Incidences of romance or dating report scam have been on the rise since it came to public knowledge
not too long ago.Yet,many people in the Western world are yet to grasp the reality
of the fact that this scam seems to be on the increase. Perhaps, because most of the
people who lose money to these scams do not talk about their losses. Many people prefer
to bear the financial losses in silence, rather than disclose to any other party.
On the other hand, in Nigeria and other places where the scammers operate from, large
amounts of dollars are being received on a daily basis from the scams. In the third week of March, for instance, a 20 year old young man,just seeking admission into the university, scammed 5000 British Pounds
from a middle aged woman in the United Kingdom. He is not the only one collecting such amounts
from dating or romance scams.Daily,in thousands of cafes all over Nigeria, especially the SouthWest, and other West African countries, tens of thousands of young people are actively working at the scams, looking for such victims.
But then, the question arises — whom do the scammers target for their activities? Do they just pick on anyone anywhere, or do they have a particular set of people that they focus on to defraud them of their money? From what I could gather in my research, here are the main types of people that the scams are focused on :
1. Elderly people and other lonely groups: Elderly women and men looking for companionship are believed to be especially vulnerable to the scams. They are believed to be soft at heart, and willing to part with their money in return for romantic affection and attention.
Other lonely groups of people are also a prime target. Their loneliness makes them to be in need of some form of company, which may not be readily available around them in their immediate environment and which the scammers readily provide.
2.Separated women,recently divorced women and the like are easy targets of the scammers. The trauma of their divorce or separation makes them vulnerable to online scams. The scammers hunt on various dating sites for women like these.
3.Overweight people:these set of people are about the easiest to target and to scam, according to the scammers. It appears some overweight people need someone to admire them and to love them the way they are.
And it also appears that a number of them are insecure emotionally. And it appears that as a result of this, some overweight women seem to do anything to hold on to a man, even if they do not know if he is for real. It appears that it is their sense of insecurity and their need for acceptance that is often exploited to get money of them.
