Damn scammers!
Yes, you heard me right. Damn those scammers.
These days, it seems like dating sites, many Facebook groups, and other online social sites are riddled with fake profiles run by scamming operations. It’s infuriating and very hurtful. It also costs society a lot of money.
The US Federal Trade Commission says it logged reports of 21,000 romance scams costing an estimated 143 million dollars in 2018. Think about that. $143 million in one year, and that’s just romance scams. There are many other types of scams going on these days. Plus, consider how many more victims were too embarrassed to admit that they had been duped by a scammer.
In addition to monetary losses, scammers take a heavy toll on people emotionally and psychologically. It interferes with our ability to find new friends or real romance by affecting our trust in online social sites and people in general. How many individuals have given up on even trying to improve their social situation because they seem to keep running into scammers? As a terribly lonely person myself, I can attest to how infuriating and hurtful it is to keep running into scammers when I’m just trying to find a friend.
So, be careful when online. Don’t reveal important information to individuals online you don’t truly know with 100% certainty whether they are real or not. And even if they are real, hackers can steal data. While many scammers are pretty easy to identify, some are very clever. Plus, when you are lonely, it’s easy to ignore the red flags that you are dealing with a scammer because you want to believe it’s real.
Dating sites, social sites, and other online groups can be quite helpful. But be careful and protect yourself from scammers too.
Views and Observations 