Online romance scams have been a part of our lives for quite some time now but what are they really?
In basic terms, romance scams happen when a scammer creates fake identities online with stolen pictures to trick vulnerable people into sending them money.
Which Platforms Do Romance Scammers Use?
A vast variety of platforms, actually. If it’s out there and especially for free, they’ll use it to their advantage. The most common platforms they use are:
- Social media such as Facebook or Instagram
- Dating websites and apps
- Online gaming platforms
- Messenger apps such as Telegram or Facebook messenger
Some of the weirdest places I personally came across scammers were:
- HappyCow—a website for finding vegan and vegetarian restaurants all around the world.
- Christian Faith App
Where Do These Criminals Live?
Mostly they are from poor west African countries. According to one study, 50% of scammers come from African countries, 30% come from Nigeria and 13% come from Ghana. Even though Nigeria and Ghana are leading countries when it comes to romance scammers, they can easily come from Malaysia, Turkey, Philippines, India or they can be just around the corner from where you live. When you think about these scammers, think of them as a large network spreading all around the world.
Online Romance Scams
Operation: Fake Love
They may come across as these loving and caring people who are very attentive to your emotional needs. They quickly declare their love for you, they shower you with affection and compliments and you have their ultimate attention but none of it is real. It’s all part of their grooming process. Their main objective is to get your money and the harsh truth is that they do not care if they destroy you along the process. At the end of the day, they are ruthless, heartless scam artists and this is what they do for a living.
Scammers Work in Groups and Use ‘Format’
If you are talking to a scammer, you’re not talking to one person. In most cases, you talk to more than one scammer as they work in groups and help each other during the process.
The less experienced scammers use a format or script. The ‘format’ is a document of a script for every scenario they might need—dating, soldier, engineer, doctor, billing (which is asking for money), sex chat, love and trust, blackmail, etc.
In Nigeria, these formats are sold by special vendors who specialise in developing all kinds of schemes for scammers. This ‘format’ (a. k. a. Nigerian scammers’ playbook) has been leaked to public some time ago.
I once had a large number of scammers in my fake accounts—yes, I have fake accounts, purely for research purposes—and it got to a point that they all sounded the same, talking the same way, using the same expressions, etc. This is the reason why they all sound the same. However, more experienced scammers can come off script which makes them more dangerous in that respect.