#romance scam

[kyra45]

Romance scams

To put it simply, a romance scam is when someone is pretending they love you for financial gain. Usually these kinds of scams target older people but may also affect younger ones as well who aren’t too aware that some love is only given as a lure to trick someone into giving funds over time once trust has been obtained. These kind of scammers often ‘catfish’ via use of images stolen off the internet or images they paid to access and now and using to trick someone into thinking they’re someone else.

Romance scams are extremely common on other sites! Usually limited to Facebook or dating applications though I’m sure tumblr likely has a few of them here and there. Most of these accounts use a stolen picture as a pfp and their account looks very generic and customized to fit the personality they assume the person may have.

They will usually start with small talk before moving on to more serious chat before they claim something happens and request you pay for it yourself because they can’t. Usually this is tragic accident or some kind of bill. The occurrence itself is entirely random and usually sounds extremely serious urging you to immediately pay and then never talking to you again afterwards.

I can’t really explain this all too well myself, but you can always search around to learn more about it yourself! There is plenty of articles out there and videos regarding this type of scam.

[drheartstealer]

Here’s an example of a pig butchering romance scam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzWprvJyzZs

It doesn’t just happen to straight people, it can also happen to gay people https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBEKT4c5B-Q&t=8s

[priteva-blog]

The LA Fitness Swindler

Women scammed by Zacharia Ali

[thesafewaystobereckless]

Social Catfish: Validating online profiles and playing cop on the side

This is only my rough thoughts about Social Catfish, but they are a company which provides a robust social media reverse image search and other identity-confirming tools. This service is rather helpful since creating online profiles using anyone's photos is exceptionally easy.

Social Catfish unsurprisingly has helped many people find out that the people they were talking to online were romance scammers. In a romance scam, a person poses as someone online, gets someone to "fall in love", and then use that love to get money. Typical romance scams have storylines like a doctor who desperately wants to return home from charity work in a poor region, oil rig workers stuck at sea, or soldiers who can't leave base. The stories are usually elaborate, and they always find rather creative ways to convince the real people they talk to to send them money.

Many romance scammers may be part of criminal networks since some romance scams are exceptionally lucrative. In the YouTube channel for Social Catfish, they've interviewed people who have lost hundreds of thousands, and even over a million dollars. Typically, this money is lost forever.

However, David, the owner of Social Catfish in the past year has made substantial efforts to try to track down where the money in a romance scams goes. This is objectively really cool. Though it took a really weird turn this latest episode.

David and his team found someone in the web of scammers they found was under active investigation for an assault charge. Near the end of the video the guy's lawyer is talking to them about their "investigation" and it didn't seem to click that David and this team were working under the guise of being independent journalists. Furthermore... they convince the "money mules" they find along the way that by working with them (Social Catfish) they can help them stay out of trouble.

Press X to doubt. Money laundering (when done by common people) is not taken lightly by the criminal justice system. Many "money mules" are innocent people, but people have gotten serious jail time for unknowingly playing this role in the past, and their claim that they could help people stay out of trouble is very, very bold.

They have helped IRL investigations in the past, and do help the people they interview on their channel get the info together to file a police report. Likewise, they also work with authorities in Nigeria (where a comically large amount of scammers they've identified operate out of) to help find people when they use things like Bitcoin exchanges that require "KYC" (know your customer) information.

My opinion on Social Catfish is mixed. They have helped many people come to terms with the fact their internet partner was a scammer, but at the same time, their recent dive into vigilante type investigation does have the potential to be greatly problematic.

[scamandfraud]

Scam Alert: Protect Yourself from Online Fraudsters

Definition of “Scam Alert” A “scam alert” is a warning designed to raise awareness about specific scams or fraudulent activity. It aims to educate people on how to identify potential scams, avoid becoming a victim, and protect their personal and financial information. Introduction The world of online scams is a dangerous place, and it’s critical to stay ahead of the game to protect yourself.…

[watchyourpocket]

To prevent social media scams, be cautious of unknown friend requests, suspicious links, and too-good-to-be-true offers. Always verify the authenticity of accounts and offers, especially if they ask for personal information or money. Regularly update privacy settings to control what is shared and with whom.

[larryhappiday]

Retirees and Their Peculiar Security Risks: What You Need to Know

Understanding Elderly Safety Needs Introduction Retirement may be a time to relax and enjoy life after many years of hard work, but it requires detailed planning for this vision to materialize. Retirement planning is not an endeavour that should be left to the retiree alone. It’s a time for children to begin to step up in their elderly care roles if they want their beloved parents to live long…

[novakspector]

I can see this happening with delusional SPN fans too

[spamreports]

UNSOLICITED TWITTER SPAM SCAM DMS

nothing to see here, just countless #spam #scam messages on @Twitter with @WhatsApp and Telegram baits for naïve gullible idiots, who believe a random unsolicited DM on this crappy app, left to rot without staff, may end up in them winning money or some other bulshit like this

Telegram is are notorious for ignoring abuse reports, and poor twitter does not have staff anymore to review them, ever since chief clown man child Elmo took over.

[justabiteofspite]

"Astarion doesn't do big romantic gestures."

My Durge still trying to get graveyard dirt out of her ass crack after being lovingly pounded into it by Astarion who wanted to share with her this deeply joyful and meaningful reclamation of himself after sharing a vulnerable declaration of his love, at this place he hasn't shown anyone else but her: "Then what the actual fuck was that???"

[kyra45]

What is a romance scam?

A romance scam can come in many types or many forms. From someone commenting on your Facebook post to someone DM’ing you with claims your so adorable and beautiful despite never seeing your photographs or knowing who you are. These people are known as romance scammers, accounts that are impersonating a real person in efforts to make a quick buck without caring about love.

The makings of these scams is usually talking to these accounts for a very long time and them learning your person information and details because they want to be real close to you. After quite some time, these accounts will then message you claiming their in some dire situation and only YOU can help them by sending them tons of money. They even impersonate people in the military.

Once this money is sent, they’ll keep asking you for more and more money. No matter how much is sent, it’s just never enough and they’ll continue trying to get money from you until you figure out their not who they claim to be. Unfortunately this scam generally targets an older audience, but sometimes younger ones can fall for it as well.

The users who pull this these scams fake loving the other person in order to get funds from them and never actually love you. They will deny being a scammer when called out and often will struggle to defend themselves when you out them for trying to scam you. On Facebook, they will copy/paste a message that claims they can’t seem to send you a friend request so you must send it to them instead.

This is a really rough information post, but hopefully it helps someone!

[ooooo-mcyt]

the thing people don't get about scar and grian is that betrayal is how they flirt.

[priteva-blog]

Zacharia Ali sued for fraud and embezzlement

[scamandfraud]

Scam Alert: Protect Yourself from Online Fraudsters

Definition of “Scam Alert” A “scam alert” is a warning designed to raise awareness about specific scams or fraudulent activity. It aims to educate people on how to identify potential scams, avoid becoming a victim, and protect their personal and financial information. Introduction The world of online scams is a dangerous place, and it’s critical to stay ahead of the game to protect yourself.…

[atavist]

A romance scammer conned my mom. I went to Nigeria to find him.

“The Romance Scammer on My Sofa,” issue no. 140 from The Atavist Magazine, is now available:

In Nigeria, Yahoo boys are online fraudsters. Their nickname comes from the email service Yahoo, which became popular in Nigeria in the 2000s, and they are descendants of the infamous 419 scammers, who, first with letters, and later in emails, promised to help strangers get rich for a nominal advance fee. (The number is a reference to a section of the Nigerian criminal code pertaining to fraud.) Biggy is a particular kind of Yahoo boy: a romance scammer who pretends to be other people online to seduce foreigners into trusting him and giving him money.

Biggy’s game is all about intimacy. He invests time in building what seems like a real relationship with his victims. He flatters them, tells them jokes, asks intimate questions. “The most important thing about being a Yahoo boy is keeping the conversation alive,” Biggy told me. “Dating is all about patience. It takes a long time before a client starts trusting you.”

Yahoo boys, I was learning, love euphemisms.

Biggy estimated that over his ten years—and counting—as a romance scammer, he’d lined his pockets with $30,000 from people he conned. People yearning for love. People like my mother.