New developments have affirmed that online dating is not as benign as it may appear.
Online Dating Scams
The issue with online dating comes in the form of scams. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Americans lost a whopping amount of $143 million in 2018 to online dating fraud. Furthermore, the FTC received more than 21,000 complaints regarding this type of scam. The numbers in 2018 have surged from the ones in 2017 and past years.
Many people may be shocked to learn that online dating scams are responsible for more loss of funds than other variations of online fraud. The game is quite simple: scammers create phony profiles, use images of other individuals who are online, and forge relationships with their targets before going in for the kill.
“The kill” comes along when the scammer has lowered the guards and defenses of their target. At this point, they will seek monetary gain and usually disappear following the provision of funds. These cons often take place on dating websites and social media platforms.
