Lots of “engineers” and “doctors” whose highest level of education was “some high school” or “some college”! After submitting over a dozen ‘fake profile’ reports to POF, I asked Customer Support for a refund because about 90% of the profiles I read were clearly fake. The September 2019 survey measured the usage rate of online dating among adults age 16 and older. If you have any questions feel free to call us at 1-877-440-ZING.

Among all scams the FTC tracks, romance scams made up the highest reported losses for those aged 60-79. And those aged 70 and older reported the highest median losses from romance scams: $9,475.80. Texas has the highest number of reported cases, with 1,238 cases on the books. Florida is also north of 1,000 cases, sitting at 1,191. New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington round out the top five states with the highest reported cases of catfishing. The state with the fewest catfishing cases is Vermont, with just 25 reported cases in 2018.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning of online dating scams.

The FBI said “romance scammers” cost Texans $16 million in 2016. The scheme revolves around people searching for romantic partners on dating websites, apps, or social media. Schemers then obtain personal finance and identifying information.

According to the FBI in 2016, almost 15,000 complaints categorized as romance scams or confidence fraud were reported to IC3, and the losses associated with those complaints exceeded $230 million.

The states with the highest numbers of victims were California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania. In Texas, the IC3 received more than 1,000 complaints from victims reporting more than $16 million in losses related to romance scams.

In a Texas case highlighted by the FBI, a woman lost $2 million. The woman met a man online. He said he was a friend of a friend. The woman, in her 50s and struggling in her marriage, was happy to find someone to chat with.

'He was saying all the right things,' she remembered. 'He was interested in me. He was interested in getting to know me better. He was very positive, and I felt like there was a real connection there.'

That connection would end up costing the woman $2 million and an untold amount of heartache after the man she fell in love with—whom she never met in person—took her for every cent she had.

FBI tips for detecting online romance scams, if you develop a romantic relationship with someone you meet online:

• Research the person's photo and profile using online searches to see if the material has been used elsewhere.
• Go slow and ask lots of questions.
• Beware if the individual seems too perfect or quickly asks you to leave a dating service or Facebook to go 'offline.'
• Beware if the individual attempts to isolate you from friends and family or requests inappropriate photos or financial information that could later be used to extort you.
• Beware if the individual promises to meet in person but then always comes up with an excuse why he or she can't. If you haven't met the person after a few months, for whatever reason, you have good reason to be suspicious.
• Never send money to anyone you don't know personally.

Www.thestreet.com › Personal-finance › Credit-cardsThe Most Scammed States In America - TheStreet

If you suspect an online relationship is a scam, the FBI recommends cutting off all contact immediately. The agency urges victims of romance scams to file a complaint with its Internet Crime Complaint Center .

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From Nairobi, it is clear the online dating fraud and internet scams industry is growing by the minute. Countries like Nigeria or Ghana have been for quite a while classified as some of the highest risk counties for fraud and dating scams, but the criminal expansion has now reached Kenya.

Kenya had been kept out of the internet fraud circle for a long time, probably because it is one of the largest economies in East and Central Africa. However, there is an alarming increase of cases of fraud coming from Nairobi, which raises concerns among private investigators in Africa.

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With high unemployment rates and limited opportunity, some unethical people with knowledge of computers and the internet have chosen the path of easy money – online fraud.

Crime rates are in great part linked to a region or country’s economy and social well-being. Although this does not explain the whole picture, there is a connection between economic and social crises and online criminal rates. Kenya, in this case, has historically surpassed its neighboring countries in many different ways, but it has not been immune to the expansion of online mafia gangs.

Several things may have contributed to the alarming increase of scam cases reported from Kenya. According to the Human Development Index of 2017 reported by the United Nations, Kenya recorded a 39.1 percent unemployment rate, which is the highest in all East Africa. The data reflects a shockingly high youth unemployment rate and a large section of the population suffering from chronic unemployment. Almost 40 percent of the people living in Kenya have no employment and no way to find one! As in many other countries, this is a well known trigger for fraud and crime. Faced with the impossibility of finding a job, many people opt for easy ways to get an income. This, combined with the ease of accessing the internet, explains why Kenya is rapidly becoming a high fraud zone.

How to prevent a Kenya dating scam?

No one wants to think they can be taken advantage of by an internet scam. However, anyone who reads this article is a potential victim. Every single user of the internet is at risk of being defrauded or scammed, so the responsibility of staying safe is mostly on all of us as internet users.

Kenya scams do not have a particular differentiator. However, investigators in Nairobi do report that many people rule out the possibility of fraud since the origin is not one of the hot spots (West Africa). This is a big mistake, considering that there are no risk-free countries. Kenya is not risk free. Anyone who is in contact with an individual or company in Kenya is a potential victim.

If you meet someone from Kenya and become interested in developing a relationship with this person (personal or business), make sure you hire a professional background check investigation first. Wymoo has highly trained investigators on the ground in Nairobi, Kenya and we can uncover the evidence you need to stay safe and make an informed decision. Regardless of whether the communication has been through dating sites like Match.com or social media like Facebook or Linkedin, caution is advised. Finding out in early stages of a relationship if the person is trustworthy or a complete sham is key to avoiding big losses, not to mention you will save a lot of time and effort too.

C. Wright
© 2017 Wymoo International

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