The Senate Aging Committee has a report on scams targeting seniors including romance scams on its website. But as bigger investments are urged – often you have to act fast, they say – all communication might break off. Once signed up, the victim may be able to withdraw some funds, as a sign of trust. The FBI has seen an increase in crimes where the romance scammer seeks to help you invest in or trade cryptocurrency. Older adults reported losses of $10.5 million on romance scams related to COVID-19.Ĭryptocurrency could come into play. Many romance fraud victims said scammers used the coronavirus pandemic to explain requests for money or their inability to meet in person, the FTC says.
Bank transfers and payments accounted for nearly one-third of reported romance scam losses by older adults at $31 million, and romance scammers reportedly took another $12 million in cryptocurrency. In payment, they may ask for money to be sent by wire transfer using Western Union or MoneyGram. After they build trust with their potential victims – to do so they may connect online several times a day, the FTC says – they may ask for money to help with an emergency such as travel, medical care or other expenses. But they don't necessarily want to meet in person. A scammer will want to connect with you off the dating site, perhaps by email, phone or text. or are working on an oil rig, with the military, or are a doctor with an international organization. Scammers live where and do what? Some signs your online paramour isn't all they propose to be include the claim that they reside outside the U.S. AARP even chronicled a case where a 75-year-old woman was conned out of about $137,000 by a romance scammer she met on Words With Friends. They also target users on Instagram and Facebook, the FTC says. Romance scammers typically create fake profiles on dating sites and apps such as Ashley Madison, Grindr, Match and Tinder.
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You may not think you're sending something to a stranger because it is somebody that you think you know at that point." Romance scammers: How to spot them "They know what they're doing, to be able to tell these stories, develop a relationship and get people's money. And no one should be embarrassed that this happened," she said. "It doesn't always mean they're looking for love, it's that they just report that the scammer starts with an unexpected friend request or a message," said Patti Poss, a senior attorney in the FTC's consumer protection bureau. Opportunities for romance scammers have risen during the pandemic as older adults spent more time on social media.
And those aged 70 and older reported the highest median losses from romance scams: $9,475.80. That's 65% more than in 2019, when reported losses were nearly $84 million, finds "Protecting Older Consumers, 2020-2021, A Report of the Federal Trade Commission," released earlier this week.Īmong all scams the FTC tracks, romance scams made up the highest reported losses for those aged 60-79. These scams, typically run on dating apps and over social media, increased among all age groups with losses of $304 million, up about 50% from 2019, the FTC says.Īge is just a number to romance scammers, who bilked older adults (aged 60-up) out of more than $139 million during 2020. Romance scams continue to climb, and over the last three years people have reported losing more money on them than any other fraud reported to the Federal Trade Commission. Kleinert, who eventually learned the pictures sent by Tony were of a doctor in Spain, said she testified over frustration at an inability to get justice and "it's so devastating and many people have been through this but not spoken about it." "I couldn't do it."Įventually, "I was living off my credit cards and he was getting what I took from Social Security and my pension," she said. "The lawyer told me to do whatever I could – put a mortgage on my house, borrow it from someone in my family," she testified. Then someone purporting to be Tony's lawyer called saying he needed $20,000 for Tony's bail. He planned to meet her in Philadelphia in December but didn't show. When nightmares are real: Photo shows a parasite that ate – and then replaced – a fish's tongue "Tony" said he was working in Iraq on a contract with the United Nations and after he asked, she sent gift cards to him and his children.īut where are the cars?: Elio Motors promised a next-gen, 84 mpg car and got millions in deposits. After getting a friend request on Facebook in August 2020 from a man, Kleinert began corresponding with him on another app.
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