Warning after huge rise in number of men being romance scammed
Nationwide records jump in men reporting romance scams
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Reports of men becoming victims of romance scams have increased massively, new figures suggest.
Male victims jumped by 40 per cent between 2022 and 2023, according to Britain’s biggest building society.
Romance-cons can mean big payouts for fraudsters, which is why they may spend weeks – or even months – “grooming” their victim before asking for money.
In one case seen by Nationwide, a customer met someone via social media who claimed to be serving in the United States military and had tried to send expensive gifts to them.
The customer was told that these would be held until taxes and customs fees were paid.
The customer sent a payment of £7,000 but the “courier” delivering the packages contacted them and said police had seized the gifts and further payments were required.
The scam was reported by a family member.
Nationwide, which analysed its own data, said there was a small 2 per cent drop in scams involving female victims.
One in five (20 per cent) romance fraud cases reported to Nationwide Building Society by men in 2023 involved victims aged 20 to 30.
According to Nationwide’s data, women are likely to lose more than men, with the average 2023 claim for women standing at £10,610, compared with an average of £8,181 for men.
The society is encouraging customers concerned about a payment to use its scam-checker service before parting with any money.
If the payment goes ahead and the customer is subsequently scammed, unless Nationwide told the customer not to proceed, they will be fully reimbursed.
Jim Winters, Nationwide’s director of economic crime, said: “Criminals can be very convincing and persuasive enough to get someone looking for love or feeling lonely to give them their trust, personal details and ultimately their money, even when they haven’t actually met each other in person.
“Our data shows all ages can be a target of romance scams as criminals will cast their net far and wide to stand the best chance of snaring a victim.”
Nationwide warned that fraudsters will try to move interactions away from dating apps and websites. They may encourage people to use private emails, phone calls and instant messaging, that cannot be easily tracked.
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