How To Avoid Being Scammed This Valentine’s Day
How To Avoid Being Scammed This Valentine’s Day
Posted: February 7, 2022 by Jovi Umawing
With Valentine’s Day approaching, you can be sure that the scammers will want to take advantage of lovebirds everywhere. From romance scams and sextortion, to fake dating sites and phishing campaigns, here’s how to avoid a sting in the tail this Valentine’s Day.
Romance scams
Stories of online romance scams are abundant on the internet. And with COVID-19 having forced everyone to stay home much more and not meet in real life, it’s no wonder that reports of these sorts of scams have significantly increased since the start of the pandemic. LINK
So whether you meet someone on a dating site or social media, here are some common red flags to look out for:
Their profile and picture seem too good to be true.
They profess their love very quickly.
They share a lot about themselves—often personal stuff—in the first meeting.
They claim to be overseas and cannot stay in one place for long.
They try to lure you from whatever platform you are on to talk to you via email or video chat.
They claim to need money for something, such as to help their friends or family, repatriation, or something else entirely.
How to avoid romance scams:
Don’t give scammers the information they need. Scammers rely on what you volunteer about yourself online to tweak their script and lure you in.
Do an image search of the photo and the name of the person you’re in touch with. Scammers often steal someone else’s image to use as bait.
Go slow. Scammers tend to rush, building rapport with their victims as quickly as possible to fleece them of their money as equally quickly.
If they encourage you to invest in something—be suspicious. Start digging around online about the company that, they say, is worth investing in. Never send them money.
Follow your gut instinct. If something feels off, cut off contact immediately and report your experience to the police, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), and the dating or social media site where you met the scammer.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here: LINK