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The Guardian (UK) : The internet scammer who loved me (not)

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 1:49 am
by FrumpyBB

Re: The Guardian (UK) : The internet scammer who loved me (not)

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 5:49 am
by LaraC
Interesting story though I have to say it is wrong to conclude as article did as
Romance scams, I decided, weren’t about being tricked by someone, they were about tricking yourself – telling yourself lies, to keep loneliness at bay.

Writer is talking about some victims out of vast majority of romance scam victims. I think some people do go very deep with the scams and scammers and they are left with broken heart. - not to mention with empty bank a/c. Amount does not necessary show the depth of 'relationship' the victims had with their scammers but some study shows that most of the people were scammed around about US$8,000 - 15,000. While this could be a life-saving amount for some, if you have full time job and in your 30's and above, this is probably your at most 1/4th of the saving amount which indicates you didn't go deep enough to lose all.

What does this tell us? I don't know but I am assuming that means most of the victims did not deeply invest into the scammers emotionally. Somewhere some point during the scam, probably after the first transaction they made, the witch spell has gone and they realised they were being scammed. Possibly maybe? If so, what is it that plays when victims fall for the scam. Isn't it just a 'little hope' to meet that guy / that woman not a deeply invested love? In the world of internet and social media platform, I don't think scams necessarily require deeply invested emotion. I think we need to look into trends in the scams to warn proper way to proper demographic of would-be-victims. I just think information about victims are too outdated. And while the society is being lagged behind around true information scams are evolving into new forms everyday...

I am going to read the book recently published "Cyber Frauds, Scams and their Victims" - by Mark Button.
Hoping they have some demographic UPDATED answers to scams and victims.