The truth behind dating app scams has now been exposed in new research revealing the tell-tale signs of a Tinder swindler.
Scientists have pinpointed the key personality traits exhibited by romance scammers in a bid to crackdown on cybercrime.
Flattery, pets names and personal questions are among the numerous ways that criminals may try to reel you in before asking for help with money.
Many fraudulent accounts pose as military servicemen too – emotionally manipulating partners before demanding emergency funds.
The Abertay University research comes at a time when romance tricks are surging, with many across the world being scammed out of money.
Flattery and pet names are among several ways a scammer may try to reel you in (stock image)
Shimon Heyada Hayut – also known as the Tinder Swindler – is a famous example of this, having allegedly swindled multiple women into giving him hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Dr Lynsay A Shepherd, who worked on the study, told Tech Xplore: ‘Romance fraud continues to be a growing problem, and research in this space is important to reduce victimization.
‘Scammers are continually coming up with new ways to defraud people, therefore it is vital to research and find new ways to protect people from these scams.’
As part of the study, experts screened 232 papers in search for information on romance scam profiles, countermeasures and targeted victims.
Just over 40 of these were deemed relevant, helping experts piece together the key fraudster signs in a final analysis.
Most often, scams kickstarted with a profile, often curated to present an ideal appearance of a desirable partner.
This varied depending on country of origin, with many Italian profiles posing as real estate agents, while Filipinos were generally drawn to fake sales careers.
Many scammers were also seen to adopt a military appearance which was sometimes used tactfully to ask for emergency money.
The career of a fraudulent profile often varies depending on your home country (stock image)
Once app users fall for these profiles, fraudsters generally proceed to use a number of persuasive techniques to facilitate intimacy and trust.
This could include lyrical expressions, pet names and flattery to indicate a strong longing for a partner.
Women aged between 35 and 54 were often believed to be targets of this, especially if they had limited internet experience and a poor understanding of scams.
Researchers wrote: ‘Most studies in our review contributed to the profiling of romance fraud by establishing process models to describe the progression of the scam, or analysing linguistic patterns and persuasion techniques employed by the scammers when interacting with their victims.
‘These findings can aid in developing improved detection and mitigation techniques and seed the development of practical training and awareness programmes.’
Shimon Heyada Hayut – also known as the Tinder Swindler – is a famous example of this, having allegedly swindled multiple women into giving him hundreds of thousands of dollars
When victims are finally hooked, scammers may then begin asking for money in a number of different ways.
Military-styled accounts often asked for money to escape an emergency situation – whether it be related to health or an inability to access funds.
Giving help to family members was another key excuse for fraudulent money requests in addition to food and medicine needs.
With these details now at hand, experts hope that more prevention schemes will come as a result, helping online daters steer clear of risky situations.
It is understood that many studies have already proposed the idea of using machine learning detectors to block fraudulent profiles from dating sites.
But currently there is a lack of common data that can be used to test this, severely limiting its development.
‘Romance fraud will remain an arms race between cybercriminals and bona fide online daters. As new attacks emerge and existing ones evolve, future research will have to keep pace with the perpetrators and develop new ways to prevent attacks and to provide engaging training and awareness programs and effective incident detection and response,’ researchers wrote.
