Greg's Corner

Romance scams ramp up in time for Valentine’s Day

By Greg Collier

Recently, the FBI issued a warning urging citizens to be wary of romance scams in the run-up to Valentine’s Day. For new readers, romance scams typically consist of scammers luring their targets into false romantic relationships as a way to steal money. The scammers usually pose as oil rig workers, military members stationed overseas, or international business people. This is done in order to have a built-in excuse as to why the scammer can’t meet their victim face to face. While anybody can fall for a romance scam, elderly women are frequently the targets for this scam. While the FBI is warning about Valentine’s Day as a possible flashpoint for romance scams, they can happen at any time.

For example, a woman in Minnesota is said top have recently lost $57,000 in a romance scam. While it’s not clear who the scammer was posing as, the scammer kept giving the woman excuses as to why they couldn’t meet face to face. Moreover, the scammer would use these excuses to solicit more money from their victim. In one instance, the scammer said they made it halfway to Minnesota, but fell ill before they could get there. Another time, the scammer said they made it to the Twin Cities, but needed more money for gas. When nobody showed up, the woman realized she had been scammed.

Another recent romance scam happened in Pennsylvania, where a woman lost $5000. She met a scammer on a chat app posing as an oil rig worker in the Gulf of Mexico. The scammer claimed they had lost their debit card and needed money. The victim ended up mailing $5000 in cash to an address in Ohio.

It’s believed that many romance scams go unreported because the victims are too embarrassed to come forward, which is the main reason why this scam continues to proliferate.

If you ever meet a potential romantic partner online, the first thing you should do is a reverse image search on their picture. Scammers will often steal pictures from someone’s social media who has no idea their picture is being used in a romance scam. If your prospective partner is being cagey about meeting in person, that is usually a good indicator that they’re trying to scam you. Lastly, if they ask for money before meeting, that’s a huge red flag indicating a scam.

If you know someone who may be a victim in a romance scam, it’s often difficult to convince them that they’re being scammed. It may help if you show them this blog post or any of the articles out there that detail how a romance scam works.