The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is advising the public to be aware of online “Romance Scams” this Valentine’s Day.
“Valentine’s Day is a time when many are speaking the language of love,” USPS said in a release. “But the US Postal Inspection Service knows scammers are speaking a different kind of language, one designed to romance individuals right out of their hard-earned money.”
Officials provided some general tips to help the public such as how to identify if you or a loved one is being targeted and how to protect yourself and others.
“Let me set the scene for you: You connect with someone online, maybe through a dating or employment website,” the USPS release posed. “After a short time of intense relationship building and shared intimacies, they profess their love for you. Then, a request for money follows, what do you do?”
USPS said to be aware of these warning signs:
- Someone you only know online professes their love, and you haven’t even met face-to-face.
- Your online romantic partner has a sudden emergency or medical issue and needs your financial help.
- You are asked to deposit a check and then wire transfer money back.
- You notice spelling and grammar mistakes; this is characteristic of scam correspondence.
For ways to protect yourself, USPS offered the following:
- After meeting someone online, play it safe and don’t divulge your last name, address or workplace until you’ve met in person. Save personal details about yourself for the in-person meeting. Turn off location settings on your mobile phone.
- Research the person through search engines. Perform a reverse image search of your new friend’s photo. Google the romancer’s email address and see if “scam” pops up. Compare the romancer’s backstory with information on their social media accounts.
- Resist a romancer’s push to quickly move the relationship off the dating site and over to email.
- Keep your webcam turned off at all times. Scammers will eventually try to convince their victims to disrobe on camera and use these images to blackmail them.
And, if you believe romance scammers are targeting your family or friends, USPS said you can protect them with these steps:
- Be especially solicitous towards family and friends who have recently divorced or lost a loved one. Make sure they know how to conduct an online background check of anyone they might meet while on dating sites or visiting chat rooms.
- Be alert to flowers and inexpensive gifts accumulating in the homes of friends and family members who might be vulnerable to online romance scammers.
- Answer the phone while you’re visiting a family member or loved one, to get a sense of the types of calls coming into their homes.
- Volunteer to review their finances with them and question suspicious payments or large withdrawals.
If a suspicious offer, promotion or solicitation arrives through the mail, USPS said to give it to your letter carrier and ask them to pass it along to a postal inspector, bring it to your local post office or forward the solicitation to the Criminal Investigation Service Center.
USPS said victims can also report fraud through www.uspis.gov, or call 877-876-2455 and say “Fraud.”
