Valentine's Day 2023: Online dating is about hope and longing and it is precisely these emotions that often lead to users neglecting their own security requirements for handling information on the Internet. It is not for nothing that it is said: hope dies last.

The fact that love can also be used to make money in a rather unfair way attracts many cybercriminals. Even on Valentine's Day!

The damage caused by such cases of fraud on the Internet is estimated at many millions. Online crime always involves technical tricks and the ability of attackers to bypass security controls and remain invisible. Social engineering tricks are often used in which criminals emotionally manipulate those affected in order to lure them into a trap.

Tips to protect their hearts and ultimately their wallets from scammers, especially during peak times like Valentine's Day.

8 tips to avoid falling into the clutches of a scammer on Valentine's Day


1. Make your social media profile private: On social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and others, you have the option of making your profile and posts visible only to friends. If you choose this setting, strangers cannot see what you like, share or post. This can help protect privacy and give a scammer less information to exploit.

2. Decline friend requests from strangers: One should always be critical of friend requests from strangers. Unknown people could be more than just a romance scammer, they could be using a fake account designed to collect information about users for cybercrime purposes. Or it could be a profile designed to spread false information. There are many of those too.

3. Don't switch to other messengers: Many scammers and identity thieves on dating platforms want to quickly switch platforms and continue texting via WhatsApp or SMS. The background? This gives you the first piece of private information, the telephone number, which can often be used to find further personal information on the Internet or other associated accounts. Therefore, when it comes to online dating, it is better to spend some time on the dating platforms until you are sure about the person you are dating. In addition, many dating sites have strict guidelines that users must adhere to. For example, scammers who ask for money are often automatically filtered and blocked from the platforms.

4. Be careful when things get personal too quickly: A scammer's primary goal is to gain the trust of the other person. To achieve this, they pretend to be someone they are not. Sharing private details and personal experiences can quickly create a feeling of closeness and connection. But be careful – the more details you reveal about yourself, the more vulnerable you become. Sensitive topics can quickly become a blackmailer's leverage; stalkers can use too personal information to find out your address and stalk you. Therefore, you should only share such personal details if you already know the person you are talking to better and, ideally, have met them before.

5. Don't transfer money to strangers: The car is broken, the chat partner urgently needs medication, the train ticket is lost - the list of reasons that fraudsters use online to ask for transfers is endless. Especially at the beginning, the amounts asked for are still small. The longer the online acquaintance lasts, the larger the amounts and the higher the losses. Most of the time the money ends up in foreign accounts and is therefore irretrievably lost.

6. Never send official documents or information online: One goal of online fraudsters is to use the data subject's personal information for their own purposes, i.e. ID or driver's license data, bank details or other sensitive information. Reasons are specifically sought that encourage the victim to disclose this data.

7. Protect yourself and your devices: Security software can protect against malicious links spread online by scammers, while also fending off other threats such as viruses, ransomware and phishing attacks in general. It ensures that private information remains truly private by monitoring and keeping secure email, bank accounts, credit cards, ID and driver's license information, and other information that fraudsters or identity thieves could use.

8. Tell the police: Many people who have fallen into the clutches of a scammer, fraudster or identity thief are afraid to admit it to friends, family or even the police.
The shame of being caught up in such a lie is too great. Many perpetrators rely on exactly this and are able to continue undisturbed. However, you should report the incident to the police. This is particularly important if the fraudster uses the stolen data to commit further crimes. So if you take part in online dating, like a third of people today, you should be careful not to do things in this area that you wouldn't normally do. Users of online dating should remain careful, especially during the upcoming Valentine's Day, not allow themselves to be deceived and treat dating and flirting on the Internet in the same way as they do in all other areas of the Internet.

Source: pressebox.de

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