americans robbed of 82million in dateing scams

[knuckles]

http://www.foreveryoungwny.com/Forever- ... ing-Fraud/

Sometimes the world appears to comprise two sets of people—those who are looking to meet someone, and those who want to match up every single person they know. Now if we could just figure out how to get them together.

In the meantime, more and more people are turning to the Internet. AARP recently sent along some interesting (not to mention sobering) information about online dating for the fifty-plus set and invited us to share.

It’s one thing if someone posts an ancient photo and looks totally different in person. Swindling is an entirely different issue.

AARP says in the last six months of 2014, online dating scammers robbed Americans of an estimated $82 million.

The FBI describes these scams as an “invisible epidemic.” Online dating fraud, (also known as romance scams), targets unsuspecting users looking online for a true love connection.

Typically the victims who lose the most are older and less savvy on the ways to detect and prevent scammers from emptying their retirement savings, pensions, and bank accounts.

One story AARP tells is about a fifty-seven-year-old widow who met a man online. Previously, she went on dates with men who turned out not to be her type, or weren’t who they said they were. Then she found “the one.” Except he wasn’t. He was an impostor posing as a suitor. He lured his victim into a romance then looted her finances.

A former scammer estimates that, over four years, he made more than $800,000 from about twenty victims, both men and women. He said in order to snare women, he’d pose as a financially secure older man, often in the military or engineering professions. He also said, “Guys are easier to convince—they’re a bit desperate for beautiful girls.”