Romance scam victims always ask, how could this happen to me?  Too many times international  private investigators have witnessed how victims were deceived because they believed the person they were seeing in the webcam. Even if you can see someone through a webcam, you don’t know what their real identity is, or if the video sharing is just a setup to lure you in.   In many cases, the person in the webcam is not actually speaking to you, but rather an intermediary, in part of an elaborate scam.

Many internet scam and fraud victims report that they are skeptical and educated individuals.  Outsiders and those who have not been a victim often think it takes a fool to be a victim of scam or fraud.  However, expert investigators say this is not the case.  In fact, online criminals are using more sophisticated scam and fraud techniques and tools every day, and law enforcement and internet users are having a hard time staying current on all the warning signs.

In a new twist to romance scams and online dating fraud, internet criminals are now rolling out a new scam technique that has many victims dazed and confused.  Scammers are now hiring real models to talk to their victims on a webcam and convince the victim they are real, beautiful, and truly in love or in need for your help.  It is the most effective scam technique being used today on the internet for dating scams and fraud. Victims match the face in the video to the photos previously sent, but they never care to question the real identity behind that face.

So romance scammers do not work alone?

No, they don’t. Most romance scammers belong to organized crime rings who employ different people: models, hackers, money collectors, money launderers, etc. Organized crime groups in Russia, West Africa, Malaysia, Romania, Nigeria, the Philippines, Turkey and other countries have found it very profitable to use live girls as part of the con to gain your trust and love.  In other cases, the criminal simply relays the message to a female in a webcam, and relays the video back to the victim, making the victim believe the person he is talking to is the woman.  In other cases, the video feed is not even live, but a previously recorded one.  There are many ways to scam a potential victim.  Once they accomplish their goal, they will steal your money, your identity, or will blackmail you.  Sextortion has become one of the fastest growing crimes because people blindly trust the person on the other side of the webcam, just to find out later they had been recorded and that criminals have footage of them in a compromising situation.  Next, the criminal threatens to send the footage to family, friends and employers.

The days of using fake photos taken from sites like Match.com and Facebook are slowly fading away.  With billions of dollars stolen and millions of fraud victims, the old method was a gold mine, but the new method is even more effective and dangerous to internet users on social networking and online dating sites.  When you’re talking  to a person on webcam, you think you’re safe.

Romance scammers from all over the world are now known to use this method and it works so good that victims are losing thousands of dollars on a daily basis.

How to avoid webcam scammers?

The first rule is that you should not share a webcam with a stranger! Be selfish about your personal information and put tape your webcam so no one can hack it. Even if tempting, never engage in sexual video interactions if you don’t want it to be public, because it could easily become public.

Then, make sure you are talking to a real and honest person and not a fraudster. A dating background check investigation is the most reliable way to know if you are communicating with a criminal.

In many cases, victims were clients of adult content websites and became involved with a woman they met through the site. Adult content websites carry a lot of risks if you are not careful. Crooks will find a way to drain your bank accounts, so be one step ahead!  Experts warn that just because you can see someone in a video on the internet, it does not always mean the video is live, and it does not always mean the person in the video is who he or she claims to be.  Be safe and contact a professional investigator to conduct a real online dating verification.  Then decide.

C. Wright
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