Romance scam warning as Valentine’s Day approaches

Scammers want to take advantage of those who looking for friendship, companionship or love using the internet, and this warning comes after one woman was tricked out £130,000 by a would-be suitor.

Chair of the ScamwiseNI Partnership, Superintendent Gerard Pollock, said: “In 2021, 80 incidents of romance scams were reported to police and one female from the Belfast area was deceived out of over £130,000 in April 2021.

“This is a heart-breaking statistic, but it is also a personal story of a female who has had their life ruined by someone they grew to trust and build a relationship with.

The Superintendent continued: “Fraudsters will seek to build a relationship quickly and try to get you to chat or text away from the dating site or app you first met them on. This allows them to keep in contact if their profile is deleted for being fake.

“They appear very interested in you, very quickly, but will have lots of excuses for not being able to meet in person, a family emergency or a work problem that’s just come up.

“Soon they will ask you for money to help them sort out their problems or to help them come meet you, perhaps to pay for travel, all the while assuring you it will be paid back to you. You will continually be reassured it’s just this one thing, just this amount and then they’ll be able to come meet you.

“However, they have no intention of doing so because they do not exist. All they wanted was your money and to get as much of it as possible.

“Romance scammers don’t care about your gender, sexuality, age or race. They target everyone, please don’t let it be you.

“Always remember to stay on site, using reputable dating ones. Never send money to someone you have not met or receive/transfer money on their behalf. Be alert, keep yourself safe.”

Follow these tips to avoid being a victim of romance scamming:

• Stay on the dating app - Many have inbuilt security and take steps to remove and ban fake accounts.

• Check social media - Looking at details such as name, location and family can identify inconsistencies in what they’ve told you.

• Check their photo - You can use websites to check photos using a reverse image search to prove if the photo is valid.

• Never send money to someone you haven’t met in person – It should never start with being asked for money, and if it does it’s not a friends or relationship worth having.