When it comes to falling for online romance scams, those seeking suckers found slim pickings in our state.
Arkansas actually fared very well in a recent study by the website Social Catfish using population-adjusted data from 2022 reports from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center and the Federal Trade Commission.
The most gullible Americans lost a record $547 million to romance scams in 2021, up 80 percent from 2020.
Our state’s 153 disappointed love-seekers reported overall losses of $1.2 million, averaging $40,526 for every 100,000 residents. That made us the state with the second-least amount of money lost per capita to cyber thieves. Only Maine ranked better.
Criminals, often from foreign countries, reportedly became increasingly ubiquitous on dating and social media apps during the covid lockdown, and aggressively preyed on lonely singles.
“Even though dating life is back to normal, more people are using dating apps than ever before and, consequently, romance scams are increasing in numbers and complexity,” the site reported.
North Dakota, of all places, led with $1.56 million in losses per 100,000 residents, followed by Nevada with $486,000, Alaska with $482,000, California $465,000, Colorado $424,000, Washington $415,000, Rhode Island $412,000, Maryland $335,000, Florida $327,000, and New Jersey $324,000.
Compared to those largely blue states, Arkansas’ online seekers of affection appear considerably wiser when it comes to such matters.
As for avoiding related scams…
