They say love is blind. This simple truth is used for their own benefit by scammers. They fall in love with compliments, beautiful promises and pictures of a bright future, and then disappear. Moreover, with money received from the" love of all life " allegedly to pay a fee or unlock an account. Together with the head of the Department for Combating Cybercrime of the Minsk City Executive Committee Police Department Dmitry Stasyulevich, they discussed cases of romantic scams on the Internet.
Offline forever
Almost all women dream of a big and bright love. Some, however, dream of no less big money attached to it. Therefore, we are ready to believe the first comer and ... solve his problems with the help of our own funds.
— So, a 57-year-old Minsk resident met on a dating site with a man who introduced himself as a doctor from Syria. Soon the man wanted to come to our country to marry a Belarusian woman. However, for the meeting to take place, you had to pay a fee. The Minsk resident agreed to help her lover and sent him more than 26 thousand rubles. After the transfer of money, he began to ignore it, and then blocked it, — recalls the case of Dmitry Stasyulevich. - Investigators opened a criminal case on the fact of fraud.
There are many such stories. Another Belarusian woman transferred 15 thousand rubles to a foreign sailor, while another woman sent 9 thousand rubles to the owner of a dental clinic in Germany. After receiving the money, virtual lovers go offline forever.
- By the way, men also fall for such a simple deception. For example, a 37-year-old Minsk resident responded to a message on a social network from a certain Gila Moore, who told him that she was carrying out a peacekeeping mission in Syria. The interlocutor reported that she received a fee of 500 thousand dollars for performing a dangerous task, and then promised to move to live with a Belarusian, " the law enforcement officer says.
To confirm the seriousness of her intentions, she wrote that she sent the man personal belongings and the same half a million. But to collect them, he needs to pay 5 thousand dollars for insurance. The man agreed: he borrowed part of the amount from friends, issued a loan to the other one, and sent the money by electronic transfer.
— A few hours later, the Belarusian received a message allegedly from the customs authorities: for receiving an undeclared large amount in foreign currency, you need to pay a fine of 10 thousand dollars. Only after that, the man realized that he was a victim of scammers, and turned to the police, - the interlocutor shares details.
According to him, scammers often communicate with several victims. After establishing a high level of trust, they ask for money to be transferred to them under various pretexts, for example, for a flight to the meeting place. Scammers skillfully manipulate and play on feelings.
The price of a hobby
It also happens that romantic communication on the network turns into blackmail. This is what happened to a student of a Minsk university who communicated with a girl in a dating messenger, Dmitry Stasyulevich gives an example:
— After a while, a new friend complained to the guy that her phone was blocked, and asked for help to solve the problem. To do this, the student logged in to the girl's account on his device, using the data that she provided to him. As a result, the young man's phone was put into lost mode, that is, it was blocked. For its unblocking, the girl demanded 600 rubles.
Another type of online crime is blackmail with intimate photos. The police regularly receive complaints from Minsk residents.
— As a rule, in the messenger's thematic chats and social networks, they got acquainted with girls, to whom they sent their photos and videos of an intimate nature in the course of correspondence. But instead of continuing the acquaintance, the interlocutors blackmailed young people, threatened to post the received content in open access on the Internet, as well as send it to the guys 'relatives, friends and acquaintances," the law enforcement officer reports.
The amounts they demanded from Minsk residents ranged from 300 rubles and above. Most of the young people understood that the blackmail would not stop, and immediately turned to the police. However, there were also those who transferred money, and in return they were issued a new invoice.
Dmitry Stasyulevich recalls the basic rule: in such situations, in no case should you follow the requirements of the blackmailer, but it is better to keep all threats and messages and contact the police:
— If there are very few photos in the profile of the interlocutor or there is a person of model appearance in the pictures, you should use any search engine and find other photos of the person. Stolen images may be used. Alternatively, ask them to show you old photos. If the account really belongs to someone who is on the back of a smartphone or computer screen, then they will do it. Criminals will not have such photos.
Also, scammers do not link their profile to other accounts in social networks. It should also alert you to the fact that a man lives abroad, but is looking for dating in your region, the interlocutor noted:
- Scammers prefer to communicate via text messages, avoid phone calls or voice chats, and try to transfer communication to a messenger outside the site where you met.
Dmitry Stasyulevich cites the most common strategy: a lover tries to meet in person, but various circumstances constantly interfere with dating. They then become an excuse to ask for money — to buy a ticket, a flight, and so on.
— The most important sign of fraud is a request to transfer money or pay for some services. If you feel something is wrong and you can't verify the identity of the interlocutor, stop communicating — " the head of the Department for Combating Cybercrime of the Minsk City Executive Committee police department summed up.
COMPETENT
Anton SHVETS, Member of the Association for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, clinical psychologist:
— People who don't have a real-life relationship or are unhappy often turn to the Internet to find a life partner. Online communication has a number of specific features, one of which is that we form an image of another person in our head based only on the information that is available about them on the network. At the same time, the information may be very incomplete, but the brain of a person who is trying to start a relationship does not want to see this.
Next, online dating and correspondence begin, in the process of which trust in a person increases, despite the fact that people have never met in their lives. Our brains are so wired that they can easily create the feeling that a person can be trusted, although there are no objective prerequisites for this. A person wants to start a serious relationship, so he believes the promises of the other. As a result, a situation arises when one person begins to use the existing trust relationship for their own purposes.
In order not to become a victim of deception, remember that a person with whom you personally do not know well can be trusted very conditionally. Despite the fact that you will have the feeling that you know this person well, keep in mind the peculiarities of our thinking and do not give in to this illusion. If we are aware of our tendency to trust and consciously ask ourselves the question: "Is it too early for me to trust this person?", then the probability of getting into an unpleasant situation is lower.
Numbers
In the first five months of this year, the number of cybercrimes increased by 22.5 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
The detection rate of serious cyber crimes in the first five months of 2024 increased by 10 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
Offline forever
Almost all women dream of a big and bright love. Some, however, dream of no less big money attached to it. Therefore, we are ready to believe the first comer and ... solve his problems with the help of our own funds.
— So, a 57-year-old Minsk resident met on a dating site with a man who introduced himself as a doctor from Syria. Soon the man wanted to come to our country to marry a Belarusian woman. However, for the meeting to take place, you had to pay a fee. The Minsk resident agreed to help her lover and sent him more than 26 thousand rubles. After the transfer of money, he began to ignore it, and then blocked it, — recalls the case of Dmitry Stasyulevich. - Investigators opened a criminal case on the fact of fraud.
There are many such stories. Another Belarusian woman transferred 15 thousand rubles to a foreign sailor, while another woman sent 9 thousand rubles to the owner of a dental clinic in Germany. After receiving the money, virtual lovers go offline forever.
- By the way, men also fall for such a simple deception. For example, a 37-year-old Minsk resident responded to a message on a social network from a certain Gila Moore, who told him that she was carrying out a peacekeeping mission in Syria. The interlocutor reported that she received a fee of 500 thousand dollars for performing a dangerous task, and then promised to move to live with a Belarusian, " the law enforcement officer says.
To confirm the seriousness of her intentions, she wrote that she sent the man personal belongings and the same half a million. But to collect them, he needs to pay 5 thousand dollars for insurance. The man agreed: he borrowed part of the amount from friends, issued a loan to the other one, and sent the money by electronic transfer.
— A few hours later, the Belarusian received a message allegedly from the customs authorities: for receiving an undeclared large amount in foreign currency, you need to pay a fine of 10 thousand dollars. Only after that, the man realized that he was a victim of scammers, and turned to the police, - the interlocutor shares details.
According to him, scammers often communicate with several victims. After establishing a high level of trust, they ask for money to be transferred to them under various pretexts, for example, for a flight to the meeting place. Scammers skillfully manipulate and play on feelings.
The price of a hobby
It also happens that romantic communication on the network turns into blackmail. This is what happened to a student of a Minsk university who communicated with a girl in a dating messenger, Dmitry Stasyulevich gives an example:
— After a while, a new friend complained to the guy that her phone was blocked, and asked for help to solve the problem. To do this, the student logged in to the girl's account on his device, using the data that she provided to him. As a result, the young man's phone was put into lost mode, that is, it was blocked. For its unblocking, the girl demanded 600 rubles.
Another type of online crime is blackmail with intimate photos. The police regularly receive complaints from Minsk residents.
— As a rule, in the messenger's thematic chats and social networks, they got acquainted with girls, to whom they sent their photos and videos of an intimate nature in the course of correspondence. But instead of continuing the acquaintance, the interlocutors blackmailed young people, threatened to post the received content in open access on the Internet, as well as send it to the guys 'relatives, friends and acquaintances," the law enforcement officer reports.
The amounts they demanded from Minsk residents ranged from 300 rubles and above. Most of the young people understood that the blackmail would not stop, and immediately turned to the police. However, there were also those who transferred money, and in return they were issued a new invoice.
Dmitry Stasyulevich recalls the basic rule: in such situations, in no case should you follow the requirements of the blackmailer, but it is better to keep all threats and messages and contact the police:
— If there are very few photos in the profile of the interlocutor or there is a person of model appearance in the pictures, you should use any search engine and find other photos of the person. Stolen images may be used. Alternatively, ask them to show you old photos. If the account really belongs to someone who is on the back of a smartphone or computer screen, then they will do it. Criminals will not have such photos.
Also, scammers do not link their profile to other accounts in social networks. It should also alert you to the fact that a man lives abroad, but is looking for dating in your region, the interlocutor noted:
- Scammers prefer to communicate via text messages, avoid phone calls or voice chats, and try to transfer communication to a messenger outside the site where you met.
Dmitry Stasyulevich cites the most common strategy: a lover tries to meet in person, but various circumstances constantly interfere with dating. They then become an excuse to ask for money — to buy a ticket, a flight, and so on.
— The most important sign of fraud is a request to transfer money or pay for some services. If you feel something is wrong and you can't verify the identity of the interlocutor, stop communicating — " the head of the Department for Combating Cybercrime of the Minsk City Executive Committee police department summed up.
COMPETENT
Anton SHVETS, Member of the Association for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, clinical psychologist:
— People who don't have a real-life relationship or are unhappy often turn to the Internet to find a life partner. Online communication has a number of specific features, one of which is that we form an image of another person in our head based only on the information that is available about them on the network. At the same time, the information may be very incomplete, but the brain of a person who is trying to start a relationship does not want to see this.
Next, online dating and correspondence begin, in the process of which trust in a person increases, despite the fact that people have never met in their lives. Our brains are so wired that they can easily create the feeling that a person can be trusted, although there are no objective prerequisites for this. A person wants to start a serious relationship, so he believes the promises of the other. As a result, a situation arises when one person begins to use the existing trust relationship for their own purposes.
In order not to become a victim of deception, remember that a person with whom you personally do not know well can be trusted very conditionally. Despite the fact that you will have the feeling that you know this person well, keep in mind the peculiarities of our thinking and do not give in to this illusion. If we are aware of our tendency to trust and consciously ask ourselves the question: "Is it too early for me to trust this person?", then the probability of getting into an unpleasant situation is lower.
Numbers
In the first five months of this year, the number of cybercrimes increased by 22.5 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
The detection rate of serious cyber crimes in the first five months of 2024 increased by 10 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
