With 75 million active users, Tinder is one of the most popular dating portals. The platform is also trendy among digital love fraudsters. The criminals' schemes have become diverse, but ultimately they are based on one idea: to gain the trust of the victim. Current fraud methods primarily include identity theft, blackmail, phishing or obtaining financial support by fraud. The fraudsters do this in a variety of ways and in a variety of ways. The ESET security experts explain what Internet users should pay attention to on WeliveSecurity.
Online dating on the internet is easier than ever before. But whether it's a dating portal, marketplace or messenger: no platform can reliably protect its users from people with malicious intentions. And there are numerous black sheep on such contact exchanges. What are the most dangerous methods currently?
Financial fraud
This supreme discipline is difficult to carry out, but extremely lucrative. Financial scams related to romantic relationships have always existed, but in the digital age, scammers can go much further. The fraudsters are out to steal large amounts of money from their victims. The media repeatedly reports on large amounts of money that fraudsters have been able to steal from dating platforms. In most cases, contact with a love fraud begins very intensively, with long and deep conversations. The goal is clear: gain trust. This also gives criminals an opportunity to pressure their target into financial transactions. When the awakening comes, the damage is often already very high.
Identity theft
Are you suddenly receiving reminders even though you haven't ordered anything? Then your personal data has probably fallen into the wrong hands. Identity theft has been a high priority among fraudsters for years. They want to use beautiful pictures to get their victims to swipe right. If they do that, the next step won't be long in coming. The scammers will try to get the phone number to communicate on WhatsApp or other messenger services. If you comply with the request, a lot of personal information will already have fallen into the wrong hands at this stage. The fraudsters can now search for social media profiles, steal images and collect other data.
Sextortion
This blackmail method is also common on Tinder. The term “sextortion” is a combination of words “sex” and “extortion”. In this scam, criminals try to gain the trust and intimacy of the target. At some point they ask their acquaintances to take naked pictures of themselves. The criminals then try to extort money from the victim by threatening to publish the recordings.
These are just three current scams used by criminals on Tinder. For more scams and more information, visit WeliveSecurity .
Tips for protecting yourself from scammers on dating portals
– Check privacy settings: In the settings of the various portals, you should specify exactly who is allowed to see personal information and who is not.
– Be economical with information: Post as few personal details as possible. Location, relationship status and similar information can be exploited by fraudsters.
– Beware of fake profiles: Even paid dating platforms do not protect against false profiles. Provide as little information as necessary.
– Do your own research: Enter the name of your contact with the addition “Scammer” into the Google search, as some scammers are already known.
– Be suspicious: If you receive messages from strangers, initially remain suspicious. You can easily identify fake profiles using Google reverse image search. All you have to do is upload the photo to the search engine, after which it will be compared with millions of images on the Internet.
– Use an alternative email address: Use a separate email address for your dating account that you can delete in an emergency without major losses.
– Do not transfer money: Never transfer money to online acquaintances! If you have honest intentions, you should accept “no”. However, scammers tend to complain until you eventually give in. At this point, end contact as quickly as possible.
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )