Romance Scams Are on Rise, but Binance Is Fighting Back

Valentine’s Day has evolved from its origins as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine to become a global celebration of romance. But it is also becoming an increasingly dangerous time for lonely hearts.

The innate desire of many millions of singles desperately seeking their soulmate can make such individuals especially vulnerable to so-called “Romance Scams”, as Binance explained in a recent blog post.

Romance scammers are individuals who skillfully weave a web of deception, masquerading as someone’s Mr. or Miss Perfect in order to exploit the emotions of their targeted victim. They are masters of manipulation, constantly assuring their victims that they seek the same kind of loving, meaningful relationship they’re so desperately longing for. They carefully develop a persona that seems like the perfect match, sharing the same hobbies, interests, passions, and aspirations as their targets while professing a desire to build a future together.

Unfortunately, these individuals are not actually seeking love at all. Rather, the only thing they’re interested in is getting their hands on the victim’s money, and they’re prepared to go to incredible lengths to get what they desire.

Sadly, an increasing number of individuals around the world are falling head over heels in love with such scammers, and many of them foolishly part with thousands of dollars’ worth of savings in the hope that their love for their newfound online partner will be reciprocated.

Romance Scams Explained

The aim of any romance scammer is to convince the victim that they are genuine before establishing trust and an emotional connection that makes them more likely to part ways with their hard-earned savings.

Romance scammers can use many different tactics to trick their victims into handing over large amounts of money. One of the main strategies is to tempt them with the idea of a lucrative investment, asking them to invest just a small amount to begin with as a way of “demonstrating” how easy it is to make money. They’ll initially allow their victims to make small withdrawals of their “profits” to build confidence that they’re offering a legitimate investment. However, once the victim is tricked into sending much larger amounts of money, they’ll suddenly find they’re unable to make bigger withdrawals or asked to pay taxes in order to access their profits.

This kind of tactic is commonly known as “pig butchering” and involves gaining the victim’s trust so as to convince them to invest a significant portion of their savings. However, once the victim has exhausted their savings, they’ll suddenly be unable to contact their online partner, and only then do they realize how they have been fooled. In many cases, the fraudsters will ask their targets to send them crypto, as digital assets are more difficult to trace.

Other tactics used by romance scammers may involve sob stories, where they conjure up a tale of financial hardship and appeal to their victim for assistance. Binance relates a real-life story of a woman who met someone named “George”, who posed as a successful British businessman living in Cyprus. The victim met George on Facebook’s dating service and they soon began talking every day. It wasn’t long until both professed their love for one another and started making plans to build a new life together.

Suddenly though, George’s life became more tumultuous as he claimed his bank account had been frozen by the authorities as part of an investigation into his business. He claimed to be stranded in Cyprus without having access to any of his money, unable to support his two kids. The victim, who believed George was genuine, took pity on him and sent him a substantial sum of money, more than $20,000. George, who swore to repay the debt as soon as he arrived back home in the UK, continued to press his victim for more money, only to disappear when the flow of cash dried up.

Such scams are becoming more common than ever before. Binance cites data from the US Federal Trade Commission, which received 11,235 reports of romance scams in 2016. By 2020, the number of reports had risen to 52,593, and by 2022, almost 70,000 such cases were reported, with cumulative losses running to over $1.3 billion.

It’s a lucrative industry for scammers and, as Binance points out, many of them are using crypto as their preferred means of payment. Crypto accounted for 34% of the more than $1.3 billion in losses reported to the FTC.

How Binance Is Fighting Back

To try and prevent people from falling victim to romance scams, Binance has taken on an active role in raising awareness of the methods used by these fraudsters. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange has created a specialist team dedicated to putting a stop to crypto fraud, and is working with hundreds of law enforcement agencies around the globe to hunt down and prosecute criminals engaged in such scams. To that end, Binance happily processed more than 58,000 requests for information from 13,000 law enforcement officials worldwide in 2023 alone. In one case, the exchange supported the FBI and DOJ in prosecuting a pig butchering case that saw multiple individuals convicted, and led to the recovery of more than $112 million in illicit funds.

Besides facilitating investigations, Binance actively works to educate law enforcement personnel around the world on the nature of romance scams. In the last year, it organized more than 120 training sessions.

“These initiatives bolster the safety of Binance’s platform for users and their investments in the ever-evolving crypto landscape,” the company explained. “As scams and the methods employed to execute them evolve alongside the rapid pace of the crypto industry, the Binance Risk team also remains proactive. They employ a wide range of tools and measures, including real-time risk monitoring, to ensure that our users don’t fall victim to scammers.”

Don’t Be a Victim

While Binance continues to work to put a stop to romance scammers, it’s also offering advice for lonely hearts on how to avoid becoming their next victim. In its blog post, it warns users that they should always stick to the dating app on which they meet their newest contact, as opposed to moving to a private application such as WhatsApp, where conversations cannot be monitored.

It also warns individuals to be on the lookout for profiles that seem too good to be true, as scammers typically pose as incredibly handsome/beautiful people. They’re getting more sophisticated too, and do far more than just post a few pictures, going as far as to use AI technology to create so-called “deepfake” videos and create counterfeit IDs to “prove” to their targets that they’re the real deal.

Other tips include taking your time and never rushing into an online relationship. Users should always be on the lookout for inconsistencies in their lover’s story, and that is even more important if the person in question keeps canceling in-person meetings they have arranged. Finally, the most important tip of all – never send money to someone you meet online if you haven’t met them in real life and don’t know them well. If someone is claiming to have suffered financial mishaps, or has a fantastic investment opportunity they want you to take part in, it’s likely to be a scam.

Disclaimer: Coinspeaker is committed to providing unbiased and transparent reporting. This article aims to deliver accurate and timely information but should not be taken as financial or investment advice. Since market conditions can change rapidly, we encourage you to verify information on your own and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content.

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