With another Valentine’s Day on the horizon, the short video platform, TikTok, has highlighted some precautions for their users to make them aware of the scams that can be pulled off in the name of love. According to TikTok, single users are more vulnerable to such scams.
TikTok added that dating applications as well as social media platforms can be used for such activities. Two years ago, in 2020, the Federal Trade Commission reported various romance scams, with losses totaling more than $344 million.
These scams got their momentum after the recent release of a documentary by Netflix. The documentary is about a scam artist, namely Simon Leviev, and the different ideas he had to steal wealth from a number of women by scamming them.
TikTok shared some pointers with its audience to prevent them from getting scammed. These pointers include taking things slowly as the first tip. The platform suggests not rushing anything and keeping them steady. As most of these are financial scams, the next tip is to keep financial details along with personal data to themselves. Sharing of addresses or bank account details could be used by scammers to harm victims. Lastly, the application suggests users carry out a search for someone’s profile picture through Google images. If the same picture appears under different names, this would possibly mean that it is being used by the scammer. Another way of verifying this scam is by searching out the content written in an email. This will help the user know if others got the same email or a similar one.
The platform encourages it’s users to report anything unusual to the respective authorities, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint or the Federal Trade Commission. This is because such scams could significantly hurt the victim. Hence, reporting of such incidents can save others from going through the same experience. This is why it is advised to be extra careful when approaching someone through online platforms.
Read next: TikTok is cleaning its platform from hateful content for the well being of users
TikTok added that dating applications as well as social media platforms can be used for such activities. Two years ago, in 2020, the Federal Trade Commission reported various romance scams, with losses totaling more than $344 million.
These scams got their momentum after the recent release of a documentary by Netflix. The documentary is about a scam artist, namely Simon Leviev, and the different ideas he had to steal wealth from a number of women by scamming them.
TikTok shared some pointers with its audience to prevent them from getting scammed. These pointers include taking things slowly as the first tip. The platform suggests not rushing anything and keeping them steady. As most of these are financial scams, the next tip is to keep financial details along with personal data to themselves. Sharing of addresses or bank account details could be used by scammers to harm victims. Lastly, the application suggests users carry out a search for someone’s profile picture through Google images. If the same picture appears under different names, this would possibly mean that it is being used by the scammer. Another way of verifying this scam is by searching out the content written in an email. This will help the user know if others got the same email or a similar one.
The platform encourages it’s users to report anything unusual to the respective authorities, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint or the Federal Trade Commission. This is because such scams could significantly hurt the victim. Hence, reporting of such incidents can save others from going through the same experience. This is why it is advised to be extra careful when approaching someone through online platforms.
Read next: TikTok is cleaning its platform from hateful content for the well being of users