With Valentine’s Day upon us, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office is urging Arizonans of all ages to protect themselves from online romance scams. Romance scammers create fake online profiles and search through dating apps, dating sites, and social media platforms such as Facebook or Instagram looking for victims.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, scammers work quickly to build a trusting relationship with you, sometimes chatting or calling several times a day, and will seem caring and believable. Then, they make up a story and ask for money.
Topping the list of lies told by romance scammers is that they need money because a friend or relative is sick, hurt, or in jail, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Other commonly reported lies include the scammer having great investment advice to share with their newfound romantic interest, or that the scammer was in the military, or needed help making some sort of important delivery.
The Attorney General’s Office offers the following warning signs and tips:
Warning signs:
- Someone who is quick to profess their love.
- Someone who pretends to be a hero, such as a soldier, in a faraway place.
- Someone who continuously makes plans to meet in person but never follows through.
- Someone who makes a sudden request for money to deal with an emergency.
- Someone who asks you to wire them money, put money onto gift cards and give them the PIN codes, or send them money through a money transfer app or cryptocurrency.
Tips:
- Do not send money, including wiring funds, gift cards or cryptocurrency to a stranger or someone you just met on a dating app or social media platform.
- Be careful when sharing personal information on social media platforms. Scam artists use details shared on social media platforms to better target victims.
- Watch for inconsistencies in a person’s story or lack of information about their background.
- Talk to family and friends if you are unsure about someone.
- If you believe your relationship is a scam, stop all contact immediately.
- Trust your instincts. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
If you are a victim of a romance scam, you can file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.gov.
If you believe you have been the victim of consumer fraud, you can file a consumer complaint by visiting the Arizona Attorney General’s at www.azag.gov/consumer. If you need a complaint form sent to you, you can contact the Attorney General’s Office in Phoenix at (602) 542-5763, in Tucson at (520) 628-6648, or outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas at (800) 352-8431.