La temporada de alegría navideña es también el momento álgido para los estafadores que ofrecen falsos romances. Miles de estadounidenses que buscan un nuevo amor para recibir el año nuevo se verán engañados por estafadores en línea que utilizan identidades falsas y promesas vacías para hacer que los enamorados pierdan sus ahorros, o algo peor.
More Californians declare to have been victims of these frauds than residents of any other state, a testimony of state size not necessarily their collective loneliness.And although the main objectives in 2020 were the people between 40 and 69, according to the Federal Commerce Commission (FTC) in February, the number of victims denounced increased in all age groups.
Consumers denounced more than 30,000 of these scams to the FTC in 2020, three times more than in 2016, and losses quadrupled up to 304 million dollars.The average loss was $ 2,500.
Are we becoming more gullible?Who could know?What we do know is that pandemic has been a blessing for scammers, helping them to court their goals from distance and accelerate the growth of these crimes.
AnuncioFortunately, the FTC and other organizations that ensure privacy offer many advice on how to recognize and protect themselves from the scammers disguised as suitors.
Hunting land
Romantic scammers waddle for any territory where people seek love or simply try to connect with strangers.That includes dating services and sites to flirt, but also social networks, where approximately half of the scams have originated in recent years.
Life and Style
THE.Affairs: the pandemic was traumatic enough, and then I tried to go out again
It is curious how you can believe and not believe at the same time that one thing is happening.I sent a message to my friends: "They have left me planted!"
A key part of the scam is the scammer's ability to impersonate someone who is not.Do you remember Peter Steiner's vignette in the New Yorker in which a canine appeared before a computer saying: "On the Internet, nobody knows you are a dog"?That is the central problem here.
Some companies, such as the Eharmony couple search site, try to avoid problems preventing people from looking for victims on the site.They require users to complete extensive profiles and then use that information to decide who can connect to whom on the site.However, even in social sites and networks that demand the use of real names, such as Facebook, scammers find ways to create false accounts by copying other people's images and creating fictitious stories.
The fraud
Although their methods vary, all romantic scammers begin to try to gain their trust, often through flattery and stories.
“They are very persuasive.They are very credible, ”said Rhonda Perkins, lawyer of the FTC marketing practices division.In particular, she pointed out, scammers stand out for finding ways to link their victims through shared experiences or interests.
“If it is religious, they are religious.If you like pets, they like pets.If you just went through a devastating loss, they just went through a devastating loss.They are really good for establishing those connections, ”Perkins said.“They are perceptive.They listen.Based on what he is saying, they capture those signs.They use that to echo the similar interests of consumers. ”
Once the hook has hooked, the scammers are dedicated to getting their money.
Chelsea King, from Romances.org, describes it thus: “The scams begin with small requests to tote the terrain.It can be anything, from a payment check that has not reached a social security check that has been lost in the mail.The scammer will ask the victim with the promise to return it.If the victim accepts, the scammers know that they have green light to proceed. ”
Life and Style
THE.Affairs: Why I canceled my great wedding
We were committed but we were not in a hurry to get married.Our lives in 2019 were oriented to the realization of our future.The coronavirus erased that.
The requests may seem quite logical: its suitor says that you need money to pay the membership fees of the appointment application and keep in touch, or that you want to buy a plane ticket to go see it.Or the reason can be something extraordinary and heartbreaking: a health emergency, for example, or a family tragedy.
I Feel Old AF No One In My Class Today Knew How to Change The Scroll Direction of the Mouse on A Mac
— debbie cakes Thu Aug 22 21:40:16 +0000 2019
Scammers usually ask for gift cards or non -bank transfers (think of Western Union).Whatever the amount or type of payment requested, the FTC advises: "Never send money or gifts to someone who does not know in person, even if they send money first."
A more insidious scam seeks to deceive an individual to wash money.According to the FBI, the scammer will ask the person with whom he relates online to help him with a task that implies accepting some funds and then transferred to a third person.What the "money mule" in the middle does not know is that the funds are the product of a crime, and the transfer is designed to prevent the police from tracking them to their origin.And what is worse, if the plot is discovered, the mule can be prosecuted, although he has no idea that a crime is being committed.
The Podcast Crime Junkie highlighted another trick this year.Several women throughout the country informed having come to a bar to meet with a man with whom they had recently connected online, just to be planted after asking two drinks from a distinctive liquor, and then another strange man approached themto try to get him out.Nobody knows where this could have stopped, but an FBI agent interviewed in the podcast suggested that women could have been target of people traffic.
Alert signals
Scammers usually follow a formula that has worked in the past.These are some of the characteristic elements of the false courtship ritual, according to the FTC, Eharmony, the socialcatfish.com people search company and the Norton cybersecurity company.
His profiles promise an exceptional partner, but they are general enough to attract almost any person.That is what happens in couple search sites: scammers try to match as many potential victims.
Life and Style
THE.Affairs: The third time was the defeated
We had two appointments at the university, and both were useless.Let's advance 30 years, and I found a profile in an appointment application.Could it be the same type?
They put passion in romance.It warns socialcatfish.com: "Be careful if someone seems to fall in love with you and write and say all those affectionate things when a brief period of time has just spent", especially if you have not even talked to you in person.
They say their work keeps them distant, very distant.Military service is a common statement.Be careful with the supposed members of the service who ask for help to pay for things that the army provides, such as medical care.
You may accept to meet you in person, but they never really do it.Perkins said that the cases he has managed in the FTC have a conductive thread: criminals always have reasons why they cannot meet with you in person, but nevertheless they need their money.
You can also find reasons not to make video calls, and their profiles online have few photos.
They try to divert their conversations outside the site where they met.The scammers do this to avoid the safety functions of the site.
They tell stories that are not consistent and give vague answers when they are asked concrete questions.In addition, their questions seem too personal or inappropriate.
They claim to have welcomed recently.
And when they ask for money, what they inevitably do in mind a specific payment method, one that cannot be reversed.If his new "soul" abroad tells him that the only way to help him is through Western Union, Perkins warned that "it is a scam."
How to protect yourself
Avoid temptation to rush vertiginously in a new and intense relationship.The scammers know that when one falls in love quickly, their money can be shot."We do not tire of saying it: do not send money transfers or gift card numbers to someone who has met through an online dating or social networks," Perkins recommended.
Before the relationship intensifies, try to verify that your partner online is who claims to be.There are a lot of sites that can collect public records, publications on social networks and other published data associated with a name or address, although by a payment.You can also pass the photo (s) of the person's profile for an inverse search of images, such as Google or Tineye.com.
Incidentally, look on Google some of the most flowery messages that your suitor has sent.The photos copied from another person's profile and recycled scripts are revealing signs of a scammer.Do the same with the profession of their new gallant, to see how many times people have been scammed by online suitors who claim to be such a person.Especially if its suitor claims to work on an oil platform on the high seas.
Insist in a video call.At least, you will discover if the person he has been chatting coincides with his profile photo.
Do not reveal any sensitive personal or financial information.
Consult with trusted people to know your opinion on the legitimacy of your suitor.According to Perkins: "We have proven that when people talk to someone of trust and get that visceral check ... It helps them avoid losing money."If your friends and family tell you that you are worried and that all the assembly seems suspicious, listen to them.
And if you conclude that you have cheated it, Perkins said, contact the company that has issued the gift card or money transfer and try to cancel the transaction, although the possibilities of obtaining a refund are scarce.In addition, he denounced the person to the FTC, the FBI and the site where he met that chocolate that turned out to be a nightmare.
Si quiere leer este artículo en inglés, haga clic aquí