KITCHENER TODAY – Apr 2 – Throughout the pandemic, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) has seen an increase in online scams that target individuals in isolation due to the lock downs and travel restrictions. According to the CAFC, Canadians lost ~$18.5M to romance scams in 2020.
Category: Scammer
Arizona Bill Would Warn Dating App Users of Scammers
YOUR VALLEY – Mar 19 – The state Senate has approved legislation designed to allow dating platforms to inform members when one of the people with whom they have been chatting is removed from the site because of a suspected scam. They currently are precluded from doing that. House Bill 2396 already has been unanimously approved by the House. That sends the measure to Gov. Doug Ducey. Arizonans lost ~$8M in 2018 to online dating scams.
Report Says Romance Scammers Stole $304M From Americans in 2020
KOLD.COM – Mar 11 – A recent report from socialcatfish.com says ~32,700 Americans fell victims to online romance scams in 2020. The victims' financial losses accumulated to a record $304M. Social Catfish says the COVID-19 pandemic led to a 51% annual increase in online romance scams last year due to loneliness and isolation.
Scammers on Dating Apps and Social Media Made $304M in 2020
CNN – Feb 22 – A record $304M was reported lost to romance scams in 2020, up 50% from 2019. The pandemic has made things easier, creating legitimate reasons for scammers to hide their real motives, claiming they cannot meet in person or need money for medical treatment. According to the FTC, gift cards and wire transfers are the most commonly used payment methods by online scammers, both of which can be difficult to track.
Jeff Tinsley – Building Trust and Increasing Safety in Online Dating
LTR – Feb 15 – In our modern technological society, important life transactions are taking place online. Jeff Tinsley, CEO of RealMe, discusses the value of building trust and increasing user safety in online dating. He believes that anonymity in online dating contributes to the prevalence of romance scams and fraud. 2020 saw a 20% increase in romance scams attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic. Recent surveys have shown that up to 50% of profiles on dating sites are fake or contain falsified information. 27% of the U.S. adult population has been a victim of fraud or crimes originating from online interactions with financial losses approaching $20B annually. There is a strong demand for reputation and background information, with 98% online daters desiring this information. Jeff Tinsley details the benefits of enhancing safety and trust in the latest video in the LTR Conference series.
LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.
The November LTR was kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by The Meet Group & Utopia Analytics.
Aussie Singles Lost $37M to Romance Scams Last Year
YAHOO FINANCE – Feb 10 – Australians are set to spend $1.1B on Valentine's Day gifts and experiences this year, but while love is in the air, romance scams are everywhere. Aussies reported ~3,5K dating and romance scams in 2020, with 35% of those scams resulting in a loss, according to Scamwatch data. In total, singles lost $37.2M to these kinds of scams last year – a large portion of which occurred in February.
Lockdown Loneliness Leads to 600 Reports of Online Dating Fraud a Month
SKY NEWS – Oct 9 – ~600 reports of romance scams per month were made to UK Action Fraud during June, July and August. Police forces and other organisations are running a campaign throughout October to raise awareness of romance fraud, following a 26% increase in reports to Action Fraud in the past year. The average victim loses ~ £10K. Losses reported by victims between August 2019 and August 2020 totalled £66M. The Match Group is running romance fraud protection ads throughout October on their platforms. City of London Police is also working with money transfer companies to help block transfers suspected of being linked to romance scams.
Online Dating Significantly Speeds up Relationships
INDEPENDENT.CO.UK – Oct 8 – Digital daters can tell if they have a connection with someone after just 30 seconds of a video call, a new poll by Virgin Media has shown. Virtual dates soared by 36% during lockdown – with six in 10 single people admitting they enjoy the "new dating normal". One in four will continue to keep up virtual dating even after lockdown fully ends, to screen out non-starters in the search for romance. The research also found that 55% of 1K daters surveyed felt their virtual relationships blossom much faster than they would in person.
by Richard Jenkins
See full article at Independent.co.uk
Grindr Offers New Security Features in Partnership With UrSafe
N.J. Couple Charged in $6M Romance Scam
NJ – June 30 – A South Jersey couple was charged this week in an international romance scam that used bogus profiles on dating sites to woo unsuspecting victims into giving up ~$6M. The married couple and their conspirators, including some in Nigeria, carried out the con from October 2016 through last month. In all, federal investigators identified 33 victims who were scammed around the country. One victim, after exhausting her savings, liquidating her retirement account, borrowing from friends and family, taking out a personal loan, and maxing out her credit cards, began embezzling money from her employer. In all, the victim funneled $4M to the scammer from her employer, according to the document. She pleaded guilty in a local court for embezzling from her job.