Romance scam
They deceive their intended victims by making plausible-sounding excuses about their unwillingness to show their faces, such as by saying that they cannot meet yet because they are temporarily traveling or have a broken web camera.
[6] These requests may be for gas money, bus or airplane tickets to visit the victim, medical or education expenses.
[4] Many victims, even when confronted with strong evidence, cannot bring themselves to believe that the person who seems so loving in text messages is instead a criminal scammer.
[9] Scammers post profiles on dating websites, non-dating social media accounts, classified sites and even online forums to search for new victims.
[10][5] The scammer usually attempts to obtain a more private method of communication, such as an email or phone number, to build trust with the victim.
SCAMwatch,[13] a website run by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), provides information about how to recognise, avoid and report scams.
According to UK Finance, romance scams were the fastest growing category of cybercrime in the United Kingdom in 2023, increasing by a third from 2022 to a total loss of £93m.
Given the rampant use of social media and rise of online dating services, the opportunity for scammers to prey on individuals is only growing, explained Emma Fletcher, an analyst at the FTC.
[5] Victims tend to have an unmet emotional need for companionship, as well as a desire for greater economic security and a lack of purpose in life.
[8] Sensitive people are more vulnerable to online dating scams, based on a study conducted by the British Psychological Society.
[9] Many of the perpetrators are also victims lured from abroad under false pretenses and then forced to commit the fraud by organized crime gangs.
[4] The pro-dater differs from other scams in method of operation: a face-to-face meeting actually does take place in the scammer's country but for the sole purpose of manipulating the victim into spending as much money as possible in relatively little time, with little or nothing in return.
Another variation of the romance scam is when the scammer insists they need to marry in order to inherit millions of dollars of gold left by a father, uncle, or grandfather.
A young woman will contact a victim and tell him of her plight: not being able to remove the gold from her country as she is unable to pay the duty or marriage taxes.
[29] Military public relations often post information on soldiers without mentioning their families or personal lives, so images are stolen from these websites by organized Internet crime gangs often operating out of Nigeria or Ghana.
Funds sent by Western Union and MoneyGram do not have to be claimed by showing identification if the sender sends money using a secret pass phrase and response.
[7][30][better source needed][non-primary source needed] In eWhoring,[31] a scammer uses a collection of stolen nude or explicit photos to impersonate a specific person to sell more photos and video to a victim, entice them into sending money for promised dates, cam sessions, or in-person meet-ups, or to distribute phishing links.
