PHOENIX — Eighteen years after he got divorced, a Valley man thought he found a connection.
Instead, he was duped out of thousands of dollars.
It didn’t just happen once, but multiple times, by someone he thought was a national news anchor.
Turns out, it was a scammer.
If you’re looking for love or maybe you’re in a vulnerable place in your life, there are red flags to look out for so you don’t end up getting targeted in what’s commonly known as a "romance" or "sweetheart scam."
“I got on Instagram, and I saw this very pretty lady which I thought ok, maybe this might turn into something. She works for a very big network, and I fell for thinking it was really her,” the man said.
In a one-on-one interview with 12News, the man — who asked us not to reveal his identity — explained how he was targeted in a series of sweetheart scams.
“She asked me if I wanted to become part of her charity,” he said.
While there were a couple of red flags early on, he said he just kept going with it.
“She asked if I wanted to come visit her… I jumped at it,” he said. “She said ok you need to come up with $700, I needed to get it so she can get a plane ticket… I Cash App it over… never got a receipt or anything like that.”
He explained the scammer asked for money on numerous occasions, and every time he sent over the money.
“I ended up… total was $6,300, but in different times,” he said. “The worst one was I don’t know how, but she got a hold of my credit card. She emptied it. That was 56 grand… I just fell for it.”
Unfortunately, scams like this are nothing new for David McClellan. He’s the CEO and founder of Social Catfish, a website that helps people find out if they are being scammed or catfished.
“I’ve been dealing with romance scams for 10 years,” he said.
McClellan said romance scams have become the number one scam in the U.S.
“There’s $1 billion that’s lost these types of scams,” he said. “It’s really sad.”
McClellan said one of the trends he sees the most when it comes to these scams is that they go unreported.
“The majority of people that are scammed are embarrassed, so they actually don’t come forward,” he said. “They don’t go to law enforcement. They don’t report this stuff, and so even though the numbers are as large as they are, most of it’s unreported.”
And that’s just one of the issues surrounding these scams.
“Most of the scammers tend to be overseas, and so when law enforcement are dealing with these people there’s too much red tape,” said McClellan. “It’s very difficult.”
His company helps people who have been scammed take action.
“We build software to help protect people online, but we also work with law enforcement all over the world,” he said.
He said it’s important for anyone who becomes a victim to report it so investigators can track common patterns.
Here are some of the red flags you should look out for in romance or sweetheart scams:
- Often scammers will create fake profiles that look real, but they’re not.
- After scammers connect with the person they’re targeting, they’ll try to move the relationship forward quickly.
- And once they have earned your trust, they will start making up elaborate stories and then ask you for financial help.
But keep in mind that scammers will never meet you in person or appear on a video chat.
And they are persistent. They will continue to try to scam you, as long as they know they can get money out of you.
As for the man who shared his story with 12News, he reported it to his bank and got most of his money back.
“I got everything back, except for my savings, which was two grand,” he said.
He has a message to share with others who think they may have found love but are leery.
“Really look into it… do your research,” he said. “I wish I would’ve done that.”
If you believe you have been scammed, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, also known as IC3, is the best place you can turn to, other than your bank and local law enforcement.
It’s a division of the FBI that deals with suspected internet-facilitated criminal activity.
IC3 provides a reporting mechanism for victims to alert authorities about suspected criminal or civil violations on the internet.
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