Category: Scammer

Aussies Lost $21 Million To Online Dating Scams In 2011

Posted on February 16, 2012

Online-dating-scamHERALD SUN – Feb 16 - The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is acting on online dating scams after receiving more than 2100 complaints in 2011. Australians were cheated out of $21M by online dating scams last year, up from $15M in 2010. The ACCC has released guidelines that call on dating websites to clearly issue warnings and information about fraudsters as well as publishing examples of scams.

See full article at Herald Sun

Mark Brooks: The ACCC is very active on the issue of scamming in Australia. The Aussie idating industry and the ACCC formed these guidelines for dating sites. Should dating sites in the USA and UK (and beyond) do similar?

iovation: Keeping Your Members Safe From Online Scams And Predators

Posted on February 13, 2012

Iovation logo new feb 12OPW – Feb 12 - Each year, more and more people are turning to the Internet to find romance. At the same time, cyber-criminals continue to seek opportunities to exploit the vulnerability of singles on a global scale.  Security is a major challenge for internet dating sites, which can attract scammers, spammers, stalkers and predators. A device fingerprinting solution such as iovation ReputationManager 360 provides unique insight into the computers being used to create multiple accounts and exposes hidden device account relationships that identity-based fraud solutions often miss. 

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There’s No Love Lost For Online Date Frauds

Posted on December 6, 2011

Scammers1SYDNEY MORNING HERALD – Dec 6 - 1600 Australians reported losing $17M in the online search for romance this year, up from $15M last year. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is asking the online dating and romance industry to comment on draft guidelines for cleaning up the industry. A group of industry representatives has been working on draft guidelines since July. The ACCC would like dating agencies to provide clients with warnings about scams, and verify online profiles to ''detect and disrupt the activities of those seeking to engage in fraud''. It also wants dating agencies to set up internal complaint handling procedures. The ACCC expects to launch new guidelines early in the new year.

by Lucy Battersby
See full article at Sydney Morning Herald

Police Target Lonely Hearts Fraudsters

Posted on November 28, 2011

Soca logoSUNDAY TIMES – Nov 28 – Romance scammers are to be targeted by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca). According to Soca ~200K people have already been tricked by overseas conmen. Online dating scams have become one of the most lucrative methods. This is because online dating has itself become so successful, with 1,400 dating sites operating in Britain, including Plentyoffish, eHarmony and match.com. Mark Brooks, who runs Courtland Brooks, a consultancy specialising in the online dating industry, said: “Every site has significant problems in dealing with scammers. It is the bane of the industry.” Karl Gregory, head of match.com’s UK division, said cases of fraud were still rare. “Our advice”, he said, “is to stay within the site to build up relationships over time rather than giving out personal details, and never to give money to anyone for any reason.”

by Jonathan Leake
See full article at Sunday Times

Mark Brooks: Actually, this is far more a problem in the USA than the UK.  Most sites are fighting and winning the battle against scammers, I think.  But the isolated cases of date scamming are still very newsworthy and bad for the dating industry. 

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Online Dating Nightmare

Posted on July 13, 2011

Internet scam ABC NEWS – June 22 – Romano, 53, from Lynbrook joined Match.com. She soon found herself chatting online with a man named "Austin Miller." Miller identified himself as a decorated soldier based in Kabul, Afghanistan. When Miller asked for a new laptop to be shipped to Ghana, she was eager to help a soldier in need. She sent him a total of $25K within a six-month time span before realizing that she had fallen victim to a scammer. Greg Blatt, the CEO of the parent company that owns Match.com, said the site has spent millions of dollars to protect its members. Less than one half of one percent of its subscribers have ever reported a profile that is questionable, he said, but when they do, the profiles are blocked within two hours, removed from the site and investigated.

by Jim DuBreuil, Gerry Wagschal and Rena Lafaille
See full article at ABC News

Match.com Statement:
“One in five new relationships and one in six new marriages are between people who met through an online dating site, with more of these relationships starting on Match.com than any other site. Match.com has transformed millions of people’s lives for the better. While only a small number of our millions of subscribers have been scammed by the sophisticated criminals who prey on individuals in every corner of the web, we take this issue very seriously and we diligently address it on the site, tracking, monitoring and preventing fraud at every step of the way. It is also very important that people exercise common sense and prudence with individuals they have just met, whether through an online dating service or any other means, and we educate our customers and put tools in their hands to protect themselves and report any concerns.”

Mark & Irena Brooks: In addition to background checks, perhaps dating sites should also consider running IQ test on their members.  What's your thoughts and comments?

See all posts on Match.com

Nigerian Scammers Online Dating Schemes

Posted on May 17, 2011

Scammers1 TECH CRUNCH – May 15 – A group of Nigerian scam artists known as the Yahoo boys, run complex schemes to defraud people of their money. Their latest scam involves online dating and the targeting of lonely men. One of the Yahoo boys is particularly adapt at running these schemes, carrying up to seven relationships at a time while pretending to be a woman. The scam artists use carefully constructed porn clips or hire actresses to portray the fictional girls to seduce the victims out of money.

by Sarah Lacy
See full article at Tech Crunch

Internet Dating Scamming Survey

Posted on February 11, 2011

Oculuasi idea logos OPW – Feb 11 – Scamming and date baiting is in the press again. OculusAI, a company that helps dating sites speed up the image moderation process, and IDEA (Internet Dating Executive Association) conducted a survey to understand how extensive the problem is. They asked CEO's and executives of internet dating companies the following questions:

Here are the results.

1. Do you currently allocate manual or automated resources to monitor member photo scams?
11 out of 15 (73%) respondents currently use manual or automated resources to monitor photos. Most of them do it manually.

2. Do you have a method to identify scammers using bogus photos?
Only 5 out of 15 (33%) respondents use some kind of method to identify scammers who used bogus photos.

3. Do you have a database of known photo scammers?
8 out of 15 (53%) respondents have a database of scammers who used a bogus photo.

4. Would you collaborate with other dating sites by sharing your scammer images to create a global scammer database to more effectively prevent fraudulent behavior?
The majority (73%) of respondents are willing to share the scammers images to create a global database of scammers.

Love Scammers Use Dead Soldiers To Snare Victims

Posted on October 7, 2010
Scammers1 AOL NEWS – Oct 7 – Using photographs and biographical details culled from Facebook pages, memorial sites and news accounts, the perpetrators pose as living soldiers looking for love online. The idea of a man in uniform, purportedly writing from a war zone, has proven powerful on a more ruthless level. After exchanging pledges of romantic intent, the perpetrators often complain of poor support from the military, including a lack of telephone access, supplies or transportation. The Army has received complaints from the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Great Britain and elsewhere, with victims reporting losses from a few thousand dollars to $28,000 in one case. FULL ARTICLE @ AOL NEWS
Mark Brooks: Absolutely deplorable. Companies like iovation and ThreatMetrix help dating sites beat scammers. iovation has the most traction in the dating industry. We helped them – Courtland Brooks. The dating industry has many systems in place to catch abuse, and beat scammers.

iovation Listed On The Inc. 5000

Posted on August 30, 2010
Iovationlogo BUSINESS WIRE – Aug 29 – iovation, the device
reputation authority protecting online businesses from fraud and abuse,
is included in the Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation's
fastest growing private companies. Inc. Magazine ranked iovation number
1662 on its annual list, number 38 within private security companies,
and number 14 within the Portland, OR metro area. iovation was founded
in June 2004 to make the Internet a safer place for individuals to
conduct business and interact with one another. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

Mark
Brooks: I've worked with iovation since 2007 helping them get their
arms around the internet dating industry. They help the industry work
together to beat scammers, spammers, and those that would be obnoxious
or obscene or abusive to members. Beyond the idating industry, they
also work with the gaming and financial services industries. If you've
not talked to iovation yet, I'd recommend talking with them. My
clients, and industry referrals have been happy with their services. (Full
Disclosure: iovation is a long term client of Courtland Brooks)

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More Money Is Earned In Online Scams Than In The Drug Trade

Posted on July 22, 2010

Iovationlogo IOVATION BLOG – July 21 - When it comes to online dating scams, we all like to believe we learn from our own, and others, experiences. But according to new statistics on Romancescams.org, site dedicated to fighting online romance scams, the average loss per person involved in a romance scam has climbed to $11,500. That’s up from a 2007 report where the advocacy group cited the average loss per victim was $7,900. Barbara Sluppick, the founder of Romancescams.org, said the problem continues to escalate despite having more information. Phonebusters, the Canadian organization that deals with online scams, recently said that more money is earned in online scams than in the drug trade. On July 20th, iovation CEO and co-founder, Greg Pierson, presented to 800 webinar registrants, a comprehensive way to detect criminal activity online, without collecting personally identifiable information (PII) or interrupting the user experience. Over 300 major brands use iovation’s fraud protection service to protect their members from romance scams, spam, financial fraud and many other forms of online fraud and abuse. To watch the webinar, please visit www.iovation.com/risk-mitigation.

The full article was originally published at iovation blog, but is no longer available.

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