Romance scams flourished during COVID, report
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)- People may be most familiar with the term "catfishing." But these types of fraud fall under the general umbrella of romance scams and the number of them has increased by 197% since March 2020, according to BeenVerified.
BeenVerified tracked romance scams, analyzing 8,500 complaints and comments between Jan. 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2021. The report breaks down which scams were the most popular, where they occur most often, and examples of scams typically used to get money from victims.
"BeenVerified’s Spam Call Complaint Monitor uses self-reported data from victims who report suspicious numbers using our free reverse phone number tool. Users reported losses to romance scammers ranging from $100 to more than $50,000 since the pandemic began," BeenVerified said.
The company's analysis found:
- Reports of romance scams grew significantly during the pandemic. BeenVerified received about 6,000 user complaints related to romance scams in 2020 and 2021. More than twice the number received from the previous four years combined.
- Sex is most mentioned in reported romance scams, followed by dating sites or platforms, requests to meet up, sexting or text messages, escort services and threats from “pimps.”
- Tinder and Facebook are the most common dating sites or social media platforms mentioned in reported scams during the past year, followed by Zoosk, Match.com and WhatsApp. Other sites mentioned were Bumble, Plenty of Fish, Hinge, OKCupid, Grinder, eHarmony and BlackPeopleMeet.
- Gift cards are often requested as payment for romance scams because they are difficult to trace.
"Social isolation during the pandemic has left many Americans in positions of loneliness and vulnerability which romance scammers prey on," Consumer Advocate for BeenVerified, Richard Gargan said. "Never send money or gift cards to someone you've never met, and use reverse phone lookup and reverse image searches to verify if the person you're talking to is who they say they are."
People reported threats of violence, extortion, solicitation for escort services, and people faking messaging the wrong number. Scammers in at least one case described by BeenVerified sent pictures of mutilated bodies with a threat to hurt the victim's family unless they sent money.
Scammers use the same tactics for targeting people which include posing as someone overseas or in the military, professing love quickly, asking for money after luring someone off a dating site, saying they need money for an emergency or making plans to visit but canceling again because of an emergency, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
There are multiple government agencies where people can report a scam to. The FTC has an online form where people can report scams. The New York Attorney General's office also has an online reporting form.