Love scamming phenomenon: Fewer circumstances of fraud with false guarantees of affection | EUROtoday

With false guarantees of affection on the Internet, criminals have… Lower Saxony Fewer folks will likely be cheated in 2024 than in earlier years. The variety of identified circumstances of so-called love scamming has declined considerably, the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office mentioned on the request of the German Press Agency. In 2021, the preliminary statistics recorded case numbers within the mid-three-digit vary; final 12 months, solely fewer than 100 circumstances have been reported to the police by the top of November.

The crime phenomenon is called love scamming or romance scamming. The fraudsters normally search for their potential victims on courting portals akin to Tinder or Bumble and bombard them with expressions of affection. Their solely aim is to take cash out of their victims’ pockets, warns them police.

Men and ladies are equally affected by fraud

are affected Men and ladies equally, additionally in all age teams, mentioned Chief Detective Hans-Joachim Henschel from the LKA. The victims put on “rose-colored glasses” due to the flattery of the love scammers and sometimes don’t wish to hear the warnings from these round them. Many are lonely and really consider that they’ve met a really perfect associate. “They then say something like, “You’ll see when I walk through the village with my doctor,” mentioned Henschel.

At the top of final 12 months, the state and federal police crime prevention businesses launched a marketing campaign along with a number of courting platforms to make customers conscious of the hazard of affection scams. Specific warnings are given.

How are you able to shield your self?

To shield your self from prison romance scammers, officers advise, amongst different issues, to remain in chats on courting platforms the place security measures are built-in and to not reveal any private data.

The Harburg police lately warned that extreme affection at the start may very well be a sign of “love bombing”. This is a method that includes flattery instantly after attending to know one another Manipulation and management ought to be achieved. Two ladies from the Harburg district filed a criticism after that they had transferred massive sums of cash to an alleged lover.

Prevention specialists assume that the variety of unreported circumstances is excessive

According to the LKA’s prevention knowledgeable, it may be assumed that the variety of unreported circumstances is excessive as a result of a few of these affected didn’t report it out of disgrace. There are victims of affection scamming in Lower Saxony who’ve transferred tens of 1000’s of euros. The perpetrators then usually fake that they must pay for a kid’s operation or want cash for attorneys or a flight.

Photos, movies or voice messages may be created or manipulated with the assistance of synthetic intelligence (AI), mentioned Henschel. Profile pictures ought to nonetheless be checked with a reverse search on the Internet, as a result of the fraudsters generally additionally use photos discovered on the Internet.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:250115-930-344694/1