Romance in the digital world: Online dating security
Just two decades ago, online dating sites were pushed to the back corner of the internet. But in our digital age, their numbers have blossomed - and so too have the relationships that people develop through these portals. Let's put it this way: The popular dating site eHarmony has some one million Australian users according to choice.com.au, and others have even bigger numbers! With such a wide range of people signing up to use these services, finding your perfect match could only be one click away. But what are the risks?
The scams usually work like this: Fraudsters strike up a relationship with an unsuspecting victim, convincing them to send money. A new report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ranked online dating and romance scams as number one for financial loss in 2014 - in fact, they made up almost a third of of the $82 million lost to all types of scams in 20141.
Don't be put off the quest for romance, though. By brushing up on the tell-tale signs of a scam artist, you can avoid the pitfalls of online match-making.
The perfect profile picture
Most of us don't have a professional photographer at our beck and call - so if the picture on a profile page looks too good to be true, exercise a bit of caution. To make it look like they're legitimate, many unscrupulous scammers simply copy and past images from a magazine or elsewhere on the internet. Warning bells should also ring if the photo is different than the description provided - and keep an eye on entries that seem disjointed or full of grammatical mistakes.
Too much information
There's a certain level of trust involved with online dating, but it's important to keep in mind that any approach could be a scam, no matter how persistent. Scammers try to gain your trust as quickly as possible, by telling elaborate stories or asking for too many personal details. Above all, try not to reveal too much about yourself until you're certain that they're completely genuine - even giving out your phone number or home address could put you at risk of identity theft.
Never give out your credit card details, no matter how convincing their tales might seem! It might seem like a harmless plane ticket, but the costs can quickly spiral - and they could use them for other illegal reasons. The ACCC found that, in total, victims of reported romance scams lost $27.9 million in 20142.
If you have any doubts whatsoever, it's best to cut ties. The same goes if they seem a bit too eager to move the conversations away from the dating website, too. The ACCC found that 21 per cent of reported contacts with scammers were by email - in the end, they might be trying to avoid being caught2.
If you're concerned about the possibility of people misusing your personal details, Identity Watch can help keep the worries at bay - our team at Identity Watch will keep their eyes trained on all the dark places in the internet where your data could show up illegally.
1 Romance scams can leave you broke and heartbroken: Alert Priority Moderate. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Media release. May 19 2015.
2 Targeting Scams: Report of the ACCC on scams activity 2014. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. May 2015.