OPP is using Valentine's Day to warn about romance scammers.
Romance fraudsters prey on victims looking for a partner, companion, or love interest causing devastating effects from financial losses to significant mental health trauma.
According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), Canadian romance fraud victims reported losing over $59 million to fraudsters in 2022. Ontario victims represented over $20 million of those losses.
In 2022, the CAFC received fraud reports totalling a staggering $530 million in victim losses. This was nearly a 40 per cent increase from the 2021, unprecedented $380 million in losses. It is estimated that only 5-10 per cent of victims report scams.
Scammers use technology to convince victims to enter into a virtual or online relationship, to gain a victim's trust and affection. This can occur through: e-mail messages, popular encrypted chat applications, online chat groups, fake profiles on social media, dating sites, or even through online platforms where like-minded people hang out online.
A new trend has the fraudsters sending random text messages to victims. The messages often read "where are you?", "where have you been?" or something similar. Once the victim responds, a conversation is started and the fraudster attempts to build a relationship with the victim.
Eventually, the scammer asks for money for travel, a medical emergency, or assistance with a family emergency or convinces the victim to invest in a fraudulent cryptocurrency platform.
Remember…there is always urgency and associated drama like in an old soap opera. The scammers might also ask you to receive money and transfer the funds elsewhere, or purchase items and send them to foreign countries. The scammer always makes excuses for not being able to meet in person, travel to see you or use video conferencing to talk.
How to protect yourself?
- Don't give out your personal information (name, address, DOB, SIN, banking credentials).
- Don't accept friend requests from people you do not know.
- Don't invest your money in platforms provided by people you don't know.
- Be careful who you share images with. Suspects will often use explicit pictures to extort victims into sending more money.
- Protect your online accounts.
- Never send money to someone you haven't met.
- Don't respond to text messages from phone numbers you do not recognize.
- Learn more tips and tricks for protecting yourself.
If you fall victim to fraud or know someone who has, contact your local police service to report the crime and also report it to the CAFC at 1-888-495-8501 or online on the Fraud Reporting System (FRS), even if a financial loss did not occur.
