Women 50+ targeted by online dating scammers

Con artists are targeting women who are over 50 on popular dating sites. Here’s what you need to know to stay safe.

Average woman loses a minimum of $40,000 to scammers!

The women using these sites may be widowed, single, divorced, whatever and they want to meet somebody. So they meet someone online and these con artists try to develop a relationship with them. Eventually, they try to manipulate the 50+ women into falling in love with them…and then hit them up for money.

The office of the Attorney General of Vermont reports the average woman victim is losing $40,000 to $100,000 to these scams, according to the New York Times! And that’s sight unseen without ever having met the man!!!

If you’re interested in somebody you met online, don’t ever listen to their story about why they’re in trouble and they need money when you’ve never even met them. Meeting them online is not meeting them! The heart is a tricky thing and people will play tricks on your heart.

So please, be careful with people you meet online. When they want to get into your wallet, that’s the alarm bell.

Read more: Credit scores are now factoring into dating

Here’s a real-life story of one woman who was conned…

A North Carolina woman said a scammer pretending to be a solder cheated her out of nearly $19,000.

Melinda Flowers told ABC affiliate WTVD she met a man claiming to be a soldier in Afghanistan on an online dating site.

She said he did not ask her for money. Instead, he sent her a check for $18,900 and asked her to forward the money to his lawyer. The Chapel Hill woman said she then deposited the money into her account at Sun Trust.

‘So they held it for ten days, called me up and said, ‘oh the check’s fine, we had it confirmed by U.S. Bank,” Flowers said.

Flowers said since the bank told her the check was good, she did what the man asked and wired money to his two lawyers. Something unexpected happened shortly after. ‘So then I got a call a day or two after that, after I deposited the money into the accounts that, oops, the money was not there after all,’ she said. ‘And so you now owe us $18,900.’

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She then had to take out a loan to pay all of the money back. SunTrust closed her account. The bank said since the check was deposited in her account Flowers is responsible.

Read the bank’s full statement by clicking here.