👉👉👉👉AWARENESS OF SCAMS IS THE BEST TOOL TO FIGHT THIS AWFUL CRIME.
We mean REAL and PROPER awareness. Not the online gossip type of ‘awareness’ which just makes it worse.~
💔What Are Romance Scams?
Romance scams are a form of online fraud where scammers create fake profiles on dating apps, social media, or messaging platforms to build emotional relationships with victims.
SOUNDS SO SIMPLE AND IT REALLY SHOULD NOT WORK.. BUT IT DOES. BECAUSE OF LACK OF SCAM AWARENESS.
🌐Key Statistics on West African Romance Scams
Geographic Dominance: Research indicates that West Africa accounts for over 70% of all romance scam source locations globally. This can be also those who have emigrated to other countries and carry on their fraud there.
Leading Origin Country: Nigeria is the single largest origin, responsible for over 50% of the global dataset for romance scams. It is frequently cited as having the highest number of romance fraudsters in Africa.
Financial Impact: In 2021, romance scams originating from Nigeria alone resulted in losses of approximately £12.1 million for victims in the UK, averaging over £10,700 per victim. Remember less than 5% are reported and this was 2021… it has grown a lot every year.
👉Victim Targeting: Over half (56%) of the romance scam victims targeted by West African fraudsters are located in the United States.
💔Scammers gain trust through consistent contact, affection (often called "love bombing" which devalues the lies they tell. ), and made up stories, then invent emergencies or opportunities to request money—usually via wire transfers, gift cards, or cryptocurrency.
💔Scammers often claim to be abroad because of using professional position where they can travel. (e.g., military, Doctor, pilot, construction, oil rig,business travel) and avoid meeting and also avoid video calls.
🤬Online romance fraud exploits loneliness and trust, leading to significant emotional harm and loss of money. The emotional harm lasts for life often. The financial hit can be large and trust has been shattered.
✳️✳️**The Role of Awareness in Preventing Romance Scams**
👉Awareness—public knowledge and education about how these scams operate—the most effective first-line defence. It is vital to KNOW who are the main criminals in carrying out these scams. Yahoo Boys (Nigeria) and Sakawa Boys (Ghana) make no apology for carrying out the largest percentage of worldwide romance fraud.
👉Awareness has also got to be that those in the Pictures used are victims themselves and are not the ones doing this crime. They are often used, abused and accused and this is wrong.
✳️✳️UNLESS FULL SCAM AWARENESS IS REALISED THIS CRIME WILL CARRY ON AND ONLY GROW. It does not need to be like this. With Awareness and Education we can reduce the number of victims on all sides.
👨👩👧👦FAMILIES BE AWARE. SCAMMERS WILL TRY FOR THE ISOLATION OF THEIR CLIENT (Victim)... make sure you notice changes in behaviour of loved ones OF ALL AGES and especially look out for money being sent.
Scam education plays a significant role in preventing scams.
🏫EDUCATION IS EMPOWERING.
Common tactics of scammers., improving recognition of red flags, and actually letting people know they must be discerning online and judge what comes to them. TELLING EVERYONE EXACTLY WHAT A SCAM IS AND WHO ARE THE CRIMINALS TRYING TO SCAM THEM.
🌐Key Benefits of Scam Education
There is a lot of ‘Scam education’ out there for anyone to find. BUT how many look for it and so this shows there needs to be more and from media and recognised sources so that it is seen and understood.
👨👩👧👦Victims span all levels: Intelligence, education, or tech-savviness offers no full shield. Some feel vulnerable. However that doesn’t mean your recognition has to CEASE ! You must look after yourself.
👴👵Vulnerable groups include older adults (for imposter/romance scams) but no demographic is immune. Often 30+ are not thinking and just accepting who comes to them.
🧠Remember decades ago, when everyone knew everyone else and trust was high. Doors weren’t locked and when you saw someone in your area you knew them!
Then came a mixture of people moving around and we had to lock our doors… moving on to several locks on your door. There were strangers around and you saw strangers and couldn’t trust them ! Everyone because security conscious and too fewer risks.
🌐🌐THEN CAME THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA … and we all seem to have thrown caution out of the window ! We have gone back to the doors wide open even if you don’t recognise who that stranger is, they are in your phone (which is after all a piece of anonymous plastic), so welcome stranger !!!!! NO NO NO !
There is security in your online life and it should be in your head.
A lot of Scam Education is common sense and YOUR judgement.
In summary, scam education is a vital tool for prevention, it shifts behavior by building knowledge and skepticism. However, it is not everything, scams exploit human psychology
Ongoing initiatives MUST be adopted by social media companies. Innovative approaches, like THINK and LEARN.
Staying informed, verifying and discussing suspicions remain key tools to save yourself from SCAMS. Take the initiative and search about Romance Scams... it is so easy to do! LEARN.
BE OFFENDED THERE ARE HUNTERS OUT THERE LOOKING FOR VICTIMS.
🏫EDUCATION IS EMPOWERING.
Common tactics of scammers., improving recognition of red flags, and actually letting people know they must be discerning online and judge what comes to them. TELLING EVERYONE EXACTLY WHAT A SCAM IS AND WHO ARE THE CRIMINALS TRYING TO SCAM THEM.
🌐Key Benefits of Scam Education
There is a lot of ‘Scam education’ out there for anyone to find. BUT how many look for it and so this shows there needs to be more and from media and recognised sources so that it is seen and understood.
👨👩👧👦Victims span all levels: Intelligence, education, or tech-savviness offers no full shield. Some feel vulnerable. However that doesn’t mean your recognition has to CEASE ! You must look after yourself.
👴👵Vulnerable groups include older adults (for imposter/romance scams) but no demographic is immune. Often 30+ are not thinking and just accepting who comes to them.
🧠Remember decades ago, when everyone knew everyone else and trust was high. Doors weren’t locked and when you saw someone in your area you knew them!
Then came a mixture of people moving around and we had to lock our doors… moving on to several locks on your door. There were strangers around and you saw strangers and couldn’t trust them ! Everyone because security conscious and too fewer risks.
🌐🌐THEN CAME THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA … and we all seem to have thrown caution out of the window ! We have gone back to the doors wide open even if you don’t recognise who that stranger is, they are in your phone (which is after all a piece of anonymous plastic), so welcome stranger !!!!! NO NO NO !
There is security in your online life and it should be in your head.
A lot of Scam Education is common sense and YOUR judgement.
In summary, scam education is a vital tool for prevention, it shifts behavior by building knowledge and skepticism. However, it is not everything, scams exploit human psychology
Ongoing initiatives MUST be adopted by social media companies. Innovative approaches, like THINK and LEARN.
Staying informed, verifying and discussing suspicions remain key tools to save yourself from SCAMS. Take the initiative and search about Romance Scams... it is so easy to do! LEARN.
BE OFFENDED THERE ARE HUNTERS OUT THERE LOOKING FOR VICTIMS.
I sincerely wished I knew of this website back in 2018 before I got took hook line and sinker. Because not only did he take every single scent I had but also myself worth my dignity and what used to value the most my ability to see the good people and believe people at their word value, but not anymore.
ReplyDeleteI wish everyone could find us before they got so involved and lost money and part of themselves. See the good in people once you KNOW they are real. Online you can't take those who come to you at face value because you can't see their faces in real life. I am so sorry they did this to you
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