"Cybercrooks Rake in $304M in Romance Scams"

Researchers at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stated that romance scams remain the most successful fraud strategy for cybercrooks and represent a growing sector.   According to new data, the researchers found that romance schemes accounted for a record $304 million raked into illicit coffers, which is up about 50 percent from 2019.  The gambits typically start with an online connection that turns into daily communications; the scammer hones a relationship with the target from afar before eventually asking for money. A target then sends funds in the form of a gift card (this payment type was up 80 percent in 2020, the FTC found) or a wire transfer.  In 2020, the median dollar loss for individual victims of romance scams was around $2,500, which is more than ten times the median loss across all other fraud types, the FTC stated.   From 2016 to 2020, total dollar losses increased more than fourfold, and the number of reports of romance scams to the FTC nearly tripled.  The losses vary by age group.  According to the FTC, people ages 20 to 29 saw the largest increase in targeting, with the number of reports more than doubling since 2019. People ages 40 to 69 were the most likely to report losing money, and people 70 and older reported the highest individual median losses at $9,475.

Threatpost reports: "Cybercrooks Rake in $304M in Romance Scams"