A new year is a good time to learn sound financial habits, such as improving your defenses against scams and identity-theft risks. Financial fraud dangers not only persist but seem to have gotten worse, with scammers dreaming up new ways to reach potential victims and separate them from their money.
In the electronic age, remaining vigilant is a constant challenge, but your best response often just involves exercising skepticism and common sense. The following five questions can help ward off criminals.
1. Is there a romantic link?
People don’t seem to lose much money over scams tied to plumbing supplies or gardening equipment. But romance, with the potential emotional entanglements, is another story.
Romance scams, often known as “catfishing,” are flourishing, with a record $547 million in losses reported to the Federal Trade Commission in 2021. These scams involve crooks creating fake online profiles to trick victims into thinking they are entering into a relationship. Scammers often use stolen photos of attractive, successful people, warns ID-verification website Social Catfish. These posts sometimes show up on legitimate dating sites. Targets are usually hit up for money and often are asked to disclose a lot of personal information.
Social Catfish surveyed more than 700 influencers and found that 86% had had their online images stolen to create fake profiles within the past year. The website has compiled a list of some of these purloined photos. The person whose…
