Michael Herndon with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
JAMES RUSSELL | Contributing Writer
jamesjourno@gmail.com
It’s like something out of a dream: You open the Grindr app, and the first thing you see is a message from that handsome actor on your favorite show. “Hey there,” he writes, somehow still with his 1990s six-pack abs. “Wanna talk, sexy?” He asks to exchange phone numbers. Perhaps you talk on the phone or video chat.
Then he asks you for $4,000. You send it to him.
Some would have seen the warning signs and ended the conversation way before the ask. But sometimes, people are lonely and starved for attention. Perhaps, they think, the $4,000 is a way in.
So, the transaction, performed via Western Union or Moneygram, is completed.
But then the actor disappears, taking with him your $4,000 and possibly your Social Security number, too.
That’s the type of fraud people like Breanne McClellan deal with every day and the type of fraud Sherrill Wayland warns people about.
McClellan is co-founder of Social Catfish (SocialCatfish.com), a company dedicated to preventing online scams through reverse search technology. Wayland is senior director of special initiatives and partnerships at SAGE, Advocacy and Services for LGBTQ+ Elders, the largest and oldest advocating for LGBTQ+ older adults.
Rafael McDonnell with Resource Center
And McClellan and Wayland agree: Don’t feel ashamed for reporting this kind of fraud. It happens.
Social Catfish recently issued its third annual State of Scams report. The report includes data from the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center and the Federal Trade Commission, as well as a survey of 5,500 romance fraud victims in their SCF Seekers Facebook group. Adults 50 and older are the third most likely to become victims of fraud and most likely to lose the most money.
Many, especially those 65 and older, live on fixed incomes, are lonely and have dwindling social networks. “They are also targets because of a lack of tech savviness; they’re
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