Last year, the Federal Trade Commission received over 64,000 romance scams reports that translated into $1.14 billion in reported losses
When Kate Kleinart fell victim of a romance scam, what hurt the most wasn’t the thousands of dollars that she lost, but the love that she thought existed between her and the person who scammed her.
“Losing the love was worse than losing the money,” said Kleinart, 70, who lost tens of thousands to a romance scam over several months.
Last year, the Federal Trade Commission received over 64,000 romance scams reports that translated into $1.14 billion in reported losses.
Romance scams often target lonely and isolated individuals, according to Will Maxson, assistant director of the Division of Marketing Practices at the FTC.
What starts as a simple conversation turns into a sudden romantic connection. But a key giveaway is when a person asks for money because something happened in their lives and they need help. According to the FTC, common lies scammers employ include that they, or someone close to them, is sick, hurt or in jail. Another is, “I can teach you how to invest.”
If you want to protect yourself and your loved ones from a romance scam, here are some experts’ recommendations.
From her personal experience, Kleinart recommends people be vigilant if a new Facebook friend is exceptionally good-looking, asks you to download WhatsApp to communicate, attempts to isolate you from friends and family, and/or gets romantic very quickly.
“If you’re seeing that picture of a very handsome person, ask someone younger in your life — a child, a grandchild, a niece or a nephew — to help you reverse-image search or identify the photo,” she said.
