Romance scammers finagled $4M from Calgarians since 2016: police

Calgary — Calgarians looking for love are encouraged to take precautions to ensure the motives of any potential suitors are on the up-and-up.

According to the Calgary Police Service, victims of romance scammers have reported losses totaling more than $4 million over the last four years in Calgary. Police believe there are additional victims who have not come forward.

There has been a dramatic increase in the frequency of cases of catphishing — the use of a fraudulent account on a dating website to gain the trust of a victim — reported in Calgary.

Over the last four years, Calgary police have received 128 reports of romance scams including an unprecedented 58 instances in 2018. The victims collectively lost $4,241,903 to the scammers since 2016.

"Romance scammers usually prey on emotions and trust to make victims believe they are in a legitimate relationship," said Sergeant Matt Frederiksen of the Calgary Police Service fraud team. "Once trust has been gained, scammers use a variety of tactics for financial gain, such as stories of hard luck or they may ask for money to travel to meet the victim in person. However, romance scammers almost never actually meet victims in person."

The average age of the Calgary victims is 49 and 26 per cent are men.

Police say the victims have sent funds to the scammer through a number of avenues including e-transfer, cryptocurrency transfers, cheques or prepaid gift cards. The money transfers have been prompted by hard luck stories or blackmail with threats to release private photos.

To reduce the risk of being victimized by a romance scam, the CPS recommends:

If you are concerned about an online relationship, police suggest speaking with someone you trust to gain an objective perspective on how the relationship is progressing.

Victims of romance scam are encouraged to report the fraud to police as the information shared could potentially assist the investigation into the scams and serve as a warning for other potential victims.