Americans Lost $201 Million To Romance Scammers
If you’re a sucker for love, you’re not alone because many Americans lost money to romance scammers. In fact they lost in the ballpark of $201 million dollars to romance scammers. Social Catfish, President and author David McClellan is giving us some tricks up our sleeve to be cognizant of when finding love online.
The 5 Tricks Romance Scammers Are Using During Coronavirus:
1. Cannot Meet Because of COVID: The hallmark of a catfish scammer is to come up with excuses why they cannot meet, such as pretending to be in the military overseas. The pandemic gives them a built-in excuse not to meet. Beware.
2. Need Money for a COVID Emergency: Once they form an emotional connection with lonely victims, they ask for money saying they are sick and need help with treatment, or are low on food, water, and other supplies. These are lies, as people who have never met do not ask you for money for an emergency, they would rely on family and friends.
3. They Are Overly Sweet and Confessing Love Quickly: If you are stuck in your house with limited contact with your loved ones, then someone else’s sweet words can win you over, especially when they are confessing their undying love for you. Beware of someone who says overly sweet things that are too good to be true.
4. Moving too Fast: Scammers are using the extra time at home to chat more often so they can build trust and drain your bank account faster. Beware if your relationship begins to move too fast.
5. Do Not Want to Video Chat: The oldest excuse in the book… they cannot video chat with you because their video camera is supposedly “broken”, or they do not have the best access to Wi-Fi. These are red flags. The real reason they do not want to video chat with you is that they are pretending to be the person you see in the pictures and are not actually that person.
5 Ways to Avoid Becoming a Victim:
1. Never Give Money: Do not give anyone you meet online money, no matter the reason.
2. Do not Give Personal Information: Scammers can use basic information to commit identity fraud, get access to your banks and steal your money.
3. Take Things Slow: If you like someone online, do not let them rush you. Nigerian romance scammers will be pushy about falling in love right away. If that is the case, know something is not right.
4. Meet or Video Chat: Do not form a relationship with someone who will not video chat with you or meet you in person.
5. Compare Against the Published Nigerian Scam Playbook: Compare what they are saying to the playbook to see if it matches at all. If what the person sent you matches word-for-word to the text in the playbook or is similar to it, then that is a major red flag. This means they are probably copying and pasting everything they are telling you from a scammer’s playbook and will try to steal your money later.
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