Top 5 Lies Used by Romance Scam Artists

In this post, I will tell you top 5 lies used by romance scam artists. Romance scam has been around for a while. Although romance scam is more popular on the internet nowadays, it's beginning is hard to trace.

As far back as year 2000 in a novel titled 'The Brethren', John Grisham wrote a fiction about romance scam. The mode by which the romance scam artists operated in that book was by exchanging hand written letters with their victims. You can imagine how difficult it would be to spot a romance scam in such situation.

Nowadays with the ubiquity of smart phones, personal computers, etc, it is not very difficult to confirm identities of people you are interacting with. This is because these gadgets usually have voice and video call capabilities. Notwithstanding the availability of these advanced technological features, romance scam artists have refused to give up on their niche. In case you are wondering what I meant by 'their niche', let me briefly explain.

Romance scam niche

Their niche is simply 'love'. Romance scam artists realize that people need love or affection in other words. love is one of the basic human needs. You can read more about this in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Now back to the topic. Instead of romance scam artists to be deterred by these technological advances, they have simply upgraded their tactics. They do this by telling you lies that would eventually allow them to evade disclosure of their identities my means of voice calls and video calls.

Note that some romance scam artists would actually speak to you through voice call or video call. These sorts of romance scam artists however, are a different breed popularly known as gold diggers. Gold diggers are advanced scam artists so when dealing with one you have to be extra vigilant. The good news is that the top 5 lies I am going to reveal to you are usually used by many scam artists regardless of their breed.

Below are top 5 lies used by romance scam artists:

1. I want to marry someone in your country so I can relocate there

This lie is usually directed at gullible victims. Usually the romance scam artists would use a picture of a good looking lady or man as their profile picture and make write the lie in their profile. The unsuspecting victim gets carried away by the pic and eventually parts with his/her money as travel expenses for the fake bride or groom.

2. I am looking for a relationship that will lead to marriage

This is a very common lie used by romance scam artists in their profiles on 'social media platforms'. You might think that it would be difficult to spot this lie because a genuine person might say the same thing as well. However, romance scam artists who use this lie are not usually sophisticated and your giveaway is the 'social media platform'. Think! Why would someone who is looking for a serious relationship that would lead to marriage make such assertion on a social media platform? The truth is that genuine people would rather make such statements on dating platforms.

Unfortunately many of these un-sophisticated scam artists can't afford dating sites subscriptions so they utilize free social media platforms hoping to scam naive victims. Another thing is that many of them frequently get kicked out of dating sites for suspicious scam activities. This is because dating sites don't like romance scam artists because they are bad for their businesses. As a result, dating sites often have several measures in place to weed out suspicious users from their platforms.

3. I am a military officer

These lie is usually used by romance scam artists who do not intend to speak to you either through voice or video call. By telling you this lie from the onset, they would always have an excuse not to be able to make a video call. Such later excuse could be 'I am at a military base where video calls are forbidden and I am only able to chat with you on a low key'. Soon in the course of your usual chats, it won't be long before you are required to help them with some money because things are kind of hard where they are. They would often promise to pay you back soon as they come home from their military deployment.

4. I lost my job due to Covid-19

This lie is usually a pretext for imminent financial assistance from the victim. Now you might be thinking: that's a shallow lie and I would be able to spot it from a mile away. The truth is that it's not usually that simple when this lie is coming from what seems to be a gorgeous female. Many male victims usually buy this lie and end up parting with their money at the end. So when you hear this from someone you just met online, be vigilant and hold tight to your dear wallet. There is a high chance that you are dealing with a scam artist and it's even worse if this lie came from a gold digger.

5. I am a bitcoin trader or expert

This lie is usually a pretext for imminent invitation for investment and it is one you should be very vigilant about. It is usually used by advanced scam artists like gold diggers. Eventually after gaining your trust, the scam artist would invite you to invest in cryptocurrency. And of course, don't expect any returns on the investment. A seasoned romance scam artist might even give you some returns first and then ask you to invest a bigger amount.

Conclusion

One way to figure out whether you are dealing with a romance scam artist is to insist on talking to the person vide video call. If they persistently evade calls, then chances are you are dealing with a romance scam artist. Once again, hold tight to your dear wallet.

If however, you are able to talk to them on video call, it still doesn't eliminate the possibility that you might be dealing with a gold digger. It would be up to you to really exercise good judgment to avoid stories that touch. One safety rule is to always be reluctant to part with your hard earned money when seeking a relationship.

Now that you know the top 5 lies used by romance scam artists, don't be a victim! For tips on how to protect your Online activity from cybercrime, see this post.