CANBERRA: Australians reported a record-breaking $37 million lost to Scamwatch dating and romance scams last year, the government-owned Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has reported.
ACCC says that overall it received more than 400 reports of romance baiting scams, with more than $15.2 million in losses. The majority of cases involved cryptocurrency investment scams.
“While traditional dating and romance scams tend to target older Australians, almost half of all losses to romance baiting scams come from people under the age of 35,” the report says.
It adds that the scammers often encourage victims to initially transfer a small amount of money to prove how easy the investment is.
Victims will then be urged to top up their accounts to increase their profits – but when they run out of money to transfer, the scammer simply ceases all communication – and the moola has gone.
