Fraud Education Center

If your heart is set on finding love, you may find yourself looking online for it. Online dating sites are a popular way to meet people who share your own desire to meet someone special. While many couples have found success with it, beware: these sites are increasingly becoming a breeding ground for criminals looking to prey on the vulnerable emotions of others.

People turning to the internet for love lost a total of $1.4 billion to romance scams in 2023, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Fraud experts say romance scams are especially insidious because scammers prey on emotions, are expert at understanding human behavior, and know how to use (and abuse) emotional trigger points.

As romance scams grow, it’s important to know what they are and what you can do to protect yourself. If you have a friend, family member, or loved one who may be vulnerable to romance scams, be sure to alert them as well.  

How Romance Scams Work

In romance scams, a criminal will create a fake identity to gain your affection and trust to manipulate you emotionally and steal your money or personal information, reports the FBI.

While it takes time, trust, and commitment to build a real relationship, scammers will establish a relationship with you as quickly as possible. As you feel swept up in their love bombing game, they’ll ask you for money. Remember, these scammers are professionals—they know exactly what they’re doing, and come across genuine, caring and believable. Often, they will falsely portray themselves as being in the building or construction industry and engaged in projects outside the U.S., which makes it easy to avoid meeting in person. Eventually they will ask for money from you. Common reasons include covering a medical emergency or unexpected legal fee. They may ask you for your bank account information, so they can make a deposit to it; in reality, they plan to use your account to carry out other theft and fraud schemes.

Romance Scam Red Flags

Watch out for these common red flags associated with romance scams, according to AARP.

1. You get a wrong number text. If you reply, you’ll soon find yourself in conversation with them. They will literally create a relationship out of thin air.
2. If you meet up on a dating site, they’ll want to go off site quickly and communicate through another messaging platform like WhatsApp.
3. They will say they live far away and are abroad for business, military, or charity work.
4. They lavish you with attention, promising a life together. This is called love bombing.
5. When you do make plans to meet, something always comes up.
6. They need money for an emergency.
7. They have an investment opportunity.

Protect Yourself

The FBI offers the following tips to protect yourself from romance scams:

• Be careful what you post and make public online. Scammers can use details shared on social media and dating sites to better understand and target you.
• Research the person’s photo and profile using online searches to see if the image, name, or details have been used elsewhere.
• Go slowly and ask lots of questions.
• Beware if the individual seems too perfect or quickly asks you to leave a dating service or social media site to communicate directly.
• Beware if the individual attempts to isolate you from friends and family or requests inappropriate photos or financial information that could later be used to extort you.
• Beware if the individual promises to meet in person but then always comes up with an excuse as to why they can’t. If you haven’t met the person after a few months, for whatever reason, you have good reason to be suspicious.
• Never send money to anyone you have only communicated with online or by phone.

Have You Been a Victim?

If you think you’ve been targeted in a romance scam, stop all contact with the scammer immediately. You can visit the Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov/), which is the central hub for reporting cyber-enabled crime, to file a complaint.

If you use Cash App, be sure you know the common scams associated with it, how they work, and how to protect yourself from being a victim. Cash App is a popular mobile platform that allows you to send, receive and store money. It has features like direct deposit, savings accounts, and investments, as well as the ability to link your debit card for purchases and withdrawals. Cash App’s ease of use, widespread popularity, and permanent nature of transactions have drawn sophisticated scammers to the platform in search of easy prey. To prevent being a victim of fraud, here are some tips to recognize scams and keep your money safe while using the app.

Common Types of Scams

1. Cash Flipping and Clearance Fee Scam. Scammers will claim they can “flip” your money, promising to increase your money if you first send them funds (sometimes they call this a “clearance fee” or “account verification”). These scammers will accept your funds but never send you anything in return. If someone promises you free money in return for sending them a payment, it is a scam.
2. Class Action Settlement Scams. You might get real notifications about class action lawsuit settlements, but some can be scams. Scammers often use these settlements to trick people into giving away money or personal information. Be cautious of any organization, message, or person offering to file a claim for you or charging a fee.
3. Payment Claiming Scam. Sometimes scammers will ask you to “claim” a payment that you “deserve” by sending money to them. These payment-claiming attempts are always scams. Never send money to a person promising a larger payment in return. As with Cash Flipping, if someone promises you free money in return for sending them a payment, it is likely a scam.
4. Puppy/Pet Deposit Scam. Scammers will claim to have an upcoming litter and request a deposit in order to secure one of the puppies or kittens. These scammers usually post fake photos, won’t communicate over the phone, and will offer to sell purebred, highly-sought-after animals at an extremely low price. Don’t send money to someone you don’t know or trust who is promising to deliver you something at a later date. Always verify those to whom you send money and pay them after you receive what you purchased.
5. Apartment / Home Rental Deposit Scam. Scammers often promise a good or service without providing proof that it actually exists. This includes promising to find you a cheap apartment, or offering an apartment at a much lower rate than normal, but requiring you to send them a deposit first (e.g., before touring the prospective rental).
6. Mistaken or Accidental Payment Received Scam. Scammers might send you a payment ‘by accident’ and ask you to send the payment amount back to them. The amount you send them back is from your account funds. These scammers will dispute the payment with their bank or credit card after you’ve sent the funds back. This means they will be reimbursed by both you and their bank.
7. Fake Giveaways. Many social accounts have pretended to run an official Cash App giveaway. Some may genuinely give away prizes, but still falsely claim to partner with Cash App. Hashtags such as #cashappgiveaway or #cashappfriday have been on the rise and are not part of the app’s official partnerships. Cash App will never ask you to send money, your login information, your pin number, download any application for “remote access,” or complete a "test" transaction of any kind to enter a giveaway.
8. Phishing Attempts. Phishing is an attempt by a fraudulent actor to collect personal and/or financial information through social media, email, phone, or text message. Victims of phishing scams are sometimes directed to enter their information into fake websites posing as real ones.

Best practices for avoiding these scams

• Keep your information safe. Never provide sensitive information to anyone.
• Verify and double-check all recipient information before sending any payment to confirm you are sending money to the correct person.
• Check the other person's profile to help determine if it is the correct person.
• Don’t send money to someone promising something in the future.
• Don't send money to a love interest you haven't met in person.
• Don’t accept money from strangers.
• Be skeptical of overpayment and refunds.
• Only conduct transactions over secure networks.

Gift cards make gift giving easy and practical. Because they’re so accessible—and like cash, hard to trace—criminals are using them as a convenient form of payment in their scams, stealing from unsuspecting victims.

How does it work?

Scammers will reach out by phone, email, text, or social media, asking you to purchase gift cards to pay a bill, fee or some other debt or obligation, or to claim a prize. They may tell you which gift cards to buy, and which stores to purchase them from—even staying on the phone with you while you do it. Sometimes they’ll tell you to buy cards at several stores, so cashiers won’t get suspicious.

These scammers will pretend to be someone you trust such as a business representative, service provider (like a utility company), government official (like the IRS), coworker, colleague, supervisor, friend, tech support representative, family member in distress, or romantic interest on a dating site.

With a sense of urgency, they will insist you buy gift cards from various stores and that you provide them with the gift card number and PIN as a means of paying something quickly to avoid a consequence (such as a service disconnection or tax penalty) or to claim your prize. If this happens to you, beware, because you are being scammed. If someone is asking you to pay by gift card, it’s always a scam. No real business or government agency will ever tell you to buy gift cards to pay them.

Common Gift Card Scams

Scammers tell different stories to get you to buy gift cards so they can steal your money. Here are some common gift card scams, according to the Federal Trade Commission:

• Scammers say they’re from the government. They say they’re from the IRS, the Social Security Administration, or even the FTC. They say you have to pay taxes or a fine. But government agencies won’t contact you to demand immediate payment, and they never demand payment by gift card. It’s a scam.
• Scammers say they’re from tech support. They say they’re from Microsoft or Apple and there’s something wrong with your computer. They ask for remote access, and say to pay them to get it fixed. Don’t give them access to your computer. It’s a scam.
• Scammers say they’re a friend or family member with an emergency. If the scammer uses voice cloning, they may even sound just like your loved one. They ask you to send money right away—and to keep it a secret. It’s a scam. If you’re worried, contact the friend or relative to check that everything is all right.
• Scammers say you’ve won a prize. But first, they tell you to pay fees or other charges with a gift card. It’s a scam. No honest business or agency will ever make you buy a gift card to pay them for a prize. And did you even enter to win that prize?
• Scammers say they’re from your utility company. They threaten to cut off your service if you don’t pay immediately. But utility companies don’t work that way. It’s a scam.
• Scammers ask for money after they chat you up on a dating website. Romance scammers will make up any story to trick you into buying a gift card to send them money. Slow down. Never send money or gifts to anyone you haven’t met in person — even if they send you money first.
• Scammers send a check for way more than you expected. They tell you to deposit the check and give them the difference on a gift card. Don’t do it. It’s a scam. The check will bounce, and you’ll lose the money you sent.

Protect yourself

Remember, only scammers will tell you to buy a gift card and give them the numbers off the back of the card. No matter what they say, it’s a scam. If you fell for the scam, you’re not alone. Be sure to report the gift card scam to the gift card company right away. No matter how long ago the scam happened, report it and ask for your money back. Some companies are helping stop gift card scams and might give your money back. It’s worth asking. Be sure to report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Every report makes a difference.

Many of us believe in hard work, honesty, and treating people right. But there’s a growing population of thieves who prey on people’s trust, stealing their identities and committing fraud. Once you’ve been a victim, it’s often a long and hard road to recovery. It’s why prevention is so important—and it’s easy too, once you know what to do. Let’s go over the warning signs of identity theft, how it happens, and how to protect yourself

Warning signs

Identity theft happens when someone uses your personal or financial information without your permission. They may get your name, addresses, credit card or Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, and even medical insurance account numbers. Often people aren’t aware that this information has been compromised—until later when you get bills for items you did not buy, debt collection calls for accounts you did not open, information on your credit report for accounts you did not open, denials of loan applications, and mail stops coming to or is missing from your mailbox.

How it happens

There are several ways that scammers can steal your identity, including in person, online, through social media, and by phone, reports USAGov. Scammers may:

• Steal your wallet or purse to get ID, credit, or bank cards.
• Go through your trash to retrieve bank statements or tax documents.
• Install skimmers at ATM machines, cash registers, and fuel pumps to digitally steal information from your bank card.
• Get personal information from your phone when you use public Wi-Fi.
• Use “phishing” to get information from you through fraudulent email, texts, or phone calls.
• Look through your social media accounts to find identifying information in posts or photos. Or they may ask you for personal information in online quizzes and surveys.

Be Proactive

Here are some action steps you can take to help safeguard your personal information so that you don’t become a victim of identity theft.

• Do not answer phone calls, texts, social media messages, or email from numbers or people you do not know.
• Do not share personal information like your bank account number, Social Security number, or date of birth. Store personal information, including your Social Security card, in a safe place. Do not carry it in your wallet. When throwing away documents with sensitive information on them, be sure to shred them first. 
• Collect your mail daily, and put a hold on it when you're out of town. Track what bills you owe and when they’re due. If you stop getting a bill, that could be a sign that someone changed your billing address and may be misusing your information as an identity thief.
• Review your bills, and credit card and bank account statements. Are there charges for things you didn’t buy? A new bill you didn’t expect? Or a withdrawal you didn’t make?
• Understand how ATM skimming works and how to protect yourself.
• Be cautious about using public Wi-Fi, especially for banking or personal info.
• Get and review your credit reports. Accounts in your name that you don’t recognize could be a sign of identity theft. You can also place a freeze on your credit reports, which prevents scammers from opening a new credit account. They are free to place and to lift. To place one, contact each of the three credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.
• If you suspect fraud, you may want to place a fraud alert on your credit report—in addition to the credit freeze.

Many companies offer monitoring services, recovery services, and identity theft insurance. You may want to check these out for added protection. If you think someone stole your identity, report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). You’ll get a free personal recovery plan with next steps.

Ever feel money problems are taking over your life, like a weed you can’t get rid of? Or that you want to gain control of your finances, but don’t know where to start? Money can be hard, but there’s a tool that makes it easy: Your budget. If you’ve never created a budget before, now is the time. And here’s why.

What is a budget?

A budget is a plan for your money. It details the income you bring in and how you spend that money. When you create a budget, you are essentially deciding where you want your money to go. It’s you taking charge of your money rather than your money taking charge of you.

How to make a budget?

Step 1: Write out your fixed expenses and their amounts. These are things you pay every month like rent, utilities, insurance, phone plan, loan payments, etc. Now track your variable expenses in a month. These are things you spend your remaining money on, like food, gas, clothes, and entertainment.

Step 2: Track your income. This includes your total monthly income after taxes. Include all reliable sources like salary, side hustle earnings, child support, etc.) If you don’t get paid everything month, estimate the amount based on your yearly income from last year divided by 12.

Step 3: Subtract your monthly bills and expenses from how much money you make in a month. This number should be more than zero. If the number is less than zero, you’re spending more money than you make. Look for things in your budget you can change.

For a visual demonstration on how to make a budget, watch this video from The Federal Trade Commission:

https://consumer.gov/your-money/making-budget#:~:text=What%20is%20a%20budget?,how%20you%20spend%20your%20money

Choose A Budget Rule

There are different ways people set up their budget to ensure they don’t overspend and that they are saving enough. A popular method is the 50/30/20 Rule. With this method, you designate:

• 50% of your income to needs (housing, utilities, groceries)
• 30% for wants (dining, entertainment, subscriptions)
• 20% for savings/debt (emergency fund, retirement, paying off credit cards)

Choose a Budget Tool

Use a spreadsheet, a budgeting app, template, or simple paper and pen to track your expenses throughout the month, as well as your income, ensuring you stay within the budget parameters you choose.

Review monthly

At the end of the month, see what worked and what didn’t. Regularly tweak your budget so that it fits your needs, goals and spending habits.

Tips for Success

• Set up alerts for overspending.
• Set up auto payments for fixed expenses.
• Use bank apps to see spending patterns.
• Avoid juggling multiple budget tools. Pick one, like a spreadsheet and update it regularly.
• Don’t stress about past months. Budget based on this month’s income and bills.
• Adjust your budget to accommodate changes to expenses or income.
• Look for ways to cut expenses (like gym memberships you don’t use)
• Shift your mindset from the scarcity mentality of “I can’t afford this” to the abundance mentality of “How can I make this work?”

If used correctly, credit cards can be a valuable tool, helping you improve your credit, earn rewards on purchases, and provide some financial flexibility. There are many different types of credit cards, all with different benefits. It’s important to figure out what you want to achieve with your credit card and then find a card that helps make it happen.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the biggest benefits credit cards provide:

Credit Building

Credit builder cards help you improve or re-establish your credit history. If you’re just starting out on your credit journey or if you’ve had credit issue in the past and are trying to rebuild your credit, this is a great option. Be sure to make small charges and pay them of weekly to show consistent use without high balances. Since payment history is 35% of your credit score, don’t be late with your payment.

Travel Points

If you travel, you may want a card that rewards you with points or miles for every dollar you spend, which you can redeem for travel-related expense like flights, hotels, or car rentals. Many of these cards provide sign-up bonuses, so if you spend say $4,000 in three months, you can earn a large intro bonus such as 60,000 points.

Some perks that may be included: free checked bags, no foreign transaction fee if you make purchases when traveling abroad, travel protections like trip cancellation insurance or lost luggage coverage.

Be careful of cards that charge high annual fees for perks that you might not use, such as lounge access. Be sure the benefits exceed the cost when the annual fee is taken into account. Also, rewards cards may have high APRs so take that into consideration as well if you don’t intend to pay the card off every month.

Cashback

These cards give you cashback or statement credits (up to a certain purchase amount) each month. It could be a flat rate of 1.5% back on all purchases or category-based, such as 5% back at gas stations.

Similar to travel rewards cards, cashback cards may carry a high APR, which can negate the rewards if you carry a balance. Always aim to pay the card off in full each month. Also remember, cashback may cap at a certain purchase amount.

Promotional Low Interest or No Interest

These can provide some financial relief if you want to spread out the payments of a big expense during the 0% APR period. Another benefit is to transfer other high interest debt to the promotional card, allowing you to pay down the principal faster.

Be careful with these cards as some might charge a balance transfer fee. Also some of these card promotions have deferred interest meaning if you don’t pay off the full balance by the end of the promo period, you’re charged interest retroactively on the entire original amount.

Comparison sites

To find the best card promotions, you can research online. Some sites that offer comparisons or promote current specials include bankrate.com, nerdwallet.com, and thepointsguy.com.

No matter which card you choose, most credit cards have benefits such as:

• You can make instant purchases without carrying cash, online or in the store.
• Responsible use builds your credit.
• You can dispute charges for faulty goods, services not rendered, or billing errors.
• Most cards offer a 21- to 30-day grace period after the billing cycle, letting you use credit interest free if you pay the full balance by the due date.
• Card apps often let you track spending, set alerts, pay bills, even turn the card on or off if it’s lost or stolen.

While there’s more to life than money, you can enrich your life and the lives of your loved ones when you earn better returns on the income you make. After all, the idea behind investing is to make your money work so hard for you, that eventually you don’t have to work anymore. (Your money does all the work!)

When you invest wisely, you typically can build wealth faster than with traditional savings accounts especially if you reinvest your earnings (such as interest and dividends) and if you start early (as in today!). In addition, invested funds will likely outpace inflation, especially if you diversify your portfolio.

If you’re wondering where to start—or how to start—let these smart investing strategies lead the way

Start now.

The sooner you start investing, the more exponentially your investments will grow. That’s due to the power of compounding (aka the snowball effect), which is essentially your earnings generating earnings, leading to accelerating growth over time.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say you invest $1,000 at a 5% annual compound interest rate.

Year 1: You earn $50 in interest, bringing your total to $1,050.

Year 2: You earn interest on the new total of $1,050, resulting in $52.50 in interest for that year, making your new total $1,102.50.

This cycle continues, with each year's interest being added to the principal and generating further interest.

Open an individual retirement account (IRA) or enroll in your company’s retirement plan—or do both—and watch the magic happen. Don’t delay!

Be consistent.

Rather than invest a lump sum of money into the market at one time, spread out when you buy. This is a popular investing strategy called dollar-cost averaging, where you put smaller, fixed amounts in regularly, such as monthly or bi-weekly.

If you have a 401(k), you’re already dollar-cost averaging with every paycheck. But you can also use the practice in a typical brokerage account, individual retirement account (IRA) or any other type of investing account. Over time, you’ll be buying at both market lows and highs, averaging your purchase prices.

Diversify.

Think variety here. Rather than having all your eggs in one basket, aim to spread your money across a variety of investments and asset classes. A diversified portfolio may contain 20 to 30 (or more) different stocks across many industries. It may also contain other assets, too, including bonds, funds, real estate, CDs and savings accounts.

Here’s a breakdown of each type of asset, from Bankrate. It’s important to choose your investments based on your goals, investment horizon, and your tolerance for risk.

• Stocks offer the potential for the highest return over time, but can fluctuate wildly over shorter periods.
• Bonds can offer steadier returns with a fixed payout, but can vary as interest rates rise and fall.
• Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds tend to be diversified because they usually hold many investments, but a specific fund may hold only one kind, for example, consumer goods companies. So, a fund could be broadly diversified or narrowly, depending on how it’s managed.
• Real estate can appreciate slowly over time and offer the potential for income, too. But physical real estate can be expensive to maintain, and commissions are high.
• CDs and savings accounts will not fluctuate in value but will grow steadily based on the interest rate or other contractual terms.

Define your goals/track your progress.

Define what you are saving for, how much you want to save, and your time horizon. For example:

• I want to have $5,000 saved for a down payment on a home in 3 years.
• I want to have $50,000 saved toward a child’s college education in 18 years.
• I want to have $1 million set aside for retirement in 20 years.

Whatever your goals, be sure you set specific and measurable targets. Track your progress the same way—with clear metrics. For instance, a progress metric may be to grow your investment portfolio by 10% annually, which is easily measurable. Regularly revisit your savings goals and make adjustments as your needs, goals, and financial circumstances change.

We all know that investing for the future is important, but many of us avoid it because we don’t know the best way to go about doing it. You may find that once you get started and follow these tips for smart investing, everything will fall into place.