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Photo
by Markus
Winkler
The most reliable way to avoid online romance frauds
is to combine strong verification habits with emotional awareness and financial
boundaries. The core rule — emphasized across expert sources — is never send
money or gifts to someone you haven’t met in person.
Key Red Flags
to Watch For
- They push to move
off the dating app quickly (to WhatsApp,
Telegram, email).
- They avoid video
calls or in‑person meetings, often claiming to
work overseas, on an oil rig, or in the military.
- Love bombing
— intense affection early on to build trust.
- Financial requests:
plane tickets, medical emergencies, visas, cryptocurrency “opportunities,”
or help with fees.
- Repeated excuses
for canceling planned meetups.
- Wrong-number texts
that turn into flirtation.
How to Verify Someone’s Identity
- Ask for a real-time selfie doing a specific action (holding a spoon, tugging their ear, showing today’s date). Scammers struggle to produce these because they use stolen photos.
- Reverse-search their photos and bio to see if they appear elsewhere online.
- Ask detailed questions about their life and look for inconsistencies. Scammers often slip up on details like hometowns, jobs, or timelines.
- Search their job title + “scammer” to see if others have reported related stories.
Protect Yourself Emotionally & Financially
- Take relationships
slowly — scammers rely on fast emotional
escalation.
- Talk to someone you
trust if anything feels off; outside perspectives help
break the spell.
- Never send money,
gift cards, crypto, or banking info — these are the
scammer’s preferred methods because they’re hard to trace or reverse.
- Be cautious of
investment pitches, especially crypto. AARP
reports that 1 in 10 adults over 50 met a romantic interest who later
requested money or crypto.
What To Do If You Suspect a Scam
- Stop communicating at
once.
- Report the profile
to the dating app or social platform.
- File a report
with the FTC or FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.
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