Turns out boomers aren’t the only ones getting scammed out of their hard-earned dosh for love, young Aussies actually lost the most money to romance baiting in 2020.
In a report by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), dating and romance scams caused the second most financial harm nationwide ($38.9 million), but the most money was lost to investment scams ($328 million).
One of the big ways Aussies lost money to romance scams was via “romance baiting.” This is basically when scammers hop on dating apps and try to lure lonely peeps into investing in cryptocurrency. Wow, I can’t believe people have been investing in doge coin for love.
According to the data: “Younger people aged between 25 and 34 years lost the most money to scams using this technique ($7.3 million).”
To be honest, it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that young Aussies are the ones falling for crypto scams because a hot bot told them to. Millenials will literally invest in any crypto Elon Musk tells them, so why wouldn’t they listen to strangers on dating apps too?
I fell for a similar scam in 2018, when my ex convinced me to invest in Ripple and I ended up losing a few hundred bucks. Never again, I say!
Interestingly, celebrity endorsement scams also lost Aussies $1.8 million.
“A celebrity endorsement scam is usually where a scammer uses the image, name and personal characteristics of a well-known person to sell a product,” the ACCC said.
Well if anyone asks, scammers on Tinder is the reason I’m still single.
