Singles Advised To Exercise Caution When Date Searching Around Valentine’s Day

Love could be in the air, and scammers are hoping that some people are looking for love in all the wrong places.

With Valentine’s Day 1 week away, the AARP as well as law enforcement is warning those looking for love and companionship on-line, regardless of age, to be careful not to get scammed.

A person might create a dating profile, and later gets contacted by someone who seems to be a good fit, but then they are quick to ask to move communications off of that dating website and go to either email and/or a chat app.

Another warning sign is they have a picture that looks more like a model out of a fashion magazine, rather than an ordinary picture, and they’re over-complimentary about their potential scam victim.

The potential date, regardless if they claim to live nearby or far away, keeps finding ways to cancel planned meetings and later may ask for financial help, because an emergency has happened.

They request the financial help to come in the form of gift cards, prepaid debit cards, cryptocurrency, or a bank or wire transfer.

The strategy is also referred to as catfishing.

In 2021, the Federal Trade Commission received about 56-thousand complaints about romance scams, and that number is more than triple the number from 2017, plus the reported financial losses from victims has increased sixfold in that same time period.

Many dating websites advise that if you meet someone for the first time, make sure it’s in a public area with lots of people around.

There’s been an increase of people meeting at someone’s residence or at a private location, and then they end up being robbed or worse.

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