Sugar daddy scam: The new rip-off via Instagram
Cyber criminals are always coming up with new scams to get money or information from their victims. So-called love scamming is not new. What is new, however, is that this time the perpetrators are targeting younger victims.
Sugar daddies or moms pay very large sums of “pocket money” for various services to so-called sugar babies. If there is consensus on this, it is not in itself criminal. But now a new scam is emerging that uses the sugar daddy-pupil constellation to take money out of victims' pockets.
The cyber criminals primarily write to younger, female people on Instagram and promise thousands of euros in exchange for conversations. If the victims agree to this, they only have to fulfill one condition, namely transferring a small sum of money, for example 50 euros, as an advance of trust. Afterwards, however, they do not receive the previously promised amount of “pocket money” and instead have made a loss.
is up to 400 US dollars a day: The lucrative business of sugar daddy scams
After research, Bayerischer Rundfunk was able to locate the fraudsters and speak to one of them. Most of these sugar daddies say they come from the USA, but their actual location is in African countries such as Nigeria, Kenya or Ghana.
The fraudsters have no pity. As one person told Bayerischer Rundfunk, most victims would have a lot of money and would be able to quickly recover from the loss of a small sum of money. In the USA, the business is much more attractive, he says, where fraudsters can make up to $400 a day; in Germany, significantly fewer people fall for the scam. (pw)
