#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.

[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.

[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

[velocityfss]

Pig Butchering scams are highly sophisticated fraud schemes that manipulate victims into fake cryptocurrency and investment opportunities, only to drain their finances completely. In this eye-opening video, we expose the chilling tactics used by scammers in these crypto frauds, online investment scams, and romance scams. You’ll learn how fraudsters operate, the red flags to watch for, and how financial institutions can implement anti-fraud measures to protect customers. This video provides essential scam awareness and online fraud protection strategies to help financial institutions detect and prevent these threats effectively.

🔹 How Pig Butchering scams work—from trust-building to financial devastation

🔹 Real-life case study of a victim who lost $500,000 to an online scam

🔹 The scale of the problem—billions lost worldwide in cryptocurrency fraud

🔹 Key warning signs banks and businesses should recognize

🔹 How financial institutions can strengthen fraud detection with AI-powered tools

💡 Stay Ahead of Fraudsters—Protect Your Organization & Customers

Financial fraud is evolving, and compliance teams must act fast to combat these AML (anti-money laundering) threats. Whether you're a risk manager, compliance officer, or banking professional, this video is packed with crucial insights to help you prevent financial crimes.

[priteva-blog]

The LA Fitness Swindler

Women scammed by Zacharia Ali

[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.

[kyra45]

Romance/Dating scam

Another common type of scam is the when strangers you don’t know will comment on your Facebook/etc status posts with a generic copy/paste message. This message is usually along the lines of them telling you they can’t send you a friend request so they would like it if you sent them one instead. One thing to note is these scammers are using images they’ve stolen from actual people or using the name associated with a real person and is impersonating them.

The way this scam works is that if you fall for it, the scammer will then fake that they love you and will flatter you with whatever it takes in order to gain your trust. This can go on for as long as they’d like until they decide it’s time to make their move and when they think you are more likely to fall for their scam without knowing too much. Usually they will ask you for more personal information around this time.

Next, the scammer will then fake an emergency and claim your the only person that can help them. Commonly this kind of scam relates to a supposed hospital bill that occurred in some kind of military accident and they won’t tell you the details. They urge you to send them money and send a lot of it because they can’t cover the cost for some reason. However they are lying and are not actually in an emergency.

Unfortunately this kind of scam also comes as a dating version where a scammer will ask you for money here and there by impersonating someone else and by the time you catch on it’s too late and they’ve already ghosted you and moved onto their next target. These scammers never really get caught and will continue scamming for as long as they can.

This scam type often targets older people though younger people can also be affected by it. As a result, take caution when you see comments that seem to be trying to flatter you and say you look nice and pretty even if the account has never seen your photographs.

Overall, just be careful and keep an eye out for scams that are similar to this.

[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???"

[ooooo-mcyt]

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

[distant-screaming]

gmmtv looked at legalized gay marriage and said let's also get gay divorce