How to avoid love scams

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Here's what you can do if you've been victimized by a love scam

Heart season is in, and so are scams.

In time for Valentine’s, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the Australian Federal Police warned about a love scam scheme that involves cryptocurrency.

Crypto is defined as the “money of the internet,” but it is not government-sanctioned, unlike the regular fiat currencies like the dollar or peso. This currency is “a digitally native asset class that’s now diverging depending on the use case and the utility of a particular token.”

Meanwhile, a love scam is a type of crime where “scammers typically create fake online profiles designed to lure targets or victims” to extort money from them.

Local and Australian authorities said they uncovered the scheme after a recent operation involving a scam compound that targeted thousands of Australians using online dating applications. As in previously uncovered love scams, the Philippine-based scammers use fake backstories and affectionate language to lure their victims.

In this specific operation, the scammer would pose as a Filipina heartbroken by her ex-fiancé, who wanted her “money, not [her] love.” The scammer would then introduce cryptocurrency in the conversation with the victim and make it appear that she has “a successful financial venture that helped them achieve significant wealth.”

Afterwards, the scammer would offer to teach the victim to invest around 300 to 800 Australian dollars in cryptocurrency. The scammer “would then ask the victim to transfer their funds from the legitimate cryptocurrency exchange platform to the scammer’s online crypto account.”

Love scams are categorized by Philippine authorities under swindling or estafa, which made up the biggest number of cybercrime cases recorded by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in February 2024.

Amid the government’s crackdown against Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO), authorities revealed that the now-banned business had also been involved in love scams. Among the most recent raids is one that happened in October 2024, in a building just beside the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

How to avoid love scams

Here’s how to avoid love scams, according to the PNP, NBI, PAOCC, and the Australian police:

• Be careful who you meet online. Do not get too close to people you met online, either from social networking sites like Facebook and X, or even from dating applications. Experts said that it’s a red flag if the person you’re talking to online has inconsistent details about his/her life, or refuses to talk to you via video call or in person.
• Beware of overly-affectionate behavior. Authorities said if you are interested in someone, take time to get to know him/her first to avoid getting scammed. “If someone you’ve just met online starts professing love quickly, it’s a red flag,” the experts added.
• Do not send money to people you only met online. Do not send money, either via online banking or cryptocurrency, to people you only met online. Authorities said people should always be skeptical about requests for money.
• Be careful with what you share online. Avoid giving personal and private information. Do not send photos and videos, too. These things might be used to blackmail you or steal your identity.

What to do if scammed?

Meanwhile, according to authorities, here are steps to take if you have been scammed:

• Cut communication with the scammer.
• Before blocking the scammer, preserve all evidence and transactions with him/her. Take screenshots of the transactions and the scammer’s fake profile.
• Contact your bank or digital currency exchange to flag the scamming activity.
• If you were connected via social media, report the scammer’s profile and activity on the platform.
• Immediately report the incident to authorities like the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group or the NBI Ant-Cybercrime Division.

– Rappler.com