INTHEBLACK November 2023 - Magazine - Page 38
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Crime by Numbers is a four-part INTHEBLACK podcast mini-series that exposes the
underbelly of financial fraud, from Ponzi schemes and invoice fraud to romance scams.
to the INTHEBLACK
podcast
ROMANCE SCAMS – THE PRICE OF FAKE LOVE
Romance scams are frauds that break hearts and destroy bank accounts. Experts Delia Rickard,
Dr Cassandra Cross and Alastair MacGibbon discuss real-life case studies to reveal the tactics
deployed by romance scammers.
DR CASSANDRA CROSS,
QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY
OF TECHNOLOGY
DELIA RICKARD,
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL
COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY
ALASTAIR MACGIBBON,
CYBERCX
38 INTHEBLACK November 2023
ROMANCE FRAUD ON THE RISE
“Back when I first started researching fraud, romance fraud was a small
proportion of overall fraud losses. Whereas fast-forward to now, we are
seeing an increase in the ways that offenders are targeting victims with
romance fraud.
“Romance fraud, for me, is the most brutal of fraud types, because it
doesn’t just focus on financial advantage. It very much seeks to exploit
the desire for someone to be in a relationship and to have that personal,
intimate connection with somebody else.”
RED FLAGS
“The best way to combat romance scams is to be aware of the warning
signs. If you find yourself starting to fall in love with somebody you
haven’t met in person, you’ll usually have some kind of photo of them –
from websites or Facebook, etc. There’s always a photo.
“I would do a reverse image search of that photo. That will often tell
you if that person is who they say they are. Quite often, the same photos
are used over and over and over again, particularly ones involving US
military, so that’s a quick way of knowing.”
ONLINE VS FACE-TO-FACE SCAMS
“You’d never send money to a person you haven’t met face-to-face. Now,
we all know that, and we’ve all read stories of scammers in the physical
world, but it is much harder for an internet scammer to meet you faceto-face and even remotely look like the person that they’ve claimed to be
online.
“The vast bulk of these people are offshore, so let them come to
you. We must all know people these days who have fallen in love with
someone that they met online – but I’m almost certain they didn’t send
them cash for an airfare in order to spark that relationship.”
LISTEN
to the full
podcast episode
