Edited by: TJVNews.com
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, those looking for love and romance are advised to be on guard. It appears that dating apps have their own share of scammers who steal both your heart and your money.
According to a New York Post report, a staggering number of Americans have been swindled by Lotharios who prey upon them as well as other online scam artists.
Last year alone, the Post reported that those looking for love on dating apps and websites were taken for a ride to the tune of $547 million by online scammers. This was a 78% increase over the previous record $307 million in losses in 2020, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
The number of reported cases climbed from 33,000 to 56,000, or 70%, over the same year, according to the Post report. In the last five years hundreds of thousands of Americans were bilked for $1.3 billion.
Federal agencies including the FTC, the FBI and the Better Business Bureau have said that scammers typically claiming to work overseas in the military, as a selfless doctor serving with an international organization or as an oil industry executive, as was reported by the Post.
One victim of an online scammer spoke out earlier this week on “Banfield” on NewsNation, according to the Post report.
Rebecca D’Antonio, who is now an activist in exposing online love criminals. The Post reported that the Florida woman said that this kind of con job is now bigger than bank fraud.
The Post reported that D’Antonio got bilked out of $100,000 by a loathsome creep that she met on the OkCupid dating app. The Lothario claimed to be an Australian oil industry contractor and a widowed father.
D’Antonio said: “They know what to say to disarm you. They know what to say to make you feel valued. This is their bread and butter. So they’re very practiced at it.” She was compelled to declare bankruptcy because of the fraud that was perpetrated on her.
When D’Antonio came to the tragic realization that she was being conned she confronted her suitor, “Matthew.” The Post reported that she told him that the scam he was pulling had driven her to consider suicide as an option to get out of the mess she was in.
The scam artist responded by saying, “Well, you have to do what you have to do.”
D’Antonio also said that “Matthew”, it turns out, was a front for a criminal gang out of Nigeria, as was reported by the Post.
For its part, Netflix has explored this egregious phenomenon is the new documentary entitled, “The Tinder Swindler.” The film follows the dubious career of con-man Shimon Hayut, who used the name Simon Leviev.
The Post reported that the native-born Israeli allegedly defrauded victims around the world out of $10 million. He erroneously claimed to be the son of an Israeli diamond industry tycoon. The Post reported that he stole $500.000 from a woman in Norway, according to reports in the Norwegian media. The Post also reported that Hayut introduced her to a luxurious jet-setting international lifestyle that soon proved a fraud.
The FTC warned that “the scammers strike up a relationship with their targets to build their trust, sometimes talking or chatting several times a day. Then, they make up a story and ask for money.”
