HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) – February is known as the month of love, but officials with the Better Business Bureau warn that it could also be the month of scams.
Officials say that most romance scams start with fake profiles on online dating sites created by stealing photos and text from real accounts or elsewhere.
Scammers often claim to be in the military or working overseas to explain why they can’t meet you in person.
Over a short period of time, the scammer builds a fake relationship with you, exchanging photos and romantic messages, even talking on the phone or through a webcam.
Vice President of Communications with the Better Business Bureau, Josh Planos said that romance scams peak on Valentines Day, when people use online dating apps and websites to find love and in 2022, the FTC reported $1.3 Billion in losses.
He also said that the scam is so successful because they are diverse in nature.
”Romance scams take on a lot of different forms and most times they involve a compelling back story. A full-fledged identity that is created and then is spread onto different online dating and social media profiles and they ultimately trick someone into falling for someone or a story that doesn’t actually exist,” Planos said.
He also said one way you can spot a romance scam is if your match is looking to move the relationship to fast because normal relationships take time to create.
”Catfishers don’t want to spend any longer than they have to to receive that payday, so when they tell you that they see a future together and love is in the air and that they’ve never felt this way before, then typically, that might be all that these people are after, but you want to be realistic about what time it takes to create a relationship and to form those bonds,” Planos said.
He also said one way to protect yourself is to keep the communication between you and your match on the dating platform and don’t leave it.
”The way these sites are designed is to keep communication on that platform and there’s a reason for that, there’s no way for them to police that activity if the communication is immediately removed from that platform,” Planos said.
The Better Business Bureau also has some tips on how you can spot scammers:
- Too hot to be true – Scammers offer up good-looking photos and tales of financial success. Be honest with yourself about who would be genuinely interested. If they seem “too perfect,” your alarm bells should ring.
- In a hurry to get off the site – Catfishers will try very quickly to get you to move to communicate through email, messenger, or phone.
- Moving fast – A catfisher will begin speaking of a future together and tell you they love you quickly. They often say they’ve never felt this way before.
- Talk about trust – Catfishers will start manipulating you with talk about trust and its importance. This will often be the first step to asking you for money.
- Don’t want to meet – Be wary of someone who always has an excuse to postpone a meeting because they say they are traveling or live overseas or are in the military.
- Suspect language – If the person you are communicating with claims to be from your hometown but has poor spelling or grammar, uses overly flowery language or uses phrases that don’t make sense, that’s a red flag.
- Hard luck stories – Before moving on to asking you for money, the scammer may hint at financial troubles like heat being cut off or a stolen car, or a sick relative, or they may share a sad story from their past (death of parents or spouse, etc.).
In order to protect yourself while dating online, the Better Business Bureau recommends that you:
- Never send money or personal information that can be used for identity theft to someone you’ve never met in person – Never give someone your credit card information to book a ticket to visit you. Cut off contact if someone starts asking you for information like credit card, bank, or government ID numbers.
- Ask specific questions about details given in a profile – A scammer may stumble over remembering details or making a story fit.
- Do your research – Many scammers steal photos from the web to use in their profiles. You can do a reverse image lookup using a website like tineye.com or images.google.com to see if the photos on a profile are stolen from somewhere else. You can also search online for a profile name, email, or phone number to see what adds up and what doesn’t.
For more information or to learn more about scams, go to BBB.org/ScamTips.
For more about avoiding scams, check out BBB.org/AvoidScams.
If this scam has targeted you, help others avoid the same problem by reporting your experience at BBB.org/ScamTracker.
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