Yahoo Finance Can you spot the 7 lies in this dating profile?
Everybody needs a little bit of love sometimes, and scammers know it.
And with Valentine’s Day just hours away, it’s a good time to refresh on your scam-sniffing skills.
There are seven lies hidden in this dating profile. Can you spot them all?
Some are pretty obvious, others might not be so apparent.
And that’s often the way it goes with fake dating profiles, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) deputy chair, Delia Rickard warned today.
“Finding potential new love is exhilarating but that can make it easy to miss the red flags that point to you falling for a scammer,” Rickard said.
“Be careful if someone you don’t know makes contact on social media and presents themselves as a ‘too good to be true’ catch. It’s likely they’ve done some research on you beforehand to find out things about you to create an instant bond.”
It can be trickier to spot a scam on dating apps as the intention is generally to meet new people, she acknowledged.
“However, nearly all romance scammers will eventually reveal their intentions, which is getting your money. If you’ve only ever known the person online or through an app, don’t give them money.”
Is this a widespread problem?
The ACCC’s Scamwatch body received nearly 4,000 reports of dating and romance scams last year with losses totalling a staggering $24.6 million – that’s a 20 per cent increase on 2017.
Women are also significantly more likely to fall victim to a scam like this, losing $20 million to men’s $5 million.
And it’s Australians aged 45-64 who are the most likely to be scammed.
“You may think you love them and want to help, but they’ll just break your heart, and deplete your bank account,” Rickard said.
“It can pay to trust your head over your heart. If you have any doubts about someone you have met online or an app, doing a Google search on their name and pictures can often reveal scammers.”
Did I get all the lies?
Let’s find out.
Make your money work with Yahoo Finance’s daily newsletter. Sign up here and stay on top of the latest money, news and tech news.
Now read: The coaching sessions critical to my success: Paypal Australia MD
Now read: Gallery: A look inside Elon Musk’s futuristic home, listed for $6.3m
Now read: The two words you need to know to understand the federal election
