A blend of romance-investment fraud
The scam Dalrymple experienced is a blend of romance-investment fraud, noted by Horton and the BBB’s 2024 Scam Tracker Risk report. Investment was the top BBB-reported scam last year, with cryptocurrency involved in almost half (45.3%) of those reported.
According to the study, investment and romance scams are some of the riskiest scams reported by consumers, with over 80% of those targeted in investment and cryptocurrency scams reporting monetary losses of a median of $5,000.
What's more, the report reveals that 26.2% of those who reported investment/cryptocurrency scams said their scammer spent time building a romance or a friendship before taking their money.
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Learn moreFinancial grooming red flags
Financial grooming is when a scammer builds a relationship with their potential victim before executing the scam. Investment/cryptocurrency and romance/friendship scams are two types of this behavior, often leaving victims confused and devastated.
The good news is there are red flags to watch for:
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Relationship and trust building can take a while (weeks or months). During this time, the scammer will likely avoid communicating through any trusted or secure sites and apps or on the phone, and they won’t show their face on video calls, as Dalrymple experienced.
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At this point, mentions of their financial success are typical and, eventually, victims are encouraged to try investing — usually in cryptocurrency, which Horton said crooks like to use, because, as she explains, “it's untraceable, just like handing cash to a stranger.” These requests can seem small and insignificant at first but build up over time.
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As victims’ investments grow, scammers will encourage even more investment of larger sums — until it’s too late and the money is lost to theft via a fake platform.
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Victims of financial grooming are likely to be retargeted since scammers flag them as those who gave them money, Horton cautions. “These fraudsters are going to continue to try and trick you and get more and more money.”
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More recently, scammers have been hiring people and only paying in cryptocurrency. Workers must first make deposits to their new cryptocurrency account, but they can’t access employment earnings until more funds are added or other charges are paid.
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