Did you know that romance scam is one of the top reasons why people are losing their money online?
If you are using online dating apps or websites, then it is very important to educate yourself about what we call romance scams. You might end up losing a huge amount of money or get your identity stolen by criminals.
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What is Romance Scam and How does it Work
Romance scam is the most common type of scam in online dating sites. You can just call it online dating scam, some also call it the love scam. Romance Scams basically work this way: the scammer enters a dating app under a fake identity (fake name, photo, etc.). They then search for a vulnerable looking heartbroken person to victimize. The scammer will make the victim fall in love which they really are good at. Once the scammer thinks he/she can manipulate the victim, the scammer will start asking for money. The scammer will ask the victim to send the money via western union or any other money remittance services. The scammer tells the victim that they need the money for plane tickets, hospital or any kind of bills, or just to buy personal stuff.
Romance Scam Worldwide Stats
In this article, we will show you all the statistics you need to know regarding online dating scams. This will give you an idea of which online dating users are the most at risk.
These data are based on online dating sites we have interviewed and from the information we get from hundreds of daily complaints.
Number of online dating scam cases recorded in the last 4 years:
| 2016 | 8,000+ |
| 2017 | 11,000+ |
| 2018 | 18,000+ |
| 2019 | 21,000+ |
It’s obvious that the number is increasing per year, that’s why we are encouraging all online dating scam victims to report and expose any kind of scam they encounter so we can warn other people who are new to online dating. You can also report the profile you suspect to be a scammer directly to the dating app you are using.
Top countries where the most number of complaints are coming from
This data is based on the last 6 months of 2019.
The average amount of romance scam victims by age and by gender:
Men
| 20 and below | 1% |
| 21-29 | 17% |
| 30-39 | 18% |
| 40-49 | 27% |
| 50-59 | 26% |
| 60 and up | 11% |
Women
| 20 and below | 1% |
| 21-29 | 8% |
| 30-39 | 14% |
| 40-49 | 30% |
| 50-59 | 37% |
| 60 and up | 10% |
As you can see here, the group of people within the age 40-59 are the most common targets of scammers. We advise you to share this article with whom you know within this age group that is using dating sites.
We also made a graphical representation of the number of romance scam victims between men and women and it turns out women are more vulnerable to online dating threats than men.
This is again based from the complaints we are receiving on a daily basis.
Most common concerns we get from online dating users:
| Meeting someone who are not who they say they are | 42% |
| Meeting someone in person that have bad intentions | 27% |
| Someone using my information or photo/video to blackmail me | 11% |
| My information being stolen from the dating app | 12% |
| Getting my device infected by viruses from dating sites | 8% |
How to Avoid Online Dating Threats
Here are our tips on how to avoid being victimized by the aforementioned threats found on dating apps:
- Don’t agree to meet someone in person without background checking them first or verifying their real identity and their intentions. Get to know them carefully before proceeding to meetup.
- Never send your private photos or videos to anyone online, they can use it to extort you later.
- When signing up on a dating site don’t show the following information on public: Birthdate, Full Address, Birthplace, First/Favorite Pet’s Name. These are the information required to reset your passwords online.
- To avoid your phone or your computer to get infected by any kind of malicious Softwares or also called viruses, do not download anything that someone from dating sites tells you to download. It might be a software that can steal your information.
Types of Dating Apps that are more targeted by scammers
June 21, 2020 Update: Based on our research, here’s a breakdown to show you which dating site genres are more likely to be home for these online dating scammers.
| dating sites for seniors | 32% |
| dating sites for lesbians | 28% |
| dating sites for single parents | 12% |
| dating sites for professionals | 11% |
| dating sites for Christians | 9% |
| dating sites for widows | 3% |
| dating sites for nerds | 2% |
| dating sites for Asians | 2% |
| dating sites for Latinos | 1% |
This data does not mean that some dating sites are safer and some are not, remember that scammers are everywhere. Always be extra careful when talking to or meeting up with people regardless of the kind of dating app. This data just shows scammers know how to target big dating sites with huge user bases.
Be sure to share this to your friends who are using dating apps!
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