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EDITORIAL

Online Dating Fraud Now Taking Place Every 3 Hours

February 20th, 2017

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Some interesting statistics emerged in a statement from a group of partner organisations working towards cleaning up the online dating sector of the UK dating industry this week, when Victim Support, Age UK, the Metropolitan Police, the City of London Police and Get Safe Online all said they would work with the Online Dating Association in an effort to understand more about how the fraudsters operate, so that eventually crime statistics can be brought under control and reduced. With Action Fraud reporting online dating fraud now taking place every 3 hours – a frightening statistic.

The other interesting statistic is that the first payment is usually made within the first month of contact and that on average each victim loses £10,000, which most people would agree is a huge sum to lose. Tony Neate, the Chief Executive of Get Safe Online, says that whilst couples do meet successfully online the incidence of fraud is growing along with criminals targeting innocent people for considerable gain. He said: “£10,000 is a staggering amount for the average online dater to lose to a fraudster who they’ve been led to believe is the real deal. It’s not just the financial loss though; dating fraud can have a huge emotional impact on a victim too.”

Mr Neate continued “in some cases, people had lost everything – including their savings and their homes. Anyone who has fallen in love knows how easy it is to get swept up in the romance of it all and let their heart rule their head, so we’re urging people to take a little caution when meeting someone new online.”

Commander Chris Greany, City of London Police and national coordinator for economic crime said: “These crimes destroy lives and the emotional damage often far outweighs the financial loss. “Never give money to people you meet online, no matter what emotional sob story the person uses.

The Dating Agency Association Chief Executive Tina Wallace said “These statistics are greatly disturbing and we stand for tougher regulation of the industry and compulsory background checks for all new members. Our own Dating Safely Campaign is gathering momentum and we would urge everyone new to dating to down load our handbook and follow it’s lead. We need to work towards safer dating standards.”

If you want some good advice please do down load the Dating Safely Campaign manual – it’s available free on the Dating Agency Association site:-

http://www.datingagencyassociation.org.uk