If you've met someone online, it's a good idea to make sure they are who they say they are. One way to do this is to look them up on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or to search their name in a search engine.
Con artists are present on most dating and social media sites. The scammer's intention is to establish a relationship as quickly as possible, endear himself to the victim, and gain trust. Scammers may propose marriage and make plans to meet in person, but that will never happen.
Your name, address and date of birth provide enough information to create another 'you'. An identity thief can use a number of methods to find out your personal information and will then use it to open bank accounts, take out credit cards and apply for state benefits in your name.
The scam attempt is coming from, of all places, the Google Chat application. An unknown person will attempt to connect with you on Google Chat (specifically, in your Gmail inbox) and will ask if you are available or on campus today.
If you suspect you're dealing with a catfish, use an online reverse image search to find out if the person's photos are on anyone else's online profiles. You can also search their messages online. Take any particularly unique or romantic lines they've written to you and search to see if they pop up anywhere else.
Look for typical scammer behavior.
Repeatedly asking for odd personal information (e.g., your location) Disconcertingly dramatic, erratic, or otherwise strange behavior (in all likelihood, you'll want to avoid dating people like this anyway) Early or inappropriate professions of love.
Some psychological variables appear to be associated with the risk of being scammed, such as female gender, middle-age, higher levels of neuroticism, tendencies to the romantic idealization of affective relations, sensation seeking, impulsiveness and susceptibility to addiction.
Report cyber crime
In addition to filing an IC3 complaint, contact your credit card company. Let them know about unauthorized charges or if you think a scammer stole your credit card number. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shares consumer complaints and online scams with all levels of law enforcement.
At the end of chat, you will see a small circle shaped thumbnail containing the other person's profile picture if they read your message.
Google Chat uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) to protect messages as they are transported from one user to another. However, Google doesn't encrypt messages during storage, which makes them vulnerable to attacks by cybercriminals.
A common tactic of dating scammers is to ask you to talk on email, text or Whatsapp, in case the dating site or app gets wise to their scam.
But an estimated 3 to 4 percent of accounts that remain, or approximately 66 million to 88 million profiles, are also fake but haven't yet been detected.
Whether it's an email account or a social media profile, Duque says it's not illegal to impersonate someone online although it could result in a civil lawsuit. However, if that online account is used to make threats to others, it's possible criminal charges could be filed against the impersonator.
Malicious links, smishing (text message phishing), and even online dating scams can all give hackers access to your phone — and everything on it.
So these details could be a gateway into your financial world, but it's not your last line of defense. Criminals can open new accounts, get payday loans, and even file tax returns in your name. There was a victim of identity theft every 3 seconds in 2019°, so don't wait to get identity theft protection.
Identity thieves could potentially gather information on you from images that you share online. A photo posted on your birthday, for example, would provide them with your date of birth, whereas a photo of a new house could potentially give them details of where you live.
Dating and romance scams often take place through online dating websites, but scammers may also use social media or email to make contact. They have even been known to telephone their victims as a first introduction.