Dating and romance scams try to lower your defences by appealing to your romantic or compassionate side. They play on emotional or societal triggers to get a response.
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Some of these scams work by setting up a dating website where you pay for each email or message you send and receive. The scammer will create false profiles and send a whole series of vague-sounding emails filled with gushing talk of love or desire. The scammer might also send emails filled with details of their home country or town that do not refer to you much at all. These are all attempts to keep you writing back and paying money for use of the scammer’s dating website.
Of course, there are many legitimate dating websites, but scammers can target these too.
You might be approached by someone who claims they are terribly poor or have a very sick family member and are in the depths of despair (often these scammers claim to be from Europe or Africa). After they have sent you a few messages, and maybe even a glamorous photo, you will be asked (directly or more subtly) to send them money to help their situation. Some scammers even arrange to meet with you, in the hope that you give them presents or money, and then they disappear.
In other cases, the scammer might start off by building a rapport with you, perhaps even sending you flowers or other small gifts. After building up a ‘relationship’, the scammer will tell you about a large amount of money they need to transfer out of their country or that they want to share with you. They will then ask for your banking details or money for an administrative fee or tax that they claim needs to be paid to free up the money. This is a variation on the Nigerian 419 scam.
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An alternative scam is that after building a relationship with you, the scammer will claim to have fallen ill or been involved in a serious accident. They will then ask you for money to pay medical bills or travel expenses to visit you. In some instances you may even be contacted by someone claiming to be their doctor and asking for money for medical expenses.
Regardless of how you are scammed, you could end up losing a lot of money.
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