Longmeadow woman falls victim to crypto scheme through dating app

(AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

LONGMEADOW, Mass. (WWLP) – The Better Business Bureau (BBB) ​​is warning people about a cryptocurrency scheme targeting people through dating apps.

The BBB says scammers will create fake profiles and when they match someone, they will try to take the conversation to another messaging platform and talk about family members who are successfully investing in cryptocurrency. The person claims to have insider trading information that could make the victim rich. But when someone deposits money on the trading platform, the money is gone forever and they block the victim on all platforms.

This incident was recently reported to the BBB by a Longmeadow woman. After talking to a man on a dating app, she was persuaded to invest in fake cryptocurrency.

“Everything about him seemed legit. His background, his family, even where he went to college in Portugal. Nothing seemed out of place and I started to make an emotional connection with him. As we got further in our conversations, he asked me how I was doing financially. Being a single mother, of course, things have been difficult. He then suggested investing in Crypto and showed me the profits I could make if I decided to invest. Of course, after having communicated every day, all day, day and night, he persuaded me and I fell into his trap, not realizing that I was a victim of a scam. I, unfortunately, fell into a romance scam and he convinced me that all he did was help me. I was naive, believed him and I also had the support of my family. He knew exactly how to manipulate me,” the Longmeadow woman said.

The BBB says schemers will steal photos and create fake accounts based on real people. Sometimes they claim that they are abroad and cannot meet in person, preying on the victim’s emotions. Calls can go on for months before they try to steal your information.

According to the BBB, here’s how you can protect yourself from this scam:

• Be wary of requests to switch to another communication mode. After making initial contact on the dating app, in case the dating app flags them for having a fake profile, they can quickly try to get the victim to switch to another mode of communication such as email or text. Mary communicated with the scammer via WhatsApp and Instagram shortly after the meeting on Hinge.

• Never send money or sensitive personal information to someone you have never met in person. Cut off contact if someone starts asking you for financial or personally identifiable information (PII), such as your credit card number or government ID number.

• Research your date first. Many scammers steal photos from the internet to use in their dating profiles. You can do a reverse photo lookup using a website, like Google Photos, to see if the photos on a profile have been stolen from somewhere else. You can also search the web for a profile name, email or phone number to see what matches and what doesn’t.

• Ask specific questions about details provided in a profile. A con artist may stumble over remembering details or making a story fit.

• Will not meet. Be wary of someone who always has an excuse to postpone a meeting because they say they are traveling or living abroad or in the military.

• Suspicious language. If the person you’re communicating with claims to be from your hometown but has poor spelling or grammar, uses overly flowery language, or uses sentences that don’t make sense, that’s a red flag.

• Hard luck stories. Before moving on to asking you for money, the scammer may suggest financial problems such as the heat being cut off or a stolen car, or a sick relative, or they may share a sad story from the past (death of a parent or spouse, etc.). ).