What would we do without the Internet? We bank, do our taxes, shop, stay in touch with friends, and even find love online.
While many seniors do find lasting relationships by joining a dating site, many more are finding heartbreak while losing their life savings in the process.
Romance scams result in the highest amount of financial losses when compared to other Internetfacilitated crimes, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3. In the last six months of 2014 alone, IC3 saw more than $82 million in victim losses, with females sustaining the majority. The average complainant loses more than $100,000, according to Donna Gregory of the FBI.
Online romance scammers typically work together in groups of six, usually at cyber cafes, sending out hundreds of emails through dating websites and chat rooms waiting for responses. They shape their identities based on information provided in potential victim profiles. If the online profile says you’re a retired teacher, for example, the scam artist will say he, too, is a teacher.
Seniors are prime targets for the growing romance scam for many of the same reasons they’re targets of scams in general: Loneliness, health issues that might cause fuzzy thinking and sizable nest eggs there for the taking.
If you do go looking for love online, BBB offers these red flags:
• A potential “match” declares his love for you almost immediately and suggests taking the conversation offline.
• The suitor’s emails are rife with grammatical mistakes.
• The suitor appears incredibly good looking, usually because the photo on his profile is stolen from other online sites.
• The suitor claims to be American but says his job is overseas; in some cases he may say he’s in the military serving abroad.
• Plans to meet in person are always disrupted by costly emergencies that he can’t cover. He’ll explain his temporary dire financial straits and ask that you wire money with promises to repay you soon.
If you think you’ve been involved with, or are in an online romance scam, report it IC3.gov. And for more consumer tips, go to bbb.org.
~ Luanne Kadlub, Communications Specialist, BBB Serving Northern Colorado and Wyoming. 970-488- 2044, Toll Free: 800-564-0370 Ext. 135, wynco.bbb.org