{"id":2740,"date":"2011-01-24T13:17:21","date_gmt":"2011-01-24T13:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/romance_scams_are_the_hot_topic_at_idate2011_in_miami\/"},"modified":"2020-07-07T10:58:54","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T10:58:54","slug":"romance_scams_are_the_hot_topic_at_idate2011_in_miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/romance_scams_are_the_hot_topic_at_idate2011_in_miami\/","title":{"rendered":"Romance Scams Are the Hot Topic at iDate2011 in Miami – National Consumers League"},"content":{"rendered":"

By John Breyault, Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud<\/strong><\/p>\n

The explosive growth of online dating sites in recent years has certainly been a boon to many singles turned off by the traditional bar scene. In fact, according to research<\/a> commissioned by Match.com, 1 in 5 single people have dated someone they met on an online dating site.<\/p>\n

What goes less reported is that many consumers go to these sites looking for love and only to find scam artists waiting to separate them from their money.\u00a0 In a typical romance scam, the con artist reaches out to a prospective victim via an online dating site.\u00a0 If the victim responds to these initial outreaches, the relationship generally \u201cblossoms\u201d with amazing speed. The scammer will very quickly begin professing love for the victim in an effort to create trust. Ultimately, the scammer will begin to ask for money to cover a range of fictional expenses such as hospital bills, travel expenses, lawyer\u2019s fees or other reasons. The demands for money tend to escalate over time.\u00a0 Victims of these scams reported an average loss of more than $7,000 to NCL in 2010, with some of the largest losses reaching into six figures.<\/p>\n

The online dating industry is aware of the problem and is taking steps to address the issue. It was with this goal in mind, that NCL was invited to participate in a panel discussion about romance scams at the iDate2011 conference<\/a> in Miami. The event, which brings together many of the top companies in the online dating industry, was an opportunity for us to share our knowledge about these scams from our Fraud Center.<\/p>\n

Joining me on the panel was Gene Fishel, the Senior Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Computer Crimes Division<\/a> with the Virginia Attorney General\u2019s office and Ron Plesco, CEO of the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My presentation discussed the latest trends in romance scams, drawn from our 2010 complaint data.\u00a0 Our recommendations included urging the online dating industry to improve information sharing to spot suspicious users more quickly, reaching out to victims of romance scams and to liaison more closely with law enforcement to help track down these con artists.<\/p>\n

Gene Fishel\u2019s presentation focused on the role that the Virginia Attorney General\u2019s office has played in tracking down these scammers and the benefit of private sector cooperation with the Attorney General\u2019s office. What was especially chilling about Gene\u2019s presentation was his description of criminal registered as sex offenders using online dating sites to meet victims, generally despite court orders to stay off social networking sites or the Internet altogether.<\/p>\n

Ron Plesco gave a fascinating presentation about the incredibly sophisticated ways that cyber-criminals, particularly members of organized crime syndicates, are targeting online dating sites. These groups, according to Plesco, harvest user data and sell it on international black markets in stolen data. This data can then be used to commit financial fraud or worse.<\/p>\n

In the world of online dating, consumers should always be on their guard.\u00a0 In particular, be wary of the following \u201cred flags\u201d:<\/p>\n