by Jess Szabo’
Many people are tempted to believe that romance scams are a thing of the past. After all “everybody” knows about them now and “nobody” would fall for those silly stories. At the same time, MTV’s tv show “Catfish” is still running, there are numerous current and recently ended series on the Investigation Discovery Channel devoted to romance scams, and at least one anti-romance scam YouTube channel posts a new episode every week. Romance scams are indeed alive and well, and despite the absurdity of many of the stories, still clearly effective. However, many of the “old rules” for recognizing and dealing with romance scams no longer apply, or are a bit different today.
Scammers don’t always ask for money or ask the target to transfer money…though if they do…it is almost certainly a scam
The YouTube channel “Social Catfish” focuses on uncovering the scams run by Nigerian and Eastern European crime rings. These scammers always ask for money or gift cards,or ask the target to move money for them. Money is indeed a chief motivator for romance scams, and these are the most common.
However, one episode of either MTV’s “Catfish” or any romance scam highlighted on the Investigation Discovery Channel reveals that all romance scams are not run with the goal of getting the victim to send money. Some romance scammers run their hoax with the goal of luring people to them for the purposes of kidnapping, assault, or even murder. MTV’s “Catfish” seems to feature scammers who run scams simply to see how much they can get away with. Pulling off the scam appears to be its own reward for many of them.
Each of these channels or shows is problematic in its own way. The Investigation Discovery Channel often makes it seem as though you have to be either probing some obscure, shadowy corner of the internet or desperate for attention and love in order to meet somebody dangerous. MTV’s “Catfish” is difficult to watch because the host so often naively promotes befriending internet scammers. And “Social Catfish” encourages viewers to attack the victims of romance scams in the comment section of their channe . But taken together, these demonstrate that Nigerian scams, domestic scams run to perpetuate worse harm, and domestic scams run simply for the sake of manipulating others are all active in the world.
Video chats and the ability to send a variety of photos are no longer evidence the person is real
When romance scams first came to public attention, scammers either stole a few photos, or used a real photo of themselves and lied about other crucial details in their lives. If you pushed for a video chat, they’d show you a few seconds of a flickering screen and claim their camera was “broken.” Once you were able to have a clear, sustained video chat with the person, you could be assured that what you saw was at least their real appearance. And if they were able to move the camera around and show you a children’s room to prove they did indeed have kids, a small apartment with a a view of a rough neighborhood out the window to show they truly lacked financial resources, or the possessions of a single person as evidence that they were not married, you could be assured that at least these details were genuine.
Scammers now have the ability to fake all of that. They can steal extensive collections of photos and use photoshopping software to make it seem as though they just took a picture of themselves in an airport, or holding a sign with your name on it, or holding up today’s paper from their alleged hometown. They can steal long videos, splice portions of videos together, and use voice duplicating and video editing technology to create a video that appears to be the person in the photos chatting with you on camera. Nothing short of meeting the person offline and in person and getting to know them can now be considered proof that they are who they claim to be.
Scammers used to make up a life story then scramble to find photos and content to back it up. Today’s scammers are more likely to steal all or most of another person’s life story and just make a few changes.
Most “catfish” or romance scammers operate by pretending to be someone else entirely. In the past, these “classic” scammers typically started with a story written by themselves or someone else in their scam ring, and then scrambled to collect pictures and poems and other details to fill it in. There simply wasn’t the option to do much else.
Today, people post their entire lives online. This is a wonderful blessing for grandparents who want to watch the grandkids grow up across the miles. It allows the old crowd from college or the army or those happy years you spent living and working in Portland or Pittsburgh to stay together, if only virtually. Sadly, it also provides a collection of pre-made gift baskets to romance scammers, who only have to save the content of a few accounts on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, and Tik Tok and alter a handful of details to create a realistic character to use in their scams. Being provided with…or finding…a video of the person with dogs they talked about, or seeing pictures of your online love with a child who fits the description they gave in your chats does not prove anything anymore.
Romance scammers are increasingly using the “unexpected romance” angle to make the situation seem real.
Dating sites are still prime targets for romance scammers. They also continue to hunt for victims in places like online support groups for illnesses and disabilities that can involve isolation and loneliness, or in environments designed for people in other situations that might render them distracted and vulnerable to a romance scam.
But this is not the only place to encounter today’s scammers. More and more guests on the “Social Catfish” channel seem to be meeting suspicious new dating partners while using Facebook marketplace, watching videos online, or even using LinkedIn. The scammer pretends they just happened to find the target’s comment or post interesting, or that they want to connect for professional reasons, and then feigns surprise when they “fall in love” with the target.
Today’s “romance scams” are not even strictly “romance” scams. A scammer who encounters someone in a monogamous relationship with no willingness to cheat on their partner or even flirt with others online is going to be perfectly willing to adapt and attempt a platonic friendship scam. Their goal is to either get money, trick someone into making illegal financial transactions for them, draw people to them in order to commit other crimes, or entertain themselves by seeing how much emotional manipulation they can get away with. They don’t care how they do it, and they don’t truly care about the people they talk to.
And even if you are someone who would never fall for anything like this, someone you care about might. Being scammed is not deserved simply because someone is unsophisticated, naive, or in a temporarily vulnerable emotional state. Look out for each other.
Editor’s note: Most of this content was previously published on the website “Artist Cafe 315.” This version is exclusive to Phoenix Media. It has been edited for the media and is reprinted with permission.
