Attribute to Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Allan, Auckland City District Financial Crime Unit:
Millions of dollars a year are being swiped by scammers taking advantage of those looking for love online.
NZ Police are receiving a consistent stream of reports from people who have been scammed by a ‘person’ they have met online via either a dating website or a dating app.
Those who carry out romance scams are experts at what they do and will seem genuine, caring, and believable. Unfortunately, they are present on most dating platforms.
We’re aware of a repeat pattern of events across all reports, where the scammer typically moves the conversation from a reputable dating site to WhatsApp and quickly professes their love and admiration for the victim, before revealing they are a wealthy businessman or military staff who are based overseas. Once trust has been gained they request financial assistance from the target.
The method of payment request depends on the proficiency of the victim.
If the victim is able to open a cryptocurrency account, then buying and sending cryptocurrency preferred method of transmission.
However, sending cash or making a bank transfer offshore via a money remitter, transferring funds to a bank account of someone else that is being scammed, or handing cash to a money laundering cryptocurrency trader, are other potential ways a scammer will ask the victim to provide them with funds.
Our investigations indicate that those who perpetrate these…
