The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued a warning on romance baiting scams as a record-breaking $37 million was lost last year to dating and romance rackets.
Deputy Chair of the ACCC, Delia Rickard said total losses were expected to be much higher and scammers were now using dating apps to lure victims into investment scams.
“This new technique, called romance baiting, involves scammers meeting people on dating apps and then moving the conversation to an encrypted chat site,” Ms Rickard said.
“After a few weeks of developing a relationship, the scammer will begin asking about the victim’s finances and encourage them to participate in an investment opportunity,” she said.
“These scams prey on people seeking connection and can leave victims with significant financial losses and emotional distress.”
Ms Rickard said that while traditional dating and romance scams targeted older Australians, almost half of all losses to romance baiting scams came from people under the age of 35.
The Deputy Chair said scammers encouraged victims to transfer a small amount of money at first, to prove how easy the investment was.
She said victims would then be told to top up their accounts to increase their profits but when they ran out of money, the scammer would cease all communication.
“Don’t take financial advice from someone you met on an app and never give financial or personal details to someone you’ve only met online,” Ms Rickard said.
“If you match with someone on a dating app, get to know them in the app as you have more protections than if you move to a different chat site.”
Ms Rickard said that if people reported a potential scammer on a dating app, the profile could be removed which would also protect the other people communicating with the scammer.
