Even with Valentines’ Day long over, the search for love continues for many. The same goes for love scams by cybercriminals looking to prey on hopeless romantics.
Research by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky found that almost one in two (45%) respondents in South-East Asia (SEA) have lost money to online love scams.
Fortunately, in most cases (22%) the money lost amounted to less than US$100 (RM418.65).
However, the study found older victims were tricked more often and for more money. Two in five of those in the most senior age group admitted to losing US$5,000-US$10,000 (RM20,932-RM41,865).
Kaspersky Asia Pacific managing director Chris Connell commented that the younger crowd may tend to be more reckless, but the older generation have more time on their hands and often, retirement funds in their bank accounts.
“Cybercriminals know these realities as well as our human tendencies to be lonely and crave for company when forced to be alone inside our houses,” he said.
Their data showed love scams have been on the rise since 2020, coinciding with the outbreak of the pandemic and many countries’ implementation of lockdown measures. Malaysia’s own movement control order (MCO) was put into place on March 16, 2020, which curbed the public’s movements and restricted the operation of many industries.
The cybersecurity firm’s ‘Our Changing Relationship with Social Media’ global study found 53% of social media users started going on social networks more during lockdowns.
The research also revealed 18% of the 1,007 adults surveyed from South-East Asia (SEA) use social media mainly to find romance.
Even for those not actively looking, 24% said they ended up forming real-life, in-person friendships with people they initially met on social media, while 18% admitted they dated someone they met on these platforms.
Beyond dating apps, even social media platforms like short-form video site TikTok have become a place to find something more than just content.
As part of its #BeCyberSmart campaign, the service spoke to creators to reveal common scam tactics used by false suitors, some of which operated on its platform.
Among them were how swindlers were quick to profess their affection and take conversations off the app, often trying to draw in victims with love-filled texts, emails or calls.
Scammers also tend to pose as others, a trick that can be revealed by using reverse image search websites to see if the same photo has been used elsewhere but with a different name attached.
TikTok encouraged creators to cut off all contact immediately if something seemed off, and to also to report suspicious activity in-app to its Safety Centre.
“User safety has always been our priority. As a platform that connects people to other creators based on their interests, we are committed to promoting a safe environment for our community even when sparks fly,” said TikTok Malaysia strategy operations manager Darren Quek.
Cybersecurity firm Sophos noted that not only were love scams becoming more rampant, the criminals now ran shorter-term scams.
Sophos principal research scientist Paul Ducklin said that conventional love scams are often long game confidence tricks, which take “weeks, perhaps months, of careful ground work” before bringing up talk of money, then slowly leeching victims for as long as they can.
He said that cybercriminals were now putting money before love, jumping straight from meeting victims to bringing money into the conversation.
While criminals still used dating sites to select, stalk and groom their victims, instead of taking weeks or months to build up the relationship, they now offer victims a “big favour” in the form of a chance to join an unbeatable investment opportunity.
While this may sound like the start of a multi-level marketing pitch, these crooks had updated their scams to involve the currently popular topic of cryptocurrency.
Ducklin said it added a veneer of legitimacy, asking victims to invest for their own benefit rather than transferring money or buying gift cards for a scammer who had to win their trust and affection.
He warned that there was no trading platform behind these investment opportunities, and any profits victims withdrew were likely their own money or from other victims, like with a Ponzi scheme. To protect themselves, he recommended people take their time when dating online, especially if talk about money comes up.
Similarly, Ducklin added that they should also speak to friends and family, who may have a more objective view on the situation.
Kaspersky’s Connell added that people needed to be more cautious about how they make friends online too and not accept friend requests from people they don’t know and to use only reputable dating sites.
He added that it is safer to keep communicating through these site’s messaging services and not follow fraudsters that try to switch to text or other social media, which is a trick to ensure that there is no evidence on the dating site of them asking for money.
“The cases we’ve seen lately should serve us a reminder to keep our minds ‘on’ even as we listen to our hearts.
“Because nothing is more painful than having a fake lover and an empty wallet, we urge everyone to be discerning to the authenticity of the relationships we build online and offline,” he summed up.
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