A report from cybersecurity company Agari claims to expose one corner of the multimillion-dollar romance scam industry: a Nigerian fraud ring it dubs Scarlet Widow. As with other romance scams, members of Scarlet Widow created numerous fake personas to bait lonely men and women into online relationships. The Agari report, not coincidentally published on Valentine’s…
There’s a special place in hell for romance scammers.Photo: Getty ImagesThe stigma of online dating might be gone, but the scams are not. According to the Federal Trade Commission, over 21,000 romance scams were reported to the agency in 2018, costing Americans a total of $143 million. That makes them more costly than any other…
The Federal Trade Commission has released data that shows romance scams cost more money than other types of consumer fraud reported to the agency last year — and the problem is getting worse. Romance scammers target people through dating sites and apps or social media, often using fake profiles and sob stories to convince victims…