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February 23, 2022 at 02:52 PM
What You Need to Know
- A growing trend in 2021: scammers using romance as a hook to lure people into bogus investments.
- In the past five years, people have lost $1.3 billion to romance scams, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
- The largest reported losses to these scams in 2021 were paid in cryptocurrency.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority warned late Tuesday in a tweet that those victimized by the “Tinder swindler” are far from alone as losses to romance scams have increased sixfold since 2017, according to a new report from the Federal Trade Commission.
“Remember to be on the alert for signs of fraud before trusting someone with your heart or your money,” FINRA tweeted.
In the past five years, according to the report, people have lost $1.3 billion to romance scams, more than any other FTC fraud category.
Reported losses hit a record $547 million for 2021 — more than six times the reported losses in 2017 and a nearly 80% increase compared to 2020, the report states. The median individual reported loss in 2021 was $2,400.
Scammers create fake profiles online, assume other’s identities, and even contact individuals on dating apps.
Also, “reports of unexpected private messages on social media platforms are common,” the report states.
