With Valentine's Day offers on the web, the cyber fraudsters have found their way to scam couples, youngsters for holiday packages, gifts as well as take advantage of lonely people. It isn't hearts they want to steal, it's bank account balances, as online romance scams are nothing new. Police warn the netizens to tread carefully, as matters of the heart are not that simple.
A long time ago, a virus bearing the name 'ILOVEYOU" had infected millions of computers by prompting romantics to click on an email attachment made to look like a love letter, only to later siphon off the money using emotional reasons, targeting the soft hearted.
A number of romance scams begin as phishing emails sent out only to reach out through social media, dating apps and texts. The cyber police ans experts have asked the netizens to stay alert and away from such scamsters and not get romantically involved, only to be duped financially.
According to the police officers, many victims, especially women have fallen prey to matrimonial frauds, customs gift fraud among others, and this is also another attempt of duping people by playing on their emotions and vulnerabilities.
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According to the experts, the Valentine's Day-related spam sees a sevenfold increase in the first week of February. Moreover, the last-minute shoppers also need to be on their guard, as there is a spurt in scam emails related to Valentine's Day shopping, similar to those that pop up around other heavy shopping holidays, like Christmas. Scammers are usually looking to steal credit card information, or login credentials for email and social media accounts.
