TV shows like ‘The Tinder Swindler’’ and ‘Catfish’, are just an examples when it comes to Romance scams. But Romans scam is quite broader than that.
Romance scams come in different styles and methods, and can also be referred to as ‘honey trapping’ scams, dating scams or catfish scams. We’ve seen many catfishing scams coming out of Nigeria, using AI to fool victims,.
There were surge of reports of dating scams in South Africa, and an FTC report in the US that states that 70,000 Americans were victims of online romance scams in 2022.
A year before that, there was a report on dating scams affecting Colombia also. Needless to say, this is a global issue.
What Is Romance Scam?
This is when someone pretends to be in love with another in order to gain his or her trust with a motive to take your money away from you.
Sometimes they often start on dating websites or social media, where they create fake profiles accounts with enticing contents, pictures and attractive personalities.
They reach out to people looking for love, and once a connection is established, they trigger their fraudulent activities at that person’s innocence and collect all valuable available to them from their victims.
