The use of social networks and contact applications have led to an increase in cases of the so-called ‘romantic fraud’
Technology advances day by day at a dizzying pace and not all of society has adapted to it or understands the risks that the Internet entails: that great digital ecosystem to which citizens have been subscribing to satisfy their educational, work, and entertainment needs. or social, which are usually satisfied through networks, websites and contact applications.
In recent years, these new spaces for interaction have changed the pattern of relationships, but they are also a field of action for fraudsters. People who impersonate others to gain the trust of their victims and ask them for money. While it is true that not everyone falls into this trap, the reality is that this type of scam, known as ‘romance fraud’, is becoming more common. “The number has increased in recent years due to the use of social networks,” acknowledges JF Verdejo, chief inspector of the Cybercrime Group of the Murcia National Police. Among his latest cases, those of two men who delivered 240,000 and 78,000 euros to their respective alleged girlfriends stand out.
The profile of the victims
“Most of the victims are people, especially women, who are normally alone and in need of affection, who believe in pure and true love and look for it on the Internet,” reveals the inspector. You have to understand – he points out – that these scammers are specialists in the art of deception and have the gift of words and knowledge of psychology. His procedure is based on sending many requests waiting for someone to fall. Once the victim accepts the request, they study her affective needs to give her what she wants and, finally, ask her for money. Just like it happened to Laura’s mother [nombre ficticio] 63 years old from San Javier. She met a British man her age on the Facebook dating app and they gave each other phone numbers. After many months of talking, she managed to get him to voluntarily give her 3,000 euros through iTunes gift cards. She «she told him that she had debts with a partner in a restaurant and that she had to pay them off quickly; and to others, that he was locked up in a jail», Laura recounts.
Be careful with the photos
But how do scammers get victims to give them money without ever seeing them? “He used nice words to gain his trust and affection and, in addition, he sent him an ID so that he would believe it was real,” says Laura. “Normally, they use photos of attractive people and claim to be someone of high social status, such as soldiers who are on a humanitarian mission in other countries,” explains JF Verdejo. One of the ways to realize that those photos that are sent to us are false, is to use the Google Lens application, which scans them to search for results on the web. “That’s when the number of identities associated with a photo is discovered,” the police officer clarifies.
Two Murcians delivered 240,000 and 78,000 euros to their supposed girlfriends, who claimed to be soldiers on a humanitarian mission
«These scammers usually appeal to the empathy and altruism of the victims, in addition, they demand immediacy to respond to their request. They take advantage of the emotional bond”, explains María Pagán, a general health psychologist at the Menfis Clinic (La Unión). “People tend to trust and believe each other’s stories,” she adds.
social stigma
In most cases, Inspector Verdejo admits that victims often do not realize that they have been scammed, in fact, they do not admit it until they are presented with the evidence. “It’s hard to open their eyes, because they are in their romantic cloud and for them the relationship has been real,” he explains. In addition, it is difficult for them to report because they are ashamed and believe that they may be stigmatized by their family. Therefore, many times it is the relatives, as in the case of Laura, who must take charge of the situation.
“These scammers usually take advantage of the emotional bond and appeal to the empathy and altruism of the victims,” says psychologist María Pagán
The woman from San Javier and her sister became suspicious when they saw that their mother spent a lot of time with her cell phone. “One day she withdrew 1,500 euros from the family account under the pretext that it was for a neighbor, but we did not believe her because she had been deceived by other false profiles before, although she never gave them money,” she shares. In the end, they checked their WhatsApp conversations and discovered that not only had she withdrawn that money for the scammer, but she had also requested other amounts from her family and friends.
After discovering what happened, they talked to her mother, but she does not fully accept that she has been scammed, so they have decided to control her movements in the account, check her phone and block all the scammer’s numbers. “He kept talking to her through new ones and, in the end, I had to take her mobile phone with the internet so that she no longer communicates with him.” However, these measures have caused a family conflict because she has come to consider them her enemies. “He says we want to control her life.”
How to spot a scam
“Any change in that person’s normal behavior is a sign that something is wrong and, when that happens, you have to ask them first,” advises psychologist María Pagán. From the National Police they warn that you have to be attentive if that person makes a sudden and abusive use of the networks and if he starts talking enthusiastically about someone he has met through the internet.
When dealing with these situations, the psychologist recommends going to therapy because, on the one hand, there is the victim who feels “misunderstood and guilty; although it is not his fault because it can happen to anyone»; and, on the other, there is the family that, like Laura, “feels powerless.”
“Any piece of information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, helps us to track it down”
When a person suspects that he or an acquaintance has been the victim of an internet scam, he must go to a police station and report it. “Any piece of information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is useful,” acknowledges JF Verdejo, chief inspector of the Cybercrime Group of the Murcia National Police. They track everything from the phone numbers the scammer has used to communicate, email addresses and fake photos to bank accounts and reloadable card codes. Thanks to this information, says JF Verdejo, it has been possible to locate some fraudsters living in Spain and arrest them. When the data trail leads them abroad, they make commissions with other police stations to get to the bottom of the matter. In fact, “in 90% of the investigations, the fraudsters were from Africa.”
The main advice given by the Cybercrime Group of the Murcia National Police is to use intelligence and common sense. “Just like you don’t give 240,000 euros to someone who asks you on the street, don’t give it to them through networks,” Verdejo emphasizes. It must also be taken into account that everything on the internet is done anonymously and that, no matter how many photos the scammer sends, you will never know if it is real or not.
Lastly, he recommends looking at what appears behind the at sign (@) in emails. “Official organizations always end with @policia or @guardiacivil, if the account ends with @gmail or @hotmail, it is false,” he points out. However, and above all, “if someone asks you for money or to recharge a card online, in 99% of cases it will be a scam.”
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