Category: Scammer

iovation’s Data On Online Dating Scams

Posted on February 11, 2016

Iovation logo new feb 12MARKETWIRED – Feb 11 - In 2015, 1.39% of all transactions on dating sites were fraudulent, down from the 1.58% iovation saw in 2014. By comparison, the rate of fraud across all industries was lower than in dating.

Top Types of Dating Fraud

  1. Spam
  2. Identity mining
  3. Scams/solicitations
  4. Profile misrepresentation – fraudster posts inaccurate identity information in a profile and/or uses bogus profile photos
  5. Credit card fraud

The highest % of fraudulent transactions in 2015 originated from these countries:

  1. United States – 18%
  2. Ghana – 11%
  3. Nigeria – 10%
  4. France – 8%
  5. Vietnam – 7%

See full article at Digital Journal

See all posts on iovation

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Scamalytics: Top Online Dating Chat-up Lines Used By Scammers

Posted on February 8, 2016

Scamalytics logo jan 16MIRROR.CO.UK – Feb 8 – Scamalytics has developed software to automatically recognize scammers and has come up with 19 of the most common phrases that should cause very loud alarm bells to go off. Here are some of them.

  • "I am ready for a serious relationship and I really look forward to starting that with the right person."
  • "I try to do my best in self-creation and in self-education."
  • "I am a decent and faithful woman trust is very important for me."

by Zahra Mulroy
See full article at Mirror.co.uk

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

UK Online Dating Site Users Lost ~£33M In Scam Last Year

Posted on October 28, 2015

Scammers3BBC.COM – Oct 26 – Online dating fraudsters conned victims out of ~£33M in the last year, the UK's national fraud centre says. Action Fraud said 3,543 people reported falling victim to dating scams in 2014-15. It said dating sites "very rarely" vet members to prevent fraud.

See full article at BBC

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

BeehiveID To Host Fraud Prevention Webinar On June 4th

Posted on May 25, 2015

BeehiveID logoOPW – May 25 – BeehiveID is hosting a webinar called “Traditional Fraud Prevention is Costing you Customers” on June 4th. There will be two sessions – at 9AM CST and 3PM CST. BeehiveID helps ensure that people online are who they say they are in person. It analyzes an individual's social media history, their friends and posts to determine whether a genuine person or a spambot is posting. In this webinar, BeehiveID we will examine transactional tools traditionally used to fight fraud – how they work, and where they fall short. BeehiveID team will show you how person based data can be a much more effective barrier to fraud, as well as a critical tool for building safe online communities.

Post by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

FBI Study Says Seeking Love Online Often Leads to Fraud

Posted on May 20, 2015

Romance-scams-chartNBC NEWS – May 20 – In its annual online fraud report, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, said total financial losses to online fraud reported to the federal government last year topped $800M. But that's just a drop in the bucket of what's presumed to be the real cost of online fraud, much of which doesn't go reported. The National White Collar Crime Center, which coordinates IC3 with the FBI, said online fraud is actually estimated to cost U.S. residents and businesses ~$3.5B a year. The worst schemes involve scammers, often masquerading as members of the military, pretending to seek love online. Romance confidence scams were the most-reported kind of fraud last year, with victims swindled out of $14,214 on average. And women were by far more likely to be targeted than men.

by Alex Johnson
See full article at NBC News

Post by the IDEA team

Australians Are Spending ~$75K A Day On Dating Scams

Posted on March 30, 2015

Online dating scammersSHEKNOWS – Mar 30 – The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) revealed that Australians spend $75K per day on online dating scams. Over just 12 months, ~$27M had been reportedly lost around the country through online dating scams, up from $23M in the previous year.

by Sarah Duncan
See full article at SheKnows

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

PhotoVerified Wants To Put An End To Fake Profiles

Posted on March 12, 2015

Photoverified logoGLOBALNEWS.CA – Mar 12 – Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) says romance scammers often steal photos off social media sites and use dating sites to lure potential victims. The centre claims ~$13M dollars was lost to romance scams in 2014. John Maitland, a police officer and creator of PhotoVerified.com has developed a new app to help people avoid suspected scam artists. The app creates an authenticated photo of the user’s online account. PhotoVerified.com plans on connecting with dating sites to help verify the photos of its users. It is launching a crowd funding campaign on Monday Mar. 30, through Kickstarter.

by Erica Vella
See full article at GlobalNews.ca

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Dating Fraud Increases By 33%

Posted on February 13, 2015

Scammers2PRESS ASSOCIATION – Feb 12 – Online dating fraud has increased by 33% in the last year, according to National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB). The fraud cost UK £24.5 – £34M over the same period. 57% of all crimes relating to online dating were reported by women, with those aged between 45 and 55 the most commonly targeted.

The full article was originally published at City of London Police, but is no longer available.

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

China To Go After Fraud On Dating Sites

Posted on February 13, 2015

Online dating profile chinaREUTERS – Feb 12 – China's Internet regulator will target fraud on dating sites. Dating websites must enforce online real-name registration and accounts failing to register with real names must be closed.

by Ben Blanchard
See full article at Reuters

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

iovation Reveals Statistics About Scammers

Posted on February 8, 2015

Iovation logo new feb 12MARKETWIRED – Feb 5 – In 2014, 1.37% of all transactions on online dating sites were fraudulent. In comparison, iovation says 1.24% of all transactions it monitored across all industries in 2014 were fraudulent.

Top Types of Fraud

  1. Scams/solicitations
  2. Spam
  3. Credit card fraud
  4. Profile misrepresentation
  5. Identity mining

The highest percentage of fraudulent transactions on online dating sites in 2014 originated from these countries:

  1. Nigeria (29%)
  2. Ghana (26%)
  3. Ivory Coast (15%)
  4. Vietnam (10%)
  5. Argentina (8%)

What Businesses Should Look For
Knowing the true location of scammers, and when they are hiding behind proxies or Tor, is extremely helpful. "We looked at a laptop that had visited 18 different dating sites within a month. Many of our clients had already associated the device with some kind of fraud. Since these 18 dating sites all use iovation's risk service, they understand the high risk of doing business with that device and deny the registration attempts," said Jon Karl of iovation. "When that same laptop visited our financial clients to set up money transfer accounts, they were denied as well."

See full article at Marketwired

See all posts on iovation

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting