Everyone who spends time on the Internet, for sure, received messages from unknown personalities with compliments and offers to get to know each other better. Or at least heard of such cases. It is very likely that this was an attempted online scam. Psychologists have studied the tactics of romantic swindlers and found out who most often becomes their victims.
Any fraud is meanness, but romantic swindlers are a special category of scoundrels. Victims give them money and spend a lot of time on them, and end up with a broken heart. Dating sites, including those with a “solid” reputation, are a gold mine for notorious scoundrels who are looking for easy prey.
Middle-aged and older women, abandoned, divorced, lost spouses, single mothers who are trying to find a father for their children, as well as desperate men who dream of meeting unearthly love, certainly a dazzling beauty, fall into their field of vision.
What are romantic scammers
Swindlers in uniform
Sixty-year-old Alexandra sincerely wanted to spend the rest of her days next to a good person. Reluctantly, she registered on a “trusted” dating site, created a profile, and soon received her first message. “It was love at first sight,” she sighs. She had no idea that the ideal man who turned her head might not be real.
An imaginary admirer, let’s call him Victor, said that he is a military man and is now serving in a distant country – why not maintain a virtual acquaintance? For some time they corresponded and the “romance” developed rapidly. A couple of weeks later, Victor made an offer to Alexandra, and she was in seventh heaven with happiness. As soon as the woman agreed, they began to make joint plans.
A little later, Victor was planning to go home – to marry Alexandra and live happily ever after with her. He wrote that he opened a profitable business, thanks to which all dreams will come true. But suddenly there was a small problem. Victor allegedly had to pay off the supplier for the goods, but that’s bad luck – from the war zone there was no way to use his own finances. The insidious “groom” told Alexandra that their future was at stake. Barely recovering from the heavy news, she courageously withdrew part of her savings and sent $ 3000 to the destination.
The “business” that once thrived only on dating sites has reached popular social networks
The next “request” was not long in coming, and then Alexandra suspected something was wrong. After consulting with friends and then with the police, she realized that Victor never existed. He was just one of thousands of romantic “military” swindlers whose traces are lost in Ghana, Nigeria and other exotic countries.
This happens so often that the US Embassy in Ghana saw fit to post a warning on its website. Such cases are more than a good reason to ask for as many photos as possible, especially those taken especially for you, insist on video calls and, of course, never transfer money or give out your payment card details.
Do not be afraid to lose someone you have never seen in your life – a real person will understand doubts. The deceiver will most likely pretend to be offended and stop communicating. Well, congratulations – you didn’t get fooled! It is not a fact that the so-called admirer will immediately talk about money. Fraudsters have the intelligence and patience to create a strong connection and emotional “investment”.
The more attached the victim is, the more likely they are to pay. They usually wait one to three months before asking for anything. Not all swindlers present themselves as military men, but they are always somewhere far away, and they are bound to have a sudden and very urgent financial problem. The bravest even agree to talk on the phone.
Correspondence scammers
Dan is a busy XNUMX-year-old Englishman, not particularly rich, who lives in a modest house in a small town. He has been alone for a long time, and he is fed up with such a life. But Dan doesn’t lose heart. He dreams of perfect love, and the partner should look no worse than a Hollywood star. The world is big, and soon the right woman was found. Although she lived in Ukraine, this did not stop him.
However, there was one small obstacle: Marina, the woman of his dreams, did not speak English. Accordingly, he needed the services of an interpreter, who was kindly provided by a dating site. Subsequently, Dan wrote to Marina in English, she answered in Russian, and the translation agency translated their email correspondence.
In a few months, he spent a couple of thousand dollars on translations. Even worse, Marina did not seem to notice the persistent requests to give him a personal email address, forcing him to communicate only through the site. Meanwhile, the long-awaited meeting was approaching. Dan packed his bags and flew to Odessa to meet Marina. Unfortunately, she never came.
Fake dating sites, one of which Dan got on, do not connect real women and men. They simply scribble love letters on their behalf. Photos can be real or stolen. Sometimes they are stolen from social networks, from the profiles of unsuspecting women, or on other dating sites.
It happens that beauties cooperate with “marriage” offices in case the victim demands a meeting or threatens a lawsuit. Then even a date with the “beloved” is possible, but sooner or later she will find a reason to break off the relationship.
Social media scammers
The “business” that once thrived only on dating sites has also reached popular social networks. As a rule, the scammer tries to start a conversation with sexual overtones. He can lure out a real name, phone number, even explicit photos. After that, the victim receives a message that the information is posted on such and such a site, but it can be deleted for a certain amount. Meanwhile, there is no guarantee that after the payment the data will be deleted.
Who gets scammed
Scammers are constantly inventing new tricks, and even well-informed people can fall victim to an online romance scam. However, a study by cyberpsychologist Monica Whitty has shown that certain personality traits increase this likelihood.
Impulsiveness. Since in order to lure out money, it is necessary to create a sense of urgency (as in our first example), an urgent need, such as the cost of medical treatment, impulsive people easily fall for this bait, pay without thinking about the possible catch.
Overconfidence. Simple and naive people sincerely believe that such a good and pleasant person is simply not capable of deception, and therefore they are easily fooled.
Despair. Middle-aged and elderly people, abandoned and divorced, emotionally unstable, single mothers and those who consider themselves ugly, are sometimes so desperate to find a partner that they are victims of deception.
Dependencies Addicts often fall into the trap of beautiful declarations of love and grab a swindler like a straw. They are not able to “dump” him and, paradoxically, continue to justify even after the deception is revealed.
In addition, women are victims of romantic fraud more often than men, and this does not depend on the level of education. Be careful, do not fall for the hook of scammers!