Behind that ‘cute’ pic may lie a scammer

KLANG: Online romance scams are increasing because people have become very cyber dependent, said criminologist associate professor Dr Mohammad Rahim Kamaluddin, from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

“Just like how education and business have moved to the online platform, criminal activities, including romance scams, have also moved into cyberspace,’’ explained Mohammad Rahim.

The modus operandi of the romance scammers, he said, was to create a social media account and send friend requests to women they randomly select.

Once the friend request is accepted, they move on to the grooming phase to cultivate an emotional bond with the victim as well as gain her trust.

“Then comes the evaluation phase where the scammer finds out if the victim can be cheated of money.

“It will start with small amounts. Once the scammer finds that the victim can be easily manipulated to part with her money, big amounts will be requested,’’ said Dr Mohammad Rahim.

The scammers usually targeted single as well as elderly women, whom they believe are lonely without much family support and have a limited social circle.

Mohammad Rahim said although romance scams can take place at any time of the year, it could see an increase during occasions such as Valentine’s Day due to its push factor for love and romance.

He added that sometimes the scams could turn into blackmail in the event nude pictures were exchanged.

Romance scams can also be syndicated crime whereby Asian women, in particular, are being targeted because of the assumption that they like Caucasian men, added Mohammad Rahim.

Hence, the creation of non-existent Caucasian characters using stolen photos to entice the victims.

Universiti Sains Malaysia’s criminologist Datuk Dr P. Sundramoorthy said he has suspicion that some of the victims were targeted following data leakage revealing their financial status.

He added scammers may take advantage of Valentine’s Day, given that love and romance is in the air, and target lonely women on social media.

Most of the women who fall prey to romance scams include well-educated ones. They must have read about similar incidents, and it is perplexing they still ended up becoming victims, said Sundra-moorthy.

Since many genuine relationships had also been forged in the cyber world, women who find themselves falling for men on social media should invest a little money and hire a private detective to ensure they are not being scammed, he suggested.