Relationships take time to build, often several months, so a skillful scammer uses this time to build personal connections. There is no rush, as the scammer will work numerous likely victims and sites at the same time. The effort initially focuses on establishing a presence that attracts intended targets by joining chat rooms, groups such as Silver Singles, social media platforms, and, at the local level, religious and civic groups. Using stock photographs and fabricated profiles, the scammer targets a particular demographic: older male, older female, widow/widower, divorced middle-aged, younger partner seeker. While phone scams occur frequently, the criminal’s weapon of choice is the computer. What is particularly stunning is that these numbers are based on data collected by the Federal Trade Commission and do not include information gathered by the FBI, other Federal agencies, or local and state authorities. That is an average of $2,500 per victim (nearly $9,500 for victims over the age of 70). In fact, over the past year, these romance scams resulted in record victim losses: $304 million in 2020 compared to $75 million the previous year. While this may seem frivolous and sound playful, is quite lucrative for the criminal. Here is a term you may not be familiar with: catfishing, the word now used to describe romance scams.Ĭriminals use text messages, telephone calls, and emails as their “fishing” gear and, for the most part, anyone can be reeled in. Some of the terminology related to fraud and scams would make you believe that fraud is a recreational activity: phishing, spear phishing, or whaling.

Please share this with family, friends, and neighbors. This educational material is provided as a result of our partnership with Elliott Greenblott, retired educator and coordinator of AARP. As part of our continuing effort to educate and help prevent our community members from various scams, we would like to share this information with you.

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