Frustrated with your unfruitful dating life, you decide to pull out one more trick from your bagful of dating tricks in order to finally bag that elusive Mr or Ms Right.
Instead of trying your luck at the usual social joints such as clubs, church or social events, this time, you want to find your longing soul mate from one of the numerous dating apps that have proliferated on the internet in recent years.
Therefore, you create an attractive profile with sleek pictures that are sure to land you matches, and then you start swiping for your potential ideal lover.
And sure, soon enough you connect with your perfect match but who has just one problem: because he or she lives far, you need to send them some money for their air ticket or bus fare for your meeting.
But unbeknown to you, you are just about to become the latest statistic in a growing “pandemic” of multi-million shilling online dating fraud schemes that have milked naïve online love seekers dry, if you press ahead and send your hard-earned money.
Valentine’s Day
On Monday, when millions of people across the world were celebrating the highly anticipated Valentine’s Day to shower their loved ones with gifts, niceties and love sayings, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky moved to remind lovers of the dangers that lurk beneath the often times hopeless pursuit of love, especially online.
Releasing the findings of a survey it had conducted globally last year and polling 1,158 respondents from Kenya, Kaspersky said online dating apps have become the new battleground for cunning fraud schemes which has significantly grown during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The survey also comes just days after giant streaming firm Netflix released an explosive true crime documentary about an Israeli conman who creates a fake persona on leading online dating app Tinder and swindles millions of dollars from unsuspecting women across Europe.
The documentary, which has been trending across social media platforms globally for nearly two weeks, shows Israeli-born Shimon Hayut, who created a fake profile masquerading as Simon Leviev, a supposed billionaire son to Russian-Israeli diamond tycoon Lev Leviev.
Manipulating women
He used the profile to emotionally manipulate women into loaning him huge sums of money that he never paid back before moving on to a new victim.
Now, Kaspersky has found that similar online dating fraud has increased by more than half in Kenya since the pandemic began that forced nations to impose strict movement restrictions that saw social joints closed and events suspended which saw people shift online to look for mates.
“Our survey shows that 56 per cent of users of dating services in Kenya faced fraud attempts more often since 2020 when the world knew about Covid-19,” said Bethwel Opil, who is the enterprise sales manager for Kaspersky in Africa.
Last year, 29 per cent of Kenyans who went to online dating apps in search of their soul mates faced fraud attempts, says the firm.
Nearly three quarters (72 per cent) of these attempts were fraudsters seeking money to facilitate their travel from a remote area for their long-awaited meet-up, marking it out as a well-trodden successful path the fraudsters use to play on the emotions of their would-be victims who will do anything to meet up with their love interest.
“Almost three quarters (72 per cent) of them said the fraudster tried to get money allegedly for the arrival from a remote area, and 63 per cent allegedly because of a difficult life situation. Some Kenyan users encountered blackmail attempts,” said Kaspersky.
Sinister fraudsters
But some sinister fraudsters take the game to a new level yet.
Armed with patience as their favourite tool of trade, they cunningly gradually build trust with their victims and meet them several times. With the unsuspecting victim now comfortable, the loving duo even take intimate pictures together.
This makes the love-soaked victims perfect fodder for blackmail with the fraudsters threatening to leak the intimate photos unless the victim parts with an often huge sum of money.
Another popular trick used by the fraudsters is to make an attractive business proposition that often requires contribution from both partners in order to start. Once the victim wires the contribution for starting their would-be joint business venture, the fraudster vanishes into thin air.
“Some Kenyan users encountered blackmail attempts. Thus, 25 per cent said the fraudster threatened to leak or to publish intimate photos,” says the cybersecurity firm.
Mr Opil observes a tough dilemma that love seekers find themselves in, that as while they like to share intimate details about themselves in order to attract a lover on the dating apps, the same can be used against them should the information fall into the hands of a fraudster.
“We all need to follow basic security rules to protect our privacy. Yes, there is still a dilemma, we would like to get to know new people and trust them but in the digital world we often do not know who is there, on the other side of the screen,” said Mr Opil.
Phishing
Kaspersky has recommended that love seekers on dating apps should be careful if they get a digital love card from unknown senders as the card may lead to phishing or a fraudulent website.
It said users should also check the titles and HTTPS details of a websites to check their security before buying gifts online and entering payment data.
The firm says users should avoid sharing too much private information such as surname, work place, photos with friends and mobile phone number as well as connecting their social media accounts to their profiles in the dating apps.
“We highly recommend not to share detailed information especially bank card details and selfie with documents, not to give the dating app access to your contacts and accounts in social networks,” added Mr Opil.
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