The $2 billion online dating industry is an increasingly popular way to meet romantic partners, including for older adults. But while seniors can easily browse the many fish in the sea on virtual platforms, they are also more likely to run into predatory sharks — thieves who are out not for love, but for money.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reports that in the last six months of 2014, people lost $82 million from so-called “romance scams” online. Women were the more frequent victims, making up 82 percent of those losses, although some of that gender imbalance may be due to the fact that women are more likely to report the crimes.
“Older people are more vulnerable and targeted more for frauds and scams. They may be more isolated and may have more financial means, so we do know scammers target older Americans,” says Amy Nofziger, an expert with the AARP Fraud Watch Network, which is dedicated to raising awareness around scams to help people avoid becoming victims.
Older adults in their 60s, 70s and beyond often face cognitive decline, which makes it more difficult for them to spot potential fraud. They’re also sitting on nest eggs, an enticing target for thieves. AARP reports that Americans over the age of 50 own two-thirds of bank deposits in the country and control 70 percent of the nation’s assets.
Nofziger says that one AARP member contacted the Fraud Watch Network last year after losing $300,000 from a romance-related scam. “People think they were in love, and then they become a victim,” she says.
Seniors — and anyone using online dating sites — should look out for red flags that indicate the person on the other end of the Internet connection is a scam artist looking to steal your money and not your heart. Here are the warning signs, along with tips on ways to protect yourself:
1. Bad grammar.
Emails from scam artists often contain multiple grammatical mistakes and spelling errors — more so than the typical smartphone typist. That’s because they are frequently using online translation services to communicate because English is not their first language, Nofziger says. If the messages contain odd terms not normally used in spoken English, then users should be suspicious, she says.
2. Never being able to meet up.
Usually the goal of online dating is to meet in person and have some kind of relationship, but for thieves prowling the sites for victims, the aim is not physical contact at all, but a virtual relationship that eventually leads to a cash transfer. If the person on the other end of the dating service says he is constantly traveling and on the road, then it’s a sign he might not have romantic intentions. Similarly, scam artists tend to quickly urge their victims to communicate off the site, by email or texting, to get around whatever privacy restrictions the dating site has in place.
3. Professing love quickly.
Scam artists are often eager to move the “relationship” along quickly, and claim to be in love at a relatively early stage of communication. Nofziger says women tend to fall victim to thieves masquerading as older, distinguished gentlemen, while men tend to be taken in by thieves pretending to be younger women. The thieves will often create false identities, complete with fake photos taken from the Web. Lonely widows and widowers are among the most vulnerable victims.
4. Making the ask.
Romantic scam artists are after their victims’ money, and to get it, they will often claim to be facing some kind of financial crisis shortly after declaring their love. “They’ll make several repeated requests for money and say, ‘you’re the only person who can help,'” Nofziger says. If the person you are communicating with online makes that kind of request, it’s time to move on, she says.
To stay safe when using online dating sites, Nofziger urges people of all ages to stay somewhat mysterious, at least until you meet up face-to-face and have a better sense of the person. (To protect your physical safety, always meet online friends in a public space with others around.) Smartphone users can turn off their location settings, so they aren’t displaying their location to strangers online, and can avoid sharing personal details like their workplace.
You can also do a little cyberstalking on your own, Nofziger says. Take some time to run a Web search on the name and photo of the person with whom you are communicating online. Since scammers steal people’s photos and identities, you could unravel their lie. “We know they steal from modeling websites,” she says. If your Google image search leads you to a modeling photo page, then you’re probably being duped. “Find out if their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other accounts match up to what they told you about themselves,” she adds.
Before finding a love match online, you want to make sure you’re communicating with a real person — no matter what age you are.
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How Older Adults Can Stay Safe When Dating Online originally appeared on usnews.com
