Dating apps aren’t all that popular in Pakistan but they’re all the rage in the rest of the world. For instance, they allow you to vet potential suitors from the comfort of your home.
But now, it seems like these dating apps have become the target of scammers. No less than the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned people that some of these apps are being used for something as serious as money laundering.
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How Does This Work?
According to the FBI, there’s been a surge ‘confidence/romance frauds‘ across online dating sites. And here’s how they work.
Online dating scams include tricking people into money laundering and sending money, purchasing items and providing personal and financial information. They manage to do this by posing as an American citizen in a foreign country, like a United States military member deployed overseas or a US business owner.
FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received reports from over 15,000 people that they were a victim of an online dating scam.
The total loss from these online dating scams? Some $ 211 million in losses in 2017! The number of victims rose to 18,000 people, incurring a total of $ 362 million in losses in 2018.
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Online Dating Apps & Money Laundering
So how did people end up being swindled while looking for love (sounds like Breakfast at Tiffany’s)?
The FBI reports that cyber-criminals pretend to be a US citizen living overseas. That’s how they connect with actual US citizens. The victim and the cyber-criminal then build a relationship over months until the victim trusts the other person.
That’s when the money laundering begins. The victim is asked for gifts and electronics. This is followed by asking for money for a plane ticket. These confidence artists sometimes even ask for a wire transfer, twice (they just pretend they didn’t get it the first time). Talk about giving new meaning to the term two-timer!
“In some cases, the actor claims the wired funds did not arrive and asks the victim to resend the money.”
At this point, the victim is in deep, and willing to do anything to see their beau. That’s when the cyber-criminal keeps asking for more money to resolve ‘issues’ preventing the two from meeting up. Sounds like someone is stringing you along, as a side-chick.
“When they don’t arrive as scheduled, they claim they were arrested, and ask for more money to post bail.”
Some victims were blind enough in love to set up a new bank account that was later used to facilitate criminal activities. If you believed that all is fair in love and war, you can now add illegal stuff to the ‘fair in love’ list as well.
How Did It Take So Long to Discover This?
This is all too scary. Which begs the main question. How did this scam by online dating apps go by unnoticed for so long?
US dating sites are not usually required to do background checks on users. Since the law does not require the service provider to ensure your safety, the FBI suggests that ‘dating site users do a reverse image search on anyone they connect with online‘.
“Most dating site administrators do not conduct criminal background checks when an account is registered.”
So folks, finding love online is not as easy as it looks.
via CNet
