from the put-you-money-where-your-heart-is dept.
FBI warns of an increase in online romance scams:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation warns of online romance scams (also known as confidence fraud), an ongoing criminal activity that continues to cause large financial losses along with emotional effects with unpredictable consequences.
[...] "According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which provides the public with a means of reporting Internet-facilitated crimes, romance scams result in greater financial losses to victims when compared to other online crimes." reads the alert published by the FBI. "In 2019, almost 20,000 complaints categorized as romance scams were reported to IC3 (about 1,000 more than the previous year), and the losses associated with those complaints exceeded $475 million."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2020, @08:52PM (5 children)
Know all them teenage girls on the net? Yep, FBI fishing for all you pedos.
(Score: 3, Informative) by darkfeline on Monday August 31 2020, @10:01PM (3 children)
By definition, anyone attracted to teenage girls is not a pedophile, as pedophilia is attraction to prepubescent children who are under 12 years old.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday August 31 2020, @10:26PM
Well, modulo the cross product of English and set theory. I think that's called ephebophilia, but maybe I'm confusing that with an attraction to certain tarantulas [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2020, @11:03PM
I'm fairly sure that the accuracy of the term is not something that normal people care about.
(Score: 3, Disagree) by Grishnakh on Monday August 31 2020, @11:41PM
Actually, this is incorrect.
English is defined only by its popular usage, not the origins of its words or the roots of its words. Hence the term "decimate": it *should* mean to reduce something by one-tenth, because that's what in meant in Ancient Rome (killing 1 of every 10 soldiers as punishment), and should be obvious because "dec" means "ten" in Latin. However, in modern English, "decimate" is popularly used to indicate damaging something or someone far worse than that, and almost no one actually remembers the original meaning.
In American English, therefore, "pedophilia" means being attracted to anyone under the age of 18, even if she's going to turn 18 tomorrow. This is how the term is used in America today, therefore, that's what it means. However, American English is a little different from English spoken in other countries, so in UK or India or New Zealand or wherever, just as "bonnet" might mean something other than a weird archaic clothing item for womens' heads, "pedophilia" might mean something a little different. (It might also not exist, and the similar word "paedophlia" might exist instead.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 01 2020, @07:38AM
The Internet: Where the men are men, the women are men, and the little girls are FBI agents.
---old joke.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2020, @09:06PM (2 children)
20,000 scamming. Almost 500,000,000 scammed.
Netting almost 25,000 Per Scam.
Dating sure is risky business.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 01 2020, @02:33AM (1 child)
For males, dating can be lethal, and certainly not worth the time, trouble, effort, and expense. You're much better off forgetting that females even exist.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday September 01 2020, @02:47PM
Teenage boys especially.
Teenage boys are naturally curious about females. But not if you patiently explain to them that women's vaginas are lined with razor sharp teeth which can bite off a child's hand.
Is there a chemotherapy treatment for excessively low blood alcohol level?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2020, @09:53PM
I don't know about you, but the first and only dating sites I enjoy are ones with available Nigerian women.
/just kidding
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2020, @09:59PM
Stupid people make stupid decisions. News at 11.
(Score: 4, Touché) by krishnoid on Monday August 31 2020, @10:00PM
In other words, "romance".
...
Wait, it's criminal because it's not taxed and/or doesn't lead to taxable events. Took me a few minutes for the gears to turn on that one.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Snotnose on Monday August 31 2020, @10:37PM (3 children)
Early 80s, dating apps. A friend and I setup accounts, nothing. A month goes by, nada. Another month, we get the bright idea to setup fake accounts where we are female.
We could not keep up. This was the era of 1200/2400 baud modems, I could read at 1200 baud but not 2400. Dan and I were just inundated with dating requests from horny hackers, just like we were.
Too bad we didn't swing that way (NTTATWWT), we could have sucked a lot of dick without seeing a single pussy for years.
I came. I saw. I forgot why I came.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Monday August 31 2020, @10:54PM (2 children)
So many of the women are male Nigerians. They are even using voice changers for voice calls, but you can bet they won't FaceTime or Skype or Zoom their victims.
Dating sites should be shut down for consumer fraud.
And I have very little sympathy for the scammed - they are enablers. Every time they pay, they are showing scammers that this is a good way to make money. Same as all those who think some Nigerian oil officials are going to give them $5 million if they just send money for bribes.
This is 2020. There have been so many tv shows exposing catfishes that there's no excuse.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 01 2020, @01:07AM (1 child)
That's not true. I regularly dated online before getting married and there's no way that the number of bots is as high as you're implying. If that were true virtually 100% of the actual women I was contacting, as opposed to bots, was agreeing to go out with me on dates. I'm a great catch, but that seems a bit of a stretch.
(Score: 3, Informative) by barbara hudson on Wednesday September 02 2020, @12:30AM
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Monday August 31 2020, @11:18PM (2 children)
Something tells me that nobody that visits this site is likely to need this warning. Unless perhaps the scammers hang out here, which I suppose is probable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2020, @11:58PM (1 child)
Hello, Dar-link !
I heff bean luke-ink at your profile,
and I am werry impressed! Beeg-men muscles may-kink me horrrrny!
;-) Geef email to me and credit card for to help grenma who ees luke-ink for new liver.
Vodka keels her pain but also her liver.
I cant vait to hear from my beeg, cozy men bear!
Kisses from Ukraina
Lyudmilla
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 01 2020, @07:24AM
B=}
Show me yer pusy
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Monday August 31 2020, @11:27PM (1 child)
If you advertise that you would like to get fucked, then you do get fucked, it's a crime? Things are so confusing . . .
Hail to the Nibbler in Chief.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday September 01 2020, @02:50PM
While that may be true, it seems very unfair to the poor Incels over 30.
Is there a chemotherapy treatment for excessively low blood alcohol level?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 01 2020, @07:43PM
get a job, losers!