Romance fraud

It refers to fraud, where a person meets someone on a dating app and assumes they met the perfect partner. Such criminals use the site to gain trust, have a bogus profile picture, and are experts in creating stories to deceive vulnerable victims emotionally. 

They can create an impression, and once they succeed, they ask for money or personal information from the victim to steal their identity.

How Does It Happen?

Multiple sites offer dating platforms for people looking for romance, but some fake people may want to gain access to such sites to build trust and impress the other person. As a result, they may overly praise their target or use other psychological weaknesses to create an obligation for the other person to pay them.

They are people with bogus profiles who aim to gain the trust of others, and they are experts in their own ways. They may talk about a problem but pretend they need no help from anyone. They arrange a visit but may refuse at the last moment. They ask the client to pay for their flight or visa. 

All their excuses make the other person believe them, but once you send money, they try to get more, and if you refuse, they disappear and will never contact you back. 

They discuss many things with the other person to discover their personal information to commit identity fraud. Although their questions may appear innocent, they extract all the important details like birth date, home address, number of friends, background, jobs, and others.

How To Spot the Signs?

• If you enter a relationship where the person asks too many questions about your life. 

• If they talk about themselves only to impress the other person or explain multiple schemes to extract money through such methods. 

• They threaten to break the relationship if you do not agree to something you would not accept in normal circumstances.

• How to protect yourself?

• You should never provide too many personal details to someone you meet on such apps. Do not reveal all the details like full name, home address and bank data, as it can lead to identity thefts.

• You should not send money to unidentified people, no matter how much you trust them. 

• Always use reputable software and messaging services. 

• Do not use apps from sites one cannot trust. For example, most fake people would shift from dating apps to text or social sites to avoid getting blocked or losing membership.