Social Worker - "I can't believe this is happening to me. I'm worried about how I'll get the money to pay back my friends and relatives," she confided.
Single mother Gabriella Kranyik (46) lives with her 18-year-old daughter in northwest London.
She used a dating app to find a boyfriend and met a young man who identified himself as Gabriel. After two weeks of chatting, she felt fond of and trusted him.
Gabriella Kranyik (blonde) poses for a photo with her daughter. Photo: Mirror
Later, he lured her into online investments promising profits. She transferred money twice, totaling approximately £2,100 (nearly 70 million VND).
She received notification that her investment had generated a profit of over £39,000 (over 1.2 billion VND).
"I thought it was unbelievable, but Gabriel reassured me and told me to try to get all the money," she shared.
Following his instructions, she went through the procedures to get the money. First, the investors informed her that she had to pay taxes on time, otherwise she would be charged a late payment fee.
She felt pressured because she had to pay within 3 days. At this point, Gabriel continued to encourage her, so the woman decided to borrow money from friends and relatives to pay.
After paying her taxes, she received a notification that the money would be transferred to her account after 12 hours, but the transfer order failed. They told her she had to pay another fee called a withdrawal fee.
She continued to trust the system and paid the money as usual. She only discovered it was a scam when she received another payment notice.
She tried to contact Gabriel, but he had disappeared. The total amount she was scammed out of in this incident was £10,000 (over 329 million VND).
"I can't believe this is happening to me. I'm worried about how I'll get the money to pay back my friends and relatives," she confided.
7 ways to avoid online dating pitfalls
You should verify the real age of the person you're talking to online using various methods to determine if they're trying to scam you. (Illustrative image)
1. Check their real age.
As a rule, online scammers often target older people.
It's not uncommon to see a middle-aged man or woman looking for an older partner.
This group of people is said to be not only wealthy but also emotionally deprived and easily deceived.
So, if you receive a message from someone much younger than you who wants a long-term relationship with you, you might be being scammed.
You should verify the real age of the person you're talking to online using various methods to determine if they're trying to scam you.
2. Be cautious of unexpected declarations of love.
If you've only known someone for a week and they're constantly talking about love and making promises of a long-term relationship, you should be cautious.
This is typical behavior of online scammers. These people often say they are madly in love with you and want to be with you.
Then, when you're blinded by love, they'll ask you to provide them with personal information.
Ultimately, these scammers will use that information to blackmail you or your family.
3. Don't give in when they ask you for financial help.
After you've been dating online for a while, the scammer will find ways to extort money from you, especially if you're deeply in love with them.
The scammer will say they want to come to your country to marry you.
But suddenly some tragedy will strike, causing their plans to be postponed. And they will ask you for financial help.
4. Check their profile picture.
Scammers often steal photos of other people on social media or even from modeling websites.
These photos are all beautiful and make you believe that your online lover is both beautiful and faithful.
Fortunately, you can check if these images are of real people using Google Images.
5. Pay attention to their grammar.
Online scammers are often not good at grammar. They usually use translation tools to communicate with you.
So, if they pretend to be highly educated but make many spelling and grammatical mistakes during conversations, you should reconsider.
6. Not providing personal information when dating.
After getting to know you on a dating website, scammers will try every way to obtain your personal information.
They will often ask for your name, age, phone number, and email address. Afterward, you'll be bombarded with spam emails and even unsolicited calls.
7. Take the initiative to ask them out on a date in real life.
To find out if their feelings for you are genuine, you should proactively ask them out on a date in real life.
If they ask you to transfer money to them, it proves that this person only wants to scam you.
Have you ever encountered a scammer through online dating? Do you believe it's possible to find true love this way?
Source: https://giadinh.suckhoedoisong.vn/cu-lua-tien-me-don-than-ngoan-muc-cua-trai-tre-172250318162304214.htm
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