THIS week Kaspersky, a Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider, sent out a statement, entitled, “Valentine or swindler?”
According to Kaspersky’s survey, which examined dating apps during the pandemic, it found fraud was an increasing problem for those who used such platforms in South Africa and wide spread.
This as the world and South Africa celebrated Valentine’s Day on February 14, a day celebrating romantic love, a notion deeply entrenched in history originating in the 14th and 15th centuries and with symbols that are used today, including the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. The notion of soulmates and fairytale love stories abound.
The statement also comes as Netflix’s new documentary, “Tinder Swindler”, has become a massive talking point and an example of romantic fraud.
The documentary is a salient lesson in how a scammer defrauded people, mainly women, for millions and the perils of using dating apps. It details the unfolding horror of how one of his victims uncovers the depth of the scam that Shimon Hayut, better known as Simon Leviev, has conned her with, leaving her suicidal, financially broke, but determined to expose Hayut to the world and bring him to justice.
The resultant social media storm carried a lot of sentiment, saying the women were stupid.
One Twitter user, who has recently experienced an emotional con, said, “The women who were victimised are getting called stupid for giving that trash human being so much of their money. People saying these things about them don’t understand how emotional cons work.”
Another Twitter user said,“ The Twitter Swindler reached another level of narcissism and manipulation. I felt bad, but at the same time I don’t understand why they would take out loans for a complete stranger.”
However, data shows people are vulnerable to romantic fraud.
Kaspersky noted that one in five or 21 percent of people on dating apps faced fraud attempts last year. More than half of them, 64 percent, said the fraudster asked for money allegedly because of a difficult life situation, 54 percent – allegedly for the arrival from a remote area.
Some users in South Africa encountered blackmail attempts, with 17 percent, saying the fraudster threatened to leak or publish intimate photos. A significant part of respondents talked about phishing attempts with 38 percent saying that the fraudster tried to get personal data, for example by asking them to register on a particular website.
James Gumede, SADC territory account manager at Kaspersky, said, “Our survey shows that 25 percent of users of dating services in South Africa faced fraud attempts more often since 2020, when the world knew about Covid-19. 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.
“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. It is interesting that 5 percent create fake accounts for the same reason – they consider it a good security measure,” Gumede said.
Dating app scams likewise are not restricted to South Africa, but are rising globally.
According to the US’s Federal Trade Commission, reports of romance online scams have nearly tripled in the past years. It found that in 2020 alone victims lost around $304 million (R4.6 billion) from being swindled by their cyber sweetheart.
“This just grazes the surface of online dating scams statistics,” it said.
Kaspersky’s experts shared the following recommendations to help people use dating apps more securely:
- Be careful if you get digital Valentines cards from unknown senders: a card may lead to phishing or a fraudulent website.
- Before buying gifts online and entering payment data, check the title of the website and HTTPS-connection.
- Talk with your partner about digital borders: it is important that both members of a couple realise that the right to privacy gives assurance of a trusted relationship.
- Think which passwords you are ready to share with your partner: there are good tools helping to manage passwords such as Kaspersky Password Manager.
- Do not publish too much private information (surname, place you work in, photos with your friends, your cellphone number etc) and do not connect your social accounts to your profiles in dating apps.
- Do not visit unknown dating services, especially if you saw them in ads: they may turn out to be fraudulent created to aim at stealing users’ money.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE