Increasing Internet dating Issues

Internet Dating and
Romance Scams
April 4, 2013
U.S. citizens should be aware of
individuals they meet on internet
dating websites who feign friendship,
profess romantic interest, and/or
express marriage intentions over the
internet. Scammers commonly claim
to be U.S. citizens who are engaged in
international business, requiring them
to frequently travel overseas. In fact,
these individuals are not U.S.
citizens. Many scammers also claim
some sort of connection to Europe.
In many scam scenarios, the
correspondent suddenly falls into dire
circumstances overseas (i.e. an arrest
or a horrible car accident) about two
to three months after a connection is
made. The correspondent will ask you
to send money for hospital bills, visa
fees, or legal expenses. It is also
common for scammers to tell U.S.
citizens that a close family member,
usually a teenager, is in desperate
need of surgery and to request
monetary assistance. You may even
be contacted by a “doctor” requesting
that money be sent to the hospital on
behalf of the correspondent. Note that
any doctor, lawyer, or police officer
who contacts you is likely a part of the
scam. The amounts lost by U.S.
citizens in these types of scams can
range from relatively small amounts
to more than $400,000.
Scammers Target the Vulnerable
As cruel as it sounds, scammers often
target widows, widowers, and U.S.
citizens with disabilities. Scammers
are aware that many widows/
widowers inherit money upon the
death of a spouse. Consequently,
some scammers set up profiles on
dating websites claiming that they
themselves are widow(er)s in order to
gain the trust of the potential
victim. Scammers are also aware that
some U.S. citizens with disabilities
receive disability checks, making them
a tempting target.
The anonymity of the Internet means
that U.S. citizens cannot be sure of
the real name, age, marital status,
nationality, or even gender of the
correspondent. In almost every case,
the correspondent turns out to be a
fictitious persona created only to lure
the U.S. citizen into sending money.
These scammers have created male as
well as female characters and entice
same sex e-mail contacts as well as
those of the opposite
sex. Correspondents who quickly
move to expressions of romantic
interest or discussions of intimate
matters may in fact be scammers. A
request for funds almost always
marks a fraudulent correspondent.
U.S. citizens are cautioned against
sending any money to persons they
have not actually met face-to-face.
Romance scams involve one or
more – sometimes all – of the key
signs below:
You met online through a dating
website, an e-mail chat room,
Facebook, or another online website.
The scammer claims to be a native-
born U.S. citizen, but has a thick
accent and/or uses poor grammar
indicative of a non-native English
speaker.
Scammers have the worst luck
imaginable -- often getting into car
crashes, arrested, mugged, beaten, or
hospitalized -- usually all within the
course of a couple of months. They
often claim that their key family
members (parents and siblings) are
dead. Sometimes, the scammer claims
to have an accompanying child
overseas who is very sick or has been
in an accident.
The scammer’s “bad luck” often
occurs on the way to the airport to
catch a flight to the United States to
meet you. Scammers like to build the
anticipation of their victims. Once you
are excited about the chance to finally
meet this individual in person, that’s
when something occurs to prevent
him/her from making the trip. They
count on your excitement about the
anticipated meeting as an extra
incentive to send money. As soon as
you send money, however, another
situation occurs, which requires you
to send more money.
The scammer asks you for money to
get out of a bad situation. Note: Since
scammers prey on the good
intentions of U.S. citizens, some of
them will not actually ask you for
money. Rather, they will share their
heart-breaking situation with you in
hopes that you will willingly send
money to help them.
The scammer claims that the U.S.
Embassy would not help them. Likely
they have never tried to get help from
the embassy, because they are not
actually U.S. citizens.
The passport the scammer sent to
convince you that (s)he is a U.S.
citizen looks computerized and
includes a very attractive photo that
looks like it was taken by a
professional modeling agency or at a
photography studio. This is not a
typical passport photo.
Tips to protect yourself from
scammers:
Never send money to someone you
have not met in person without
verifying his/her identity.
Do not disclose personal details over
the phone or online -- even in your
profile on social networking sites. For
example, if you are a widow, you may
not want to make this known on a
dating web site -- scammers thrive on
information like this.
Refer all individuals who claim to be in
distress overseas to the local U.S.
embassy or consulate. Assisting U.S.
citizens overseas is the U.S.
Department of State’s top priority. All
U.S. citizens will be assisted, and no
one is turned away. Consular officers
are available 24/7 for
emergencies. You can find contact
information for all U.S. embassies and
consulates at www.usembassy.gov .
Contact the State Department's Office
of Overseas Citizens Services at
1-888-407-4747. We can offer
suggestions for verifying whether the
situation is legitimate or a scam.
If you insist on sending money,
consider sending an OCS Trust
instead of direct Western Union or
MoneyGram. OCS Trusts are routed
from Western Union through the U.S.
Department of State; the funds are
then deposited directly with the
nearest U.S. embassy and consulate
overseas for pick up by your loved
one. Please call the Office of
Overseas Citizens Services at
1-888-407-4747 to verify the
person’s citizenship BEFORE sending
money. If the individual is not really a
U.S. citizen, we cannot process the
request and it may take up to one year
for funds to be returned to you
(minus the $30 processing fee).
If you feel you have been a victim of
an Internet scam, please send all
reports of Internet fraud directly to
the Internet Crime Complaint Center
(IC3) - a partnership between the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
and the National White Collar Crime
Center (NW3C). IC3 was established to
receive internet related criminal
complaints and to research, develop,
and refer complaints to federal, state,
local, or international law
enforcement if appropriate.