Unhappy Valentines Day – Romance Fraud

This Valentine’s Day, be careful of who you let into your heart.  Unfortunately for every love-lorn single there is a fake Romeo or dating site scammer waiting to separate them from their money.  According to the FBI, the amount of money losses to victims of romance fraud makes it the second most lucrative cyber crime, generating $211 million for the perpetrators. Only business email compromise (email account hijacking) creates more cash for cyber-criminals.

Romance fraud is much more of a social engineering exploit than most computer crimes.  This scam usually starts on a dating website, where you meet your “soulmate.”  Everything about this person is perfect.  Then there is a hitch, your new soulmate needs a cash transfusion for a business deal, to pay off a debt, or money for airfare so they can finally visit in person.  Once the money has changed hands, the romance may be over.  Or maybe not.  Maybe it is over only after they have emptied all of your accounts.

This was alert was released by US-CERT and the Federal Trade Commission:

Internet Romance Scams

02/12/2019 02:28 PM EST  Original release date: February 12, 2019

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released an article addressing a rise in reports of internet romance scams. In this type of fraud, cyber criminals gain the confidence of their victims and trick them into sending money. Use caution when online dating, and never send money or gifts to someone you have not met in person.

The National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), part of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), encourages users to review FTC’s article on Romance Scams and NCCIC’s tip on Staying Safe on Social Networking Sites. If you think you have been a target of a romance scam, file a report with

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About the Author:

I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com

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