Over the past few years in Adult Protective Services, we have seen a steady and alarming increase in Financial Exploitation cases. Not only are the cases increasing, but the amount of money being taken is also increasing. People's entire life savings are being stolen and the majority of this money is unretrievable. According to the article linked below by Heather Morrison, eight million dollars were lost to romance scammers in Massachusetts in 2020 (1). Now, what is a romance scam? Well, according to the FBI website, “Romance scams occur when a criminal adopts a fake online identity to gain a victim’s affection and trust. The scammer then uses the illusion of a romantic or close relationship to manipulate and/or steal from the victim.” (2) Personally, I have seen people in retirement lose their homes, their businesses, and relationships as a result of them being a victim of one of these scams.

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Scammers have started using dating sites to target vulnerable, unsuspecting individuals just looking for love. Often times the scammer will ask for a lot of information about you, and while this may come off as genuine, you need to watch out for information they could use to hurt or steal from you. Social security numbers, license, passport pictures, and more can be easily manipulated to steal from you. 


When chatting with people online, here are some red flags to look out for:

  • They won’t facetime you or video chat despite having an established interest in each other. 
  • They live in a different country or time zone.
  • They have a job that potentially requires them to travel frequently. (i.e., military, flight attendant, model, talent manager, etc.) 
  • They ask you to move money through your account. 
  • They plan to meet you but always have an emergency or excuse as to why they need to cancel last minute. 
  • They ask you for money. 


Tips to avoid love scammers:

  • Scammers will use your social media profiles to learn more about you. Go into your privacy settings and make sure no one can see your private information other than your friends. Do not friend request or accept friend requests from people you don’t know until after you’ve met them in person. 
  • Research or google the person you’re talking to. If their username or picture is linked to any other social media accounts, they should come up in this search. 



Sources:


  1. https://www.masslive.com/police-fire/2021/02/massachusetts-residents-lost-8-million-to-romance-scams-in-2020-fbi-asks-residents-to-swipe-left-on-potential-romance-scams.html


  1. https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/romance-scams

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