Romance Fraud

[Vaughan]

I thought this was an interesting piece which would be useful for our members.
The main rule is, never give or send real money to a person you do not know or have never met.
Romance fraud occurs when you think you’ve met the perfect partner online, but they are using a fake profile to form a relationship with you. They usually do this to get money out of you.

Romance Fraud

Romance fraud is incredibly common, and can be almost unimaginably damaging, with victims losing life savings or even their homes.

In the last financial year, 8,036 British people fell victim to romance frauds, losing £92m in total, according to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB).

The average victim lost £11,500. So how can you stay safe from online scammers?

Sticking to reputable dating sites is the first step, says Anne Cutler, cybersecurity specialist at Keeper Security.

“To keep yourself safe, always be cautious about sharing sensitive personal information such as your home address, phone number or financial details.
If you suspect fraudulent activity, don’t hesitate to report it to the dating platform and local authorities.

“Familiarise yourself with the privacy settings on the dating platform and adjust them to your comfort level. When setting up your profile, restrict access and limit the information visible to others.”

Cutler says that there are several key warning signs to look out for with any new romance.

They arrange to meet you and then cancel

Cutler says that a reluctance to meet in person is a key warning that you are dealing with a cybercriminal, not a potential romance.

“Often, scammers will arrange to meet up in person and let the victim down at the very last minute – or they seem hard to pin down and never in one place for long.”

They ask for very specific information.

Asking for very specific personal information early in a relationship is a key warning that you are dealing with someone interested in money, not love, Cutler says.

She adds: “It may seem casual, but they’ll ask for significant dates or other personal information quite early on in order to socially engineer their victims and gain access to accounts.”

They offer strange excuses for why they need money

If any online date starts asking you for money, this is a huge red flag, and you should step back and think about who they really are.

Scammers will often come up with strange stories that seem so out-there they couldn’t possibly be false, Cutler says.

“They ask for money – often in very convoluted ways and come up with excuses.
For example, they’re on a military base without access to their normal funds, but they’ll pay you back, etc.”

They use phrases like ‘it’s us against the world’
The classic romance scam will use ‘love bombing’, when the scammer professes love very early in the relationship.

Cutler says: “The scammer will try to make you feel so loved that you feel helpless, and will use phrases like ‘can’t imagine life without you’ and pressure you to become exclusive.”

They are VERY good-looking
Scammers often craft profiles with stolen images from the internet, so a reverse image search can help – although there is also the possibility of AI-generated images.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” Cutler adds.

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/the-five-warning-signs-that-your-new-girlfriend-or-boyfriend-is-really-a-scammer-173239719.html
Rob Waugh·Contributor

Be aware of:

Phishing – A technique for attempting to acquire sensitive data, such as bank account numbers, through a fraudulent solicitation in email or on a web site, in which the perpetrator masquerades as a legitimate business or reputable person or boyfriend/girlfriend.

Catfishing This refers to when a person takes information and images, typically from other people, and uses them to create a new identity for themselves. In some cases, a catfisher steals another individual’s complete identity—including their image, date of birth, and geographical location—and pretends that it is their own.
This can be done to become your perfect boyfriend/girlfriend.

Ghosting, simmering and icing These are colloquial terms that describe the practice of suddenly ending all communication and avoiding contact with another person without any apparent warning or explanation and ignoring any subsequent attempts to communicate.

Love bombing This is a manipulative tactic often used by people with narcissistic personality disorder to gain control in a relationship.
Friends, family, or romantic partners can love bomb you by showering you with gifts, being overly complimentary, or constantly giving you attention.

Gaslighting This is a form of psychological manipulation in which the abuser attempts to sow self-doubt and confusion in their victim’s mind. Typically, gaslighters are seeking to gain power and control over the other person, by distorting reality and forcing them to question their own judgment and intuition, and undermines their self-esteem.

A romance scam This is a confidence trick involving feigning romantic intentions towards a victim, gaining the victim’s affection, and then using that goodwill to get the victim to send money to the scammer under false pretenses or to commit fraud against the victim. Fraudulent acts may involve access to the victim’s money, bank accounts, credit cards, passports, e-mail accounts, or national identification numbers; or forcing the victims to commit financial fraud on their behalf.
More money is lost each year to romance scams than to similar internet scams, such as technical support scams.

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