Age is not necessarily an impediment for this practice, as both younger generations and elders are a great target for these scams, however, people who said they were ages 40 to 69 reported losing money to romance scams at the highest rates \u2013 more than twice the rate of people in their 20s, says the FTC<\/a>.\u00a0At the same time, people 70 and over reported the highest individual median losses at $10,000 as\u00a0most wire money, give reusable gift cards, sor hand over their card PIN, all largely irreversible money transfers.<\/p>\n According to the FTC<\/a>, generally romantic scams start online, luring people in with \u201clifting photos from the web to create attractive and convincing personas.\u201d\u00a0They might make up names or assume the identities of real people, and once these fraudsters have people by the heartstrings, they beginning saying they need emergency money, often for a medical emergency or some other misfortune. They often claim to be in the military and stationed abroad, which explains why they can\u2019t meet in person. Pretending to need help with travel costs for a long-awaited visit is another common ruse.<\/p>\n Helped by data breaches and social media, these attacks are becoming more common in part because scammers are better able to find information about the victims online in advance and effectively \u2018hacking\u2019 the victim\u2019s emotions and their sense of vulnerability and loneliness, rather than trying to perform a technical assault, says Nathan Wenzler, senior director of cybersecurity at Seattle-Wash<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to remember that romance scammers want to get anything valuable from you. Whether it be cash, jewelry or other gifts, these scammers are not interested in you\u2014only what you can give them, writes The Carlson Law Firm<\/a>.\u00a0The best way to avoid romance scams is to know who you\u2019re dealing with, and for this you can meet in a public place, avoid sending money or gifts to a potential love interest, search for them on Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, Instagram and even reverse image searches on Google, say no to revealing too much personal information, and avoid feeling a false sense of safety because you\u2019re the one who made\u00a0first\u00a0contact<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ceo-na.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Screen-Shot-2020-02-13-at-10.52.26.png\")
<\/p>\nHow it begins<\/h1>\n