It’s important to stay vigilant year-round to safeguard yourself from online scammers.
Even on the loveliest day of the year, scammers are actively trying to steal your money, your personal information, and your private data.
Here are three scams to watch out for ahead of 14th February.
Lonely Hearts Scams
Caution around online dating is more important than ever around Valentine’s Day.
Scammers use romantic messages to build confidence with victims before scamming them out of money and personal information.
There are often red flags long before any request for money or data, though. Scammers might insist on text chat rather than video chats, or request to move communications from the dating platform to another service.
If your online partner begins hinting at financial trouble or or personal data, it’s a good idea to take a step back and reevaluate the relationship.
Common emergencies scammers use are medical issues, family troubles, or even investment options.
It’s always best practice never to send money over the internet to someone you’ve never met in person.
Fake Shopping Websites
If you’re looking for a gift or flowers this holiday, it’s important to be sure of the website you’re buying from.
Online florist scams and other fake websites are increasingly common.
Shoppers who use online services to get a last-minute gift will often receive nothing at all, or at best a pale imitation of the item described.
Refund requests will be ignored and sometimes the fake store will even request additional money for “upgrades.”
The gift is unimportant to the scam website – once they have your credit card and personal information they can sell it on or charge it directly some time later.
To stay safe from this type of scam, it’s always best to verify the store you’re buying from actually exists. Make sure the business is using a HTTPS web address, is transparent about its location, and provides realistic images of the product you’re buying.
Also make sure you’re using a secure payment method that provides dispute protection, like a credit card.
Phishing Websites
Websites posing as legitimate dating services are popping up to steal your information.
Domains that impersonate platforms like Hinge, Bumble, Tinder, and more seek to steal personal and financial data.
Social media platforms are often the entry point for fraudulent websites, serving up ads that users click on and leading them to fake stores and services.
Once there, users are requested to sign up an account so scammers receive your email address and a password. From then, the fake website can charge for premium services.
It’s a broad category of scam, but with the variety of information these websites harvest it can be tricky to nail down exactly what they’re after.
The best way to protect yourself against fake websites is to verify the web address or URL is correct. Instead of a clicking a link on a social media platform or other message, just search for the website yourself.
That way you know the website you’ve found is almost certainly legitimate.
What to do if you’ve been scammed
If you’re in contact with a suspected scammer on a messaging platform, best practice is to stop all contact immediately. Block the account and don’t engage with them further, even if they try to contact you again.
If you’ve sent money or paid for a product that might be fake, you should get in contact with your bank without delay. Tell the bank you suspect you’ve been scammed and they will place a block on the card, then issue a new card.
You can report the scam to the National Anti-Scam Centre, helping to stop scammers and warn other potential victims. If you’ve been victim and had money or personal information stolen you can also consider creating a police report.
Keeping evidence like screenshots of conversations, any issued receipts, profile information and usernames can help authorities to track down scammers.
It’s also best practice to change any passwords you’ve provided – especially if you’ve reused the same password you use on another account (which you really shouldn’t do.)
The faster you act, the less time a scammer will have to use your stolen information.
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