Greg's Corner

Dating site scam leads to death threat

When it comes to dating sites, the scam we normally have to warn people about is the romance scam. This is where scammers will cultivate a romantic type relationship with their victims before repeatedly asking their victims for money. However, we recently learned about a different type of scam taking place on a dating site that we wouldn’t have guessed. That would be the unemployment scam.

While we call it the unemployment scam, it can actually take many forms. Essentially, overseas scammers are applying for unemployment benefits in the names of people who have had their identities stolen. One of the problems that unemployment scammers have is trying to get the money from these fraudulent claims sent to them. Too often the payments go to the people whose identities have been stolen.

An Ohio woman signed up for a dating site where, to put it delicately, the male participants of the dating site are supposed to financially support the women they match up with. These men share a name with a somewhat famous candy bar.

Anyway, the woman from Ohio matched with a man who claimed to be a businessman from Texas. He asked the woman to open a new bank account in her name, so he could send her money. However, after she opened the new account, there was a payment from the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services pending. The amount was for $489, and she was told that she could keep $100 and send $389 to the supposed Texas businessman.

The woman was hesitant to accept the money, but the scammer tried telling her that it wasn’t actually an unemployment payment but a payment from his private account. The woman didn’t fall for this. Not only did she refuse the payment, but she closed the account she was asked to open. It didn’t end there, though.

After she closed the account, the scammers started sending her death threats which she took very seriously. More than likely, these scammers were from overseas which most unemployment scammers are. We doubt they had any real means of carrying out any threat.

While it’s an unusual one, this is just one of the many dangers that dating sites hold. While we previously mentioned romance scams, there are also numerous predators and even human traffickers that use these sites and apps to find new victims.