Chapter 5
Romance scams
What you'll get from this chapter: How romance scams start, the moment they turn to money, and why a video call is no longer proof that someone is real.
In this chapter
- Words in this chapter
- Your steps
A uses affection, or the promise of it, to get money from you.
The person may arrive on a dating site, in a social-media message, or as a wrong number that keeps talking. They are warm, they have a reason they cannot meet, and the conversation turns to money. Sometimes it is a medical bill or a travel emergency. Often it becomes a private investment. They may never ask for a date in person.
Do not send money, gift cards, or cryptocurrency to someone you have not met in person. A video call does not prove the relationship is real, because video can be staged or generated by computer. If the talk turns to an investment, stop. That pattern, called , is covered in Part II: Crypto Survival Kit, Chapter 10.
Scammers do not only hide in messages. Sometimes they hide in a little square barcode. The next chapter covers QR-code lures.
Words in this chapter
- . A relationship used to extract money. It may never meet in person, and it often turns into an investment pitch.