Valentine’s Day This is the date that many users find someone to celebrate with on dating apps. Which becomes an opportunity for cybercriminals to take advantage of to steal data and money.

These situations occur not only in cases where a physical encounter takes place, but attackers have techniques to obtain this information virtually, through deception.

To better understand this situation, there are some tips that you should consider, be alert and do not get carried away by the situation, risk much more than money.

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Cyber ​​attacks on dating apps

The first point to consider is the type of victim that criminals are looking for. KasperskyThe cyber security company ensures that people over the age of 50 are the ones who will earn the most interest, especially if they have property, real estate or pension funds.

The same company claims that 15% of consumers worldwide have experienced a cyberattack and that 31% have at some point been contacted by criminals trying to scam them.

To this panorama is added the fact that in 2016 US Federal Trade Commission. received 11,235 complaints about relationship fraud and four years later, this number increased to 52,593 and the financial loss of this fraud exceeded 300 million dollars in this country in 2020.

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So the risk is latent, especially on such dates Valentine’s Day In which many people try not to be alone, so we have to consider the most common methods of theft in dating apps:

– Romance Fraud: A fraudster creates a false identity online to gain the trust of his victim and gain information that later allows him to steal money and even extort money.

– Phishing: It can be identified if the fraudster tries to obtain personal information such as bank details, ID number, passwords, etc. They do this through techniques to gain your trust, such as asking personal questions or sending you links.

– Extortion: This is a type of virtual extortion where the attacker creates an emotional connection with the victim, manages to obtain photographic material to threaten the victim to release their photos and videos in exchange for money.

Two others are added to this, such as investment fraud, which involves influencing another person to invest money in buying stocks or in fake funds. Also crypto scams asking for digital money, which allows them to remain more invisible.

“Romance scammers go to great lengths to create an emotional connection with their victims, which often means people become withdrawn and less alert to signs of a potential scam,” he said. Masha Coden, Executive Director A circle.

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How to avoid these scams

There are five fundamental points to avoid falling into this type of trap, which is a difficult context for some because of the emotions involved.

– Be careful with personal questions.

– Be alert for inconsistencies in their speech.

– He does not want personal meetings and video calls.

– Requirements for financial assistance.

– Meetings are only on personal sites

But there are other points Codeine He also sees important things like: “Be suspicious if someone you haven’t met yet suddenly tells you a very emotional story and asks you to send money, don’t date someone secretly, always seek advice from loved ones or friends about the people you’re dating and Do some research online to try to verify the people you’re talking to.”