Photo courtesy of Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels

February is the month of love, as couples celebrate Valentine’s Day with cards, restaurant dates, candy, stuffed animals, roses, jewelry and other gifts. For many single individuals, Feb. 14 is often a day to ask themselves whether they will ever find that special someone who completes them. With the rise of the internet, lots of individuals have been turning to dating sites and social media to help look for love.

Unfortunately, some of these individuals will fall victim to romance scams in their search to find that special someone. Many victims, especially older victims, will not report that they have been a victim of a romance scam because they are embarrassed.

However, investigations sometimes do catch the perpetrators. In 2021, authorities charged 11 romance scammers in the Northern District of Texas with money laundering and wire transfer fraud.

Often, romance scams will start out simple with a message on a social media or dating site from someone asking “Hi” or “How are you?” Once you respond, the relationship on the other end of the message begins. Back and forth, you and the person on the other end of the message begin building a relationship of trust by asking what seem like normal questions you would ask during any initial dating phase. Once the target victim responds, scammers often take the conversation from a dating site to text messages, another website, or private messaging services like What’s App and Telegram.

Where do you live? What is your phone number? Where do you work? What type of work do you do? Romance scammers will also ask for other personal information about the victim’s finances so the scammer can begin asking for money, iTunes cards, Google Play cards and other types of gift cards.

Some of the excuses a romance scammer will use while asking for money in may include:

I need to buy groceries.

I can’t pay my rent / mortgage / car payment / utility bill this month.

I need to pay for medical expenses.

I need to pay for airline tickets or travel expenses.

Romance scammers will commonly ask for iTunes, Google Play or other gift cards because the transactions are usually non-reversible once the money has been transferred to gift cards. If the person on the other end of the romance scam says they are living, working or traveling overseas, these scammers may use the excuse “I was on my way to meet you. But, I am stuck at an airport in a pass-through country without my passport or visa, and without money, because the government officials confiscated them. Can you wire me the money to finish my trip to meet you and pay off the government officials?”

So, how do you recognize a romance scam is occurring?
Usually, the scammer of the romance scam will only want to communicate with the person they are talking to using email, text messages and other forms of social media. The romance scammer will never use video chat or voice communication with their victims. If you have agreed to meet in person, the romance scammer will usually come up with an excuse every time you are supposed to meet as to why they can’t meet you.

So, what can you do if you believe you are a victim or you are becoming a victim of a romance scam?

Never send money to someone you have only communicated with online by messages and text.

Never give out personal information to a stranger online.

If the person has sent you a photo, websites like socialcatfish.com and tineye.com can do a reverse image search to see where a photo has been used elsewhere on the internet.

Take it slow with online relationships and ask questions.

File a police report and a report with the FTC.

When it comes to online relationships, romance and love, don’t fall victim to romance scams.