"Pig Butchering" Romance Scams On the Rise

Internet scams are almost as old as the Internet itself. Unfortunately there are still hundreds of millions of people around the world who are getting access, or who have gotten access during the the last few years , and a lot of them just don’t know how to use it (other than the most well know apps like Uber, Grab, and so on..), and especially not about the risks. A considerable percentage of   ‘new’ users have no idea what’s going on, and if they see a link or e-mail that promises them a new car, iPhone or free money, they’ll click on it. Not only that, they will follow the procedure and end up leaving information that allows somebody to access their accounts.

I just heard from the mother of a friend (she’s in her nineties) paying twenty or thirty thousand dollars (US) to some scammers, and she isn’t even that rich, that was almost all of her savings. Hearing stuff like that breaks my heart. And even though law enforcement seems to catch up slowly, it will take another few decades until the safe havens for scammers aren’t safe anymore.

In the meantime, if you know people who might fall for such a thing, keep repeating to them to not click anywhere and ask you before opening strange (unknown) messages. I’m sure my mother thinks I’m a bit of a pain about it, but I prefer to warn her once too many.

Also,  check with them if they could use a tablet instead of a computer/notebook, at least most of the time  I dont't know for sure if that's really safer,but it seems so.

02/05/24 My ecstatically happy marriage started ten years ago with an unsolicited message I received online, so I'm a believer in Internet romance.  I always had two hard and fast rules, though:  the communication had to move offline to the phone in no more than a week, and result in a face to face meeting in no more than a month.  The slightest hesitation at either decision point and I ghosted.  That didn't keep me from kissing my share of frogs, but it did keep any amphibians from swimming into my bank account.