looking back like I see the red flags, but at that time, I was falling in love with him and I had no reason not to trust him,” said Settingsgaard.

She said the person used her phone account information to buy several iPhones and racked up a $4,000 bill in international calls.

“It’s not even just the money. It’s, you know, my mental health, my physical health, my ability to trust people, my ability to care for my kids,” she noted.

And she is not alone in this.

The FTC reported that romance scams accounted for the highest losses compared to any other type of scam, with over $300 million lost each year since 2020.

Now there’s a new campaign launching globally to warn daters and protect against different forms of online fraud. This program would send in-app messages and emails to users about potential online scams.

They would also suggest tips like ensuring users have a verified profile picture and video chatting before meeting in person. Experts say that this is only scratching the surface of what one could do.

“And dating even outside of the apps. get a Google voice phone number so that you don’t have to give anybody your real cell phone number,” said Bela Gandhi, host of the ‘Smart Dating Academy’ podcast. “Always offer to meet somebody out for a date in a place that you’re comfortable with, and always tell a friend or a loved one where you are when you go out on a date.”

These scams are not harmless. Last year the Global Anti-Scam Organization found the average loss reported was over $190,000, which is up from the $120,000 reported in 2021.