GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) — Romance scammers are targeting older adults at significant rates, building trust over weeks or months before turning conversations to cryptocurrency investments.
Love scammers weave a romantic connection instead of demanding urgent payment like many scams. Over weeks or months, they gain their victim’s trust, claiming to have common interests like classic cars or church, then move to messaging about money.
New research from AARP shows nearly one in 10 adults 50 and older have been targeted by an online romantic connection who asked for money or promoted a cryptocurrency investment.
“I just talked to a victim last week that had $400,000 stolen from them in one of these scams,” said Amy Nofziger, Senior Director of Victim Support with the AARP Fraud Watch Network.
Scammers build trust before pitching crypto
A viewer in Fond du Lac County shared messages showing how scammers operate. After weeks of conversation, their chat turned to cryptocurrency.
The scammer wrote: “There are more meaningful things we can do before we meet, not to mention teaching you about bitcoin. This is my strength, you can teach me your strengths too.”
Another message claimed: “I’ve been working in this field with my father for four years now and we’ve been doing quite well. This is my profit from last year” — showing over a million dollars.
The viewer resisted opening an account and contact stopped.
AARP has a strong warning about these conversations.
“If anybody online is asking you or encouraging you to invest in cryptocurrency, it’s 100% a scam and stop communicating with them,” Nofziger said. “No legitimate cryptocurrency is being pitched on social media, and certainly not by someone you do not know.”
Warning signs of romance scams
Signs of a romance scam include:
- They’re unable to meet in person
- They want to move messaging off the dating app or social media platform to messaging like WhatsApp
- Claims to be, or know, an expert crypto trader
- Persistent offers to help trade or invest
“First and foremost, stop communicating with them, block them and report them to the platform that you’re having those conversations with,” Nofziger said. “And if you have lost money or personal information, or they were able to introduce you to the cryptocurrency, report it to law enforcement, save any documentation you have and report it to law enforcement immediately.”
AARP says more than half never report what happened.
“For some reason in our society we blame the victims of these crimes when we need to blame the criminals, and a lot of these victims have shame, and the shame keeps them silent,” Nofziger said. “So if anyone comes to you and says that they have been a victim of one of these scams, encourage them to report and support them with kindness and empathy, and maybe go down to the law enforcement with them, or sit there on the phone with them while they file that report.”
As these scams become more sophisticated, experts say it’s important to reduce the stigma and encourage reporting to law enforcement, especially if money was lost.
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