Valentine’s Day It is a date on which many users find someone to celebrate with on dating applications. Which becomes an opportunity for cybercriminals to take advantage of to steal data and money.
These situations do not only occur in cases in which a physical encounter takes place, but also, the attackers have techniques to take that information virtually, by means of deception.
To better understand this situation, there are some tips to keep in mind, be vigilant and not get carried away by the situation, risking much more than money.
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Cyber attacks on dating apps
A first point to take into account is the type of victims that criminals seek. Kasperskya cybersecurity company, ensures that people aged 50 or over are the ones who generate the most interest, especially if they have property, real estate or pension funds.
The same company assures that in the world 15% of users have suffered from a cyberattack and that 31% have been contacted at some point by criminals who are trying to scam them.
Added to this panorama is that, in 2016, the US Federal Trade Commission. received 11,235 complaints about relationship scams and four years later, that number increased to 52,593 and financial losses from these scams exceeded $300 million in 2020 in that country.
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So the risk is latent, even more on dates like Valentine’s Day in which many people seek not to be alone, so we must take into account the most used modalities to steal in dating applications:
– Romance scam: the scammer creates a false identity on the Internet to gain the trust of his victim and obtain information that later allows him to steal money and even extort money.
– Phishing: it can be identified if the scammer tries to obtain personal information such as bank details, ID number, passwords, etc. They do this through techniques to gain your trust such as personal questions or sending links.
– Sextortion: It is a type of virtual extortion where the attacker builds an emotional bond with the victim, manages to get photographic material to threaten the victim with making their photos and videos public in exchange for money.
To these are added two others, such as the investment scam, which consists of influencing the other person to put money to buy shares or in false funds. As well as crypto deception asking for digital money, which allows them to go more unnoticed.
“Romance scammers put a lot of effort into building an emotional connection with their victims, which often means people let their guard down and become less vigilant for signs of a potential scam,” she said. Masha Koden, CEO of Inner Circle.
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How to avoid falling for these scams
There are five fundamental points for a person not to fall into this type of trap, which occurs in a complex context for some because there are feelings involved.
– Be wary of personal questions.
– Be attentive to inconsistencies in their speeches.
– He does not want personal meetings or video calls.
– Requests for financial aid.
– Meetings are only on private sites
But there are other points that kodden He also sees important, such as “be suspicious if someone you have not yet met in person suddenly tells you a very emotional story and asks you to send money, do not secretly date someone, always seek the advice of those you love loved ones or friends about the people you’re dating, and do some research online to try and validate the people you’re talking to.”
