Online Investment Scams and Romance Scams in 2022
Online dating has been one of the most popular ways to find lasting love or a romantic interest in the past several years. And like any good thing that has become popular, it has created opportunities for scammers. In fact, people have reported losing around $1.3 billion to romance scams in the past five years and it reached an astounding record of $547 million in 2021. That is an 80% increase compared to 2020 and six times the reported loss of value in 2017. Most people who fell victim to online investment scams and online dating scams lost a median amount of $2,400. People fall for romance scams because the scammers are adept at disguising who they are as well as their intent. They often use fake profiles with photos taken from the web or stolen from real people. They can also create a tailored persona by studying the information shared by someone online and presenting themselves as the perfect mate. The persona that they create usually includes details that are built-in excuse