
Chocolates, flowers, and spending time with your special someone are all Valentine’s Day traditions, but what about helping a friend or loved one spot and avoid a romance scam?
Even though a romance scam might not be affecting you, someone you know might be facing one. According to a new FTC report, people sent $547 million to online romance scammers last year. And more than a third of those who lost money said the contact started on Facebook or Instagram, often through an unexpected private message.
So pick up the phone and reach out to someone you might not have spoken with in a while. Check in with them, see how they’re doing, and listen to what they say. You might just be able to help them spot and avoid a romance scam.
As you start a conversation, here are some things to keep in mind:
- If a friend or loved one mentions an online love interest, ask if they’ve met in person.
- If they haven’t met in person, but that love interest has asked for money, that’s a scam. Period. No matter what story they tell — even if they send you money or gifts first.
- Romance scammers often create fake profiles. Use a reverse image search to see if someone else has used that profile picture, or if the details don’t match up.
- Never send or forward money to people you meet online. And only scammers ask you to pay by cryptocurrency, gift cards, or wire transfer.
Learn more at ftc.gov/romancescams and report scammers at ReportFraud.ftc.gov
0 Comments
Read Our Privacy Act Statement
It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.
Comment Policy
This is a moderated blog; we review all comments before they are posted. We expect participants to treat each other and the bloggers with respect. We will not post comments that do not comply with our commenting policy. We may edit comments to remove links to commercial websites or personal information before posting them.
We won’t post:
Comments submitted to this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include personal information. Also, do not use this blog to report fraud; instead, file a complaint.