The “Puppy Love” Issue

Happy Valentine’s Day! For many, Valentine's Day is filled with hearts and flowers, while others chalk it up to nothing more than a Hallmark holiday.

There are plenty of people who have found meaningful long-term relationships through online dating. But with every advance in technology, that same technology makes it easier for fraudulent lovers to pull off one of the fastest-growing internet scams: the romance scam.

According to the FBI, reports of romance scams have spiked nearly 25% since 2019, with a record high of $547 million in losses in 2021 from being swindled by cyber sweethearts. 

Scammers are masters of disguise; they create fake profiles and post photos that they swipe from the internet. The Federal Trade Commission states that in 2021 more than a third of people who said they lost money to an online romance scam said it began on Facebook or Instagram.

Victims are often older but people in their 20s and 30s fall for these scams as well. “The younger crowd likes to think they are more tech-savvy, but there is a huge amount of the younger crowd being victimized,” said Kathy Waters, founder of Advocating Against Romance Scammers. “All of them say, ‘I never thought it could happen to me.’” Read more about these scams in this Bloomberg article here.

You may wonder why we called this edition of Scam Spotter "Puppy Love." Aside from the obvious reference to Valentine's Day, the Better Business Bureau is warning consumers to be aware of puppy scams. While the number of cases has decreased, the financial loss per victim has escalated. Read more below. 

 Beth

Cupid Should Steal Your Heart

Not Your Wallet

Some refer to romance scams as catfishing and the scammer as catfishers. These love scammers often ”love bomb” their victims with lavish attention or affection, in order to influence or manipulate them.

Romance scammers are experts in the long con. Don't be fooled; your paramour is probably emailing hundreds of potential victims a day. These romancers often use (steal) photos and details about who they are from the internet and fish multiple victims simultaneously.

You may be a target of a romance scam if:

• Your paramour’s story doesn’t add up.
• They live too far away to visit and promises to visit are broken.
• Their profile seems too good to be true.
• The relationship moves fast.
• They insist on getting off social media or dating app quickly.
• They claim they need money, usually small amounts at first with greater sums later.
• They ask you for deeply personal information but keep details about their own life vague.

How can you protect yourself? Remember, if something feels off trust your intuition.

• 53% of Americans lie on their dating profiles.
• 51% of online daters pose as single but are actually in another relationship.

Conduct an online reverse-image search based on the photos they’re using. If you find out the photos are linked to someone else’s profile, you’ve likely exposed this person’s lie.

Read more about romance scams and what to do in this article.

Puppy Love

The following is an excerpt from the Better Business Bureau report:

In June, Catelyn, a woman from Texas, went online to find her family a Dalmatian puppy. The website she visited looked normal, the puppy perfect, so she sent off $850, a fair price for the spotted canine.

Soon after, she received an email claiming the dog needed insurance for its cross-country journey. Wanting to keep the puppy safe, Catelyn handed over another $725. Only a few hours later, the seller reached out to her again about another issue. A $615 “thermal electronic” crate was required for the flight. The seller told her that the puppy would not be allowed to board if she did not pay, so Catelyn sent the third payment. The days ticked by without any dog. When she tried to reach the sellers by email and phone, they blocked her number. 

Catelyn eventually realized she had been defrauded. She was devastated to have lost nearly $2,200 and “her” puppy, which never really existed.

Better Business Bureau® (BBB®) urges consumers to exercise caution when purchasing a pet online. BBB Scam Tracker^SM reports indicate that consumers who purchase pets without seeing them in person, use hard-to-track payment methods like Zelle, and accept extra charges like shipping insurance or special cages are at substantial risk of being scammed. Because purchasing a pet can be such an emotionally charged experience, BBB urges consumers to be on high alert for scams.

So far this year, pet scams in North America appear to be on the decline, even as losses exceed $1 million and are expected to approach $2 million. That total is down by a third since the peak of more than $3 million during the pandemic in 2020-2021, according to BBB Scam Tracker. Pet scams historically make up a quarter of all online shopping frauds reported to BBB and are on track to be about 18% this year. As reports decline, however, average monetary losses are climbing, with an average loss of $850 in 2022, up 60% since 2017. BBB has tracked this swindle since 2017 when it issued an in-depth study, Puppy Scams: How Fake Online Pet Sellers Steal from Unsuspecting Pet Buyers.

Do you suspect you've been scammed or exploited?

Report it to us by calling our Fraud Hotline.

Contact

The Denver DA's

FRAUD HOTLINE

720.913.9179