Romance scams are as old as the internet, but with the senior population gaining more and more access to the world wide web, victims are in abundance and relative easy to reach.

These scammers will often operate in groups, they usually pretend to be army men, oil rig engineers, tech guys or any other high paying occupation. They usually find their victims on Facebook and Instagram but you can also find them in dating sites like Tinder and Plenty of fish. They usually target older women who are single or widowed.

As usual, they would be a lot of sod stories involve to scam money out of their victims, it would often start with a small amount and them it would drastically increase through the years. Many times, these scammers will use future faking tactics such as needing money to buy the house for him and the victim, or money for the trip to visit the victim, or money to be able to sale their antic family gold, or whatever.

While it seems like an obvious scam, many seniors are often lonely and isolated, and these scammers know how to exploit their vulnerabilities. They are no longer using Western Union, they are now more sophisticated using Bitcoin and gift cards etc which are untraceable, making it a lot more difficult for victims to recuperate their money. Romance scammers will drain your relative out of their 401k savings, social security checks, and make them take out loans. These scammers have no heart, and many seniors have ended up destitute because of it.

Some romance scams can last up to seven years or more, at this point the victim might become suspicious however the sunken cost fallacy might hit them hard, and making these victims realize the truth is often a rather difficult and painful experience.

If you suspect a relative might be involved in a romance scam, try to bring it up nicely, as many victims of these crimes often feel shame. Or share some story that you heard about a victim of romance scam, and that might ring a bell to them.

Here's a YouTube channel that share many romance scams stories if you are interested in learning more about it or want to show your relative some examples https://youtube.com/c/CatfishedOnline

Also before any man, comes bursting like the Kool-aid man, this is a female focus subreddit. Therefore we are focusing on the female victims of romance scams.