How can you tell if the sexy stranger on a dating app is the real deal or an online romance scammer with designs on your bank account? A reformed con artist says there are a few common red flags you should watch out for.
Online romance scammers develop completely digital relationships with their targets to gain their trust. After winning their target’s affection, they’ll typically ask for money for urgent travel costs, a medical emergency or to help a family member in need. Romance scammers also commonly ask people join a business venture with them or to invest in cryptocurrency.
Chris Adedeji, a former romance scammer who lives in Nigeria, said fraudsters will commonly create fake dating profiles using photos from the public social media profiles of random Canadians or Americans, and create a backstory that justifies why they’re never able to see you in person. Adedeji consults for Social Catfish, a company that uses reverse image searches to verify online identities.
Adedeji said you should be extremely cautious of people who always have an excuse not to meet up, and who claim to be in love despite only having talked online. He recommends proposing a video call if you’ve spent an unusual amount of time corresponding with the same person without a real-world date.
When Adedeji was conducting romance scams, he presented himself as a military man from Texas. After making plans to meet a woman, he would tell her that he was being deployed, and then later ask her to cover the costs of his travel back to the United States so they could see each other.
Adedeji said you should also be wary of anyone asking you to send gift cards or bitcoin, or to transfer them money – even if their story seems compelling. Someone’s e-transfer, cash app or Venmo account name can also be a giveaway, if it doesn’t match that of the person you’re speaking to.
According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, other common warning signs of a romance scam are when the person claims to live nearby but is working overseas, and when the person wants to move too quickly from the dating app to a different mode of communication such as e-mail, text or WhatsApp.
Romance scams were the second biggest money-maker for fraudsters in 2022, just behind investment scams, the CAFC says, with $17.8-million being lost to them in the first quarter of last year alone. Romance scams surged during the pandemic, it also reports, with dollars lost reaching $64.6-million in 2021 – more than double the $26.2-million lost in 2019.
On its website, the CAFC warns that it’s starting to see more cryptocurrency investment scams linked to romance swindles. In those cases the scammer will encourage a target to invest in crypto and then abscond with their money or personal information.
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