Con artists may express their “love” quickly and effusively, find similarities with the victim, and claim the online match was destiny.
This is all a build-up for the scam artist’s real goal: conning a victim out of money.
A recent study indicates that up to 10 percent of Americans use online dating websites or mobile applications.
As the number of people looking to meet new people online grows, so does the opportunity for fraud.
This leaves many victims not only embarrassed, but also in financial distress.
The profiles were fake as well, carefully crafted to match your interests.
There will be more hardships that only you can help alleviate with your financial gifts.
He may also send you checks to cash since he’s out of the country and can’t cash them himself, or he may ask you to forward him a package. You were targeted by criminals, probably based on personal information you uploaded on dating or social media sites.
Online dating and romance scams are sophisticated operations that are typically conducted by criminal gangs.
Con artists share information about victims and may target victims more than once.