The scam frequently targets victims on dating and messaging platforms using the false pretense of a romantic relationship or investment opportunity. Once trust is established, the scammer tricks victims into sending money to cryptocurrency or other trading accounts that the scammer controls. An unsolicited message from an unknown sender is one of the biggest red flags, but investors should also watch out for things like misspellings, grammatical errors, mysterious links, and high-pressure sales tactics involving investments.
This is especially true for opportunities including cryptocurrency, which can be hard to recover. Investors should also be wary of messages from people expressing romantic interests that avoid live face-to-face interaction, such as through video chat. Hiding their true identity is a key tactic for these scammers.
Staff can provide information about whether the person is registered to buy or sell securities or to offer investment advice, and whether they have had any regulatory actions or disciplinary events in their past.
The staff can also do a registration check on the trading platform and the investment opportunity as well. Romance scammers set online traps and use technology and social media platforms to profile targets. They also spend time getting to know people before asking for money or introducing an investment opportunity. Here are some common tactics and warning signs:.
They often get information from public sources, auto-generators, and the Dark Web. Once the scammer has established a relationship, they typically try to convince the person to send them money or invest in cryptocurrency. They may encourage the person to start messaging them on a different app like Telegram, and then ask them to transfer funds to unregulated investing or cryptocurrency trading apps. Some scammers try to romance their target to hasten the transfer of funds, even promising to meet in person, which inevitably never happens.
