HOPEFULLY, the only hit your wallet has taken this past week is on roses for a significant other as, unfortunately, Valentine’s Day can also be a time when unscrupulous people look to steal your money.

Scamwatch data shows almost $10 million was lost to scammers in February, 2016 – the highest amount of any month – with dating and romance scams causing the most financial loss.
It’s a dirty, but lucrative, business because it targets vulnerable people seeking meaningful relationships.

The largest number of reports came from those aged 45-54 years, while those aged over 55 years reported the greatest financial loss.
Scammers use a variety of methods to approach potential victims, including legitimate dating sites, unsolicited emails and social media.

In fact, more than 80 per cent of reports of romance scamming and 90 per cent of the loss incurred was from direct contact by the internet, social networking or email.

And they are getting smarter, targetting victims through social networking sites, where they “like” them and then express shared interests based on personal information gleaned from their online profile.

There is a fairly consistent process that the scammers follow, starting with a claim that they are working/living overseas because of a family situation and that there is a reason that they cannot travel to Australia right now.

It progresses quickly to their declaration of love and, at some time soon after, a request for money to resolve a fictitious situation.

This can be to pay for medical expenses, airline tickets so as to meet and visa/government fees.

More requests for money follow and as the stories become more complicated the scammer continues to make promises that are never kept.

Keep these facts in mind before committing to send any money because, if you haven’t met the person before the requests start, there’s a good chance that you are being scammed.

You can find out more about the impact of romance scammers via accc.gov.au/media-release/australians-lose-75000-every-day-to-romance-scams and there are some real-life examples at
scamwatch.gov.au/get-help

Scammers are becoming increasingly more sophisticated in the way they operate and the old adage “if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is” applies to all of those people who are trying to separate you from your money.

David Snowden is the ACT Commissioner for Fair Trading.