1. Don’t pursue a long-distance relationship with a stranger online. Most scammers target victims outside their areas to avoid being caught or prosecuted.
2. Never reveal personal data to someone until you meet face-to-face and develop a level of trust. While it’s tempting to share every detail of your life with a person you think you could be in love with, that’s exactly what the scammer is counting on.
3. Pay attention to language. Many overseas scammers do not have a good command of the English language, so should be considered a “red flag”.
4. Use search engines to check out suitors. Cut and paste an email from the online date into Google. The person’s name or message wording may come up on one of the several websites devoted to romance scams.
5. Be suspicious if someone wants to immediately start communicating through instant messaging and email. They may want access to your computer in order to steal information.
6. Be suspicious of someone who claims to be a soldier. There are an increasing number of scams in which con artists take photos of soldiers from social networking sites and then pretend to be trustworthy members of the military. They’ll ask potential dates for money to buy special papers they claim are needed to come home or talk to family.
7. Don’t open attachments from a stranger. If someone sends you a photo in an attachment and you open it, you may have unwittingly allowed a virus to infect your computer.
8. Don’t fall for a sob story. Many scammers claim to have lost a spouse, child, or parent in an accident or say they have a relative who is very ill. Another common ploy, is that your suitor is at the airport on his way to visit you, but his credit card has been declined.
9. Talk to your date by telephone as soon as possible. Someone who sounds plausible online may be an obvious fraud on the phone.
10. Check online sites dedicated to dating and romance scams. If your date has conned others, he may show up there.
11. Report any suspicious behavior or fraud to the Federal Trade Commission or to your local police department.
12. Never wire money to a stranger. Never.
