Dating apps and social media are extremely popular and common to have among people of all age groups. They are an easy way to meet new people and possibly find a new partner or just to have fun. Whatever the reason to join those community of users may be, you run the risk of getting information and money stolen if not careful among strangers.
With the popularization of apps and software, users become more interested in turning it into an easy source of income. Although the majority of users may have good intentions, it is becoming more common to find those who want to make an income out of others, which can surprisingly become very lucrative.
Over the course of the past couple years, it has been normalized to find people you know using social media and/or dating apps. It is an easy way to meet new people and possibly find chemistry between each other. You can communicate with others, on the other side of the globe, and brag about your achievements. However, among those who are using apps for their intended purpose, there has been a recent increase of scammers that aim to steal people’s money.
With how easy it is nowadays to obtain pictures of random people, even generate nonexistent ones with AI, it is becoming increasingly easier for people to pose with a different identity and gender. By doing this, a skillful scammer would find a way to get you to go to fraudulent sites or get information from you that could result in stolen information. No matter how skillful a scammer may be, there is always a way to determine if the person is going after your money rather than friendship or love.
In order to hide their intentions to steal money and information, scammer will be quick to confess their feelings for you. By doing this, they hope to distract you and make you believe that their friendship and feelings are genuine, which makes the victim more gullible into accepting lies and deceptions.
Although some tactics may vary from scammer to scammer, they biggest revealing factor to look out for is when they ask for money. Sooner or later, a scammer might try to get you to Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, or send them a gift card. They make up a rough story or give an excuse for needing money with the promise to meet up with you and have a drink or date. As you may be able to guess, once they receive the money, they have no intentions of actually meeting up with the victim.
There are several ways to ensure that you are safe and not being a victim of a scammer. First off, talk to the person and converse with them before deciding for a date or meeting up. It’s always a good idea to know what the person is like so you don’t walk into a risky situation. Secondly, never send money to anyone that you do not know. Once the money is sent, there is little to nothing that authorities and banks can do to recover that. If by any chance you do find yourself a victim of a scam on social media, report the user on the app. This will help in preventing others from falling into the same trap. Next, see if you can cancel any sort of money payment, if done through your bank or other form of money transfer. Usually, gift cards are unable to be refunded.
The number of incidents regarding scams of this nature are rising in popularity. For this reason, the FTC, has begun to collect information and data about fraudulent activity. Although you may not be guaranteed a resolution, they have begun taking efforts in putting a stop to this sort of scam and of other types.
Since 2015, the FTC has stated that a reported 201 million dollars were stolen by social media and dating app scammers. Scammers attack where they’re least expected in order to have the best results. Remember to be weary of strangers and pay attention to conversations for any possible scam attempts.
Unlike scammers, Firestorm Cyber does not fake its love for cyber security. We provide top of the line services and protection. Our partner, Sophos, even has a free endpoint protection app for iPhones and Android devices. When used, it will help protect your device in the event that you click on a possibly risky link. Our services build off of your needs and provide 24/7 support. Regardless of what you may use your network for, Firestorm Cyber will be there to troubleshoot and help.
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