(WXYZ) — On this Valentine's Day, if you're looking for love on social media sites or dating apps, you are not alone. But watch out for romance scams.
The director of marketing with the Better Business Bureau serving Eastern Michigan & the Upper Peninsula says romance scams are the fifth-riskiest scam targeting all age groups, and they are the second-riskiest scam targeting senior citizens.
And there's a new twist this year: romance scams are now incorporating AI.
"AI is, sadly, it's being used everywhere,even for the bad guys," said Nakia Mills with BBB. “Now with artificial intelligence, you know, it can read -- so you can feed it the words to say, and it can read those words. You can be a 65-year-old man, and it can read those words in the tone and voice of a 25-year-old woman. So, you just can't even trust what you hear anymore.”
Here are some red flags to look for:
- Probably the biggest one is that the scammer cannot meet you in person or live video chat with you. If that's the case, cut off contact.
- They want to take the conversation off of social media or the dating app and text with you directly.
- They often send photos of themselves that look too good to be true, too hot to trot, too much like a super model. Use Google's Reverse Image Search to check if they swiped the pictures from someone else.
- And scammers will ask for money. It might be an expensive favor, cash for a plane ticket to see you, a gift card, money for a medical emergency, or they want to help you get rich through cryptocurrency.
The Federal Trade Commission says some scammers pretend to be heroes in faraway places — like diplomats, soldiers, marines, generals, even surgeons who claim they can't show their face because they're in Afghanistan, Ukraine, or South Sudan — for example. It's all a lie.
Bottom line: Never send money to people you have not met in person, even if they say they love you. Report scams to the Better Business Bueau's scam tracker at this link.
