Not everyone using online dating sites is looking for love. Scammers create fake online profiles using photos of other people — even stolen pictures of real military personnel. They profess their love quickly. And they tug at your heartstrings with made-up stories about how they need money — for emergencies, hospital bills, or travel. Why all of the tricks? They’re looking to steal your money.
As if all that isn’t bad enough, romance scammers are now involving their victims in online bank fraud. Here’s how it works: The scammers set up dating profiles to meet potential victims. After they form a “relationship,” they come up with reasons to ask their love interest to set up a new bank account. The scammers transfer stolen money into the new account, and then tell their victims to wire the money out of the country. Victims think they’re just helping out their soulmate, never realizing they’re aiding and abetting a crime.
Here are some warning signs that an online love interest might be a fake. They ask you to:
- chat off of the dating site immediately, using personal email, text, or phone
- wire money using Western Union or Money Gram
- set up a new bank account
Did you know you can do an image search of your love interest’s photo in your favorite search engine? If you do an image search and the person’s photo appears under several different names, you’re probably dealing with a scammer. And if the person’s online profile disappears a few days after they meet you, that’s another tip-off.
Here’s the real deal: Don’t send money to someone you met online — for any reason. If your online sweetheart asks for money, you can expect it’s a scam.
Unfortunately, online dating scams are all too common. There may be tens of thousands of victims, and only a small fraction report it to the FTC. If this happens to you, please report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
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The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.
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Hi does anyone know about eric fallon. An engineer in uk, widow, has 14 yold daughter, ask me he need vacation so he can visit me here, i was falling in love with him alread will still talking. I heard also about itunecards, school exam, bday, and coat of vacation. Still thinking its not a scam bec i seem Him good guy and good looking too. He send pictures of his daugthwr and late wfe. I dont know but i love him really.
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You can use the FTC article about online dating scams to help your mother. It lists common stories the scammers tell about themselves, and common excuses they use to try to get money.
Please tell her that the FTC, the FBI and the Attorney General in her state want to protect her from criminals Sending money to criminals helps them continue the scams. You can report a scammer to the FTC at FTC.gov/Complaint. The information you give will go into a secure database that law enforcement uses for investigations .
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@sweetnie just out of curiosity, did he tell you he’s divorced and his ex cheated on him? That he lives in LA or Dallas? Sometimes in Miami, Atlanta, Key West? Was left an inheritance?
Pagination