Looking for love online is dangerous and in honor of Valentine’s Day, law enforcement agencies around the world tried to remind citizens of that. The first of three articles Lovefraud will be posting on the issue comes from Canada.
Nearly 750 Canadians reported that they lost money in Internet romance scams last year, totaling $17 million, according to CTVNews.ca. But the Royal Canadian Mounted Police believe only about 5 percent of cases are actually reported so the money lost is likely much higher.
Sgt. Guy Paul Larocque says that most of the money stolen is never recovered. According to CTVNews.ca:
Larocque added that these scams are often executed by professionals based in other countries, who may also be working with organized crime. “They’re doing that purposely to make it more difficult for law enforcement to be able to get to them,” he said. “It is not somebody just playing behind the computer.”
Larocque also provides tips on how to recognize a love scam.
Valentine’s fraud: Canadians lose $17M to online love scams, on CTVNews.ca
Identifying sociopathic behavior is easy; giving advice is hard