Romantics beware: deception in virtual world breaks hearts and wallets in real one, says Banking Ombudsman

Too many people looking for love are being tricked out of their money online by scoundrels taking advantage of their loneliness, says Banking Ombudsman Deborah Battell.

“Each year we hear from people who have been defrauded because they fell for somebody who was after their money and not their heart. Typically they are bank customers who then look to their banks to recover the defrauded funds.

“It is sometimes possible to recover funds, for example when a transaction has not been completed. In other cases banks have stemmed the flow of funds after contacting the customer when it has detected an unusual pattern of transactions,” Ms Battell said.

However, more often than not, the bank has followed legitimate customer instructions and is not aware of the fraud.

“Fraudsters are cunning – hooking in the victim is only part of the deception. They know they also need to keep the scam under the radar of the banks because banks put a lot of resources into protecting customers from fraud.

“In a recent case, a man was sending money and IT equipment to a person he had met on a dating site. The couple “met” and the man subsequently transferred nearly $44,000 to the other person via a third party. He started by asking for transfers of relatively small amounts of money. This established a track record between the man and his online friend, enabling later and larger transactions to take place without raising bank staff suspicions.

“The bank did not know the pair met on a dating site and the man was so captured by the story he was spun, he gave a plausible explanation about the intended use of the money. When a bank employee queried a transfer to Ghana because it was unusual, the man appeared unconcerned and said he appreciated it was not the best place to be sending money,” Ms Battell says.

She says Valentine’s Day is a good time to remind people they need to be alert to love scams. She advises not to send money to someone promising love if:

· initial contact was made through overseas dating, social networking sites or unsolicited emails
· you have never met them in person
· the “lover” spins sob stories and starts asking for money.

In addition, customers should never give out their cards and PINs to anyone. For more information, go to our Quick Guide on Common scams targeting bank customers and Quick Guide on Looking after your credit and debit cards and PINs.

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