Online Dating Scams: Guidance from FBI

Online Dating Scams

<h2 id&equals;"fbi-warns-of-online-dating-scams" class&equals;"rb-heading-index-0-27298">FBI Warns of Online Dating Scams<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Criminals Looking to Steal Your Money Through Promises of Love and Companionship Via Money Transfer Services&semi; Report Scams to www&period;ic3&period;gov<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Millions of Americans visit online dating websites every year hoping to find a companion or even a soulmate&period; But as Valentine’s Day gets closer&comma; the FBI wants to warn you that criminals use these sites&comma; too&comma; looking to turn the lonely and vulnerable into fast money through a variety of scams&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>These criminals—who also troll social media sites and chat rooms in search of romantic victims—usually claim to be Americans traveling or working abroad&period; In reality&comma; they often live overseas&period; While their most common targets are women over 40 who are divorced&comma; widowed&comma; and&sol;or disabled&comma; but every age group and demographic is at risk&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Here’s how the scam usually works&period; You’re contacted online by someone who appears interested in you&period; He or she may have a profile you can read or a picture that is e-mailed to you&period; For weeks&comma; even months&comma; you may chat back and forth with one another&comma; forming a connection&period; You may even be sent flowers or other gifts&period; But ultimately&comma; it’s going to happen—your new-found &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;friend” is going to ask you for money&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>So you send money&&num;8230&semi;but rest assured the requests won’t stop there&period; There will be more hardships that only you can help alleviate with your <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;" title&equals;"financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"516">financial<&sol;a> gifts&period; He may also send you checks to cash since he’s out of the country and can’t cash them himself&comma; or he may ask you to forward him a package&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>So what really happened&quest; You were targeted by criminals&comma; probably based on personal information you uploaded on dating or social media sites&period; The pictures you were sent were most likely phony lifted from other websites&period; The profiles were fake as well&comma; carefully crafted to match your interests&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition to losing your money to someone who had no intention of ever visiting you&comma; you may also have unknowingly taken part in a money laundering scheme by cashing phony checks and sending the money overseas and by shipping stolen merchandise &lpar;the forwarded package&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In another recently reported dating extortion scam&comma; victims usually met someone on an online dating site and then were asked to move the conversation to a particular social networking site&comma; where the talk often turned intimate&period; Victims were later sent a link to a website where those conversations were posted&comma; along with photos&comma; their phone numbers&comma; and claims that they were &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;cheaters&period;” In order to have that information removed&comma; victims were told they could make a &dollar;99 payment—but there is no indication that the other side of the bargain was upheld&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While the FBI and other federal partners work some of these cases—in particular those with a large number of victims or large dollar losses and&sol;or those involving organized criminal groups—many are investigated by local and state authorities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We strongly recommend&comma; however&comma; that if you think you’ve been victimized by a dating scam or any other online scam&comma; file a complaint with our Internet Crime Complaint Center &lpar;www&period;ic3&period;gov&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Before forwarding the complaints to the appropriate agencies&comma; IC3 collates and analyzes the data—looking for common threads that could link complaints together and help identify the culprits&period; This helps keep everyone safe&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Here are some tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of an online dating scam&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Recognizing an Online Dating Scam Artist<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Your online &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;date” may only be interested in your money if he or she&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul>&NewLine;<li>Presses you to leave the dating website you met through and to communicate using personal e-mail or instant messaging&semi;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Professes instant feelings of love&semi;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Sends you a photograph of himself or herself that looks like something from a glamour magazine&semi;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Claims to be from the U&period;S&period; and is traveling or working overseas&semi;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Makes plans to visit you but is then unable to do so because of a tragic event&semi; or<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Asks for money for a variety of reasons &lpar;travel&comma; medical emergencies&comma; hotel bills&comma; hospitals bills for child or other relative&comma; visas or other official documents&comma; losses from a financial setback or crime victimization&rpar;&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p><strong>Do not send money through any wire transfer service to someone you met online&period; The chances of recovering your money are very slim&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One way to steer clear of these criminals altogether is to stick to online dating websites with nationally known reputations&period; Finally&comma; the FBI advises not to send money through any wire transfer service to someone you met online&period; The chances of recovering your money are very slim&period; If you believe you are the victim of an online dating scam or any Internet facilitated crime&comma; please file a report at <a class&equals;"external-link" title&equals;"" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;ic3&period;gov&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;self" rel&equals;"noopener"><strong>www&period;ic3&period;gov<&sol;strong><&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 id&equals;"original-press-releases-from-fbi8230" class&equals;"rb-heading-index-1-27298">Original Press Releases from <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fbi&period;gov&sol;sandiego&sol;press-releases&sol;2016&sol;fbi-warns-of-online-dating-scams" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">FBI&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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