Genoa – The “romance scam” or romantic scam continues to grow (+118% in 2021). The postal police reminds us of this on its website, adding: “It is one of the most painful scams that one can fall victim to because, by hitting the sphere of feelings, it hurts the desire for happiness, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth”. The age of the victims deceived by false suitors on social media is around 50 years old and those who are often involved are women of heterogeneous social extraction. The reality of the cases reveals that the majority of victims are no longer very young and that, perhaps after a romantic relationship that ended badly and with children who live independently, they become easy prey by chatting in front of the computer or on a smartphone.
The male sex, in general, is less affected by this type of scamalthough there are cases in which many Italian men have allowed themselves to be “duped” by criminals pretending to be women. In general – explains the Postal Police – criminals contact the victim on social media, sending a friend request and using images of very attractive men who often present themselves as entrepreneurs or soldiers. The photos are actually stolen from the internet and the profiles are built by presenting plausible situations; from here the first exchanges of messages begin, which intensify over time, enriched with increasingly intimate details. In this way, a bond with the scammer begins to be created, which turns out to be exciting for the victim.
After establishing this false but intense relationship of virtual “friendship”, the scammers begin to ask for money, using a series of imaginative motivations related to serious health reasons or the desire to purchase the most varied travel tickets to reach the victim. These are requests for large sums. The criminals carry out a real social engineering activity aimed at studying the behaviors, habits, and interests that the victim shows when surfing the net; they also analyze the contents that the victim shares on social networks, the comments and “likes” that he leaves on the posts.
Unfortunately those involved often wait a long time before reporting, because they must first admit to themselves that they have been deceived, that what they thought was a real interest in them was, in reality, just a means to obtain money. A difficult emotional transition for anyone, which is added to the shame of having to then confide in someone else, who could be a friend or the Police, their situation.
The counteraction activity, although sometimes full of obstacles, has recently led to good results with the identification of various criminal groups. In any case, it is emphasized that, in addition to the forms provided for by the current regulations, through the website www.commissariatodips.it any citizen can send reports regarding those phenomena that can be traced back to “romance scams”thus allowing the Postal Police to become aware of emergency situations, beyond those arising from complaints filed by citizens, the injured parties in the crime.
Also through the aforementioned site, the postal police periodically publishes “alerts” for particularly dangerous phenomena, providing the user with useful advice. Suggestions: check the name and profile images of the people who ask us for this type of attention on a common search engine, verifying that there are no reports from other users; be wary of those who send messages using often ungrammatical Italian; do not trust those who persistently ask for money; report what is happening, refraining from paying any sum of money.
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