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We’re visiting a slightly different side to relationships today, joining Lyn is IT professional and author, David Scott, who’s here to talk about the ever-rising threat of online dating / romance scams, and how the shameful individuals who use them are targeting the hearts and romantic ambitions of their victims for financial gain.

With the rise of technology comes the ease of communication,which means we need to take a lot more care when it comes to forming new connections. David and Lyn are here to share their advice about how to make sure you can protect yourself to avoid getting caught up in these situations, how to spot the signs and red flags, as well as their own experiences with this troubling phenomenon.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

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• Scammers target people based on their age, their look, and their position in life, so if they successfully get paid, it merely confirms that their victim is lonely enough to pay for companionship.
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• It can take scammers as short as ten minutes, but as long as a year and a half to ask for money, so spotting scammers can be very difficult.
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• Scammers use their time to establish an emotional relationship, because by building trust and rapport to create a false sense of connection, victims find it easier and sometimes necessary to agree to hand over money.
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• Scammers steal photographs, usually family photographs to create false profiles because people with families are less inclined to join new dating sites. Therefore stolen photographs often go undetected for some time.
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• Sometimes it’s unfortunate that the rise of scammers has led to a heightened sense of awareness when it comes to forming new connections online because this has meant people are less trusting and that some innocent people are being accused of being scammers.
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• Pay attention to signs such as sentence structure, cadence and grammar. These can often be tell-tale signs that someone is lying about where they are from in the world. For example, foreign people construct sentences in highly different ways or use words that locals / nationals typically do not.
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• The online romance scam can be the most difficult one to pick out because you’re never sure if you’re talking to a single person, or a criminal gang.
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• Conversely, sharing too much information about their background can be a red flag. This is usually accompanied by proclamations of their trust in you, in order to make you think it's ok to trust them.
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BEST MOMENTS

’There’s nothing that scammers won’t do to get money’

’That one individual may be talking to ten other people’

‘It’s the emotional connection that anyone involved becomes attached to’

‘If I can’t meet you to shake your hand, then typically I’m not going to believe what you send me in a text’

‘Anybody who feels the need to send you documents in order to 'prove' their story is true; chances are they’re fake'

VALUABLE RESOURCES

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• Hearts Entwined Podcast
  -Apple Podcasts (iTunes)
  -Spotify
  -Stitcher
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ABOUT THE GUEST

In October of 2017, David received and replied to the first of many scammers. At this time he set out to deep dive into the art of romance scams and how they work. Fast forward to 2019, and he can now pick out a scam from the first hello.

David is currently in the process of writing books upon the subject, including:-

How I Married A Scammer

The Art Of Scamming

SCAMS: Follow The Money

Website: www.scamareus.com - Scam identifier tips

ABOUT THE HOST

Lyn Smith – (The Queen of HEARTS) – Love, Dating & Relationship Expert

Lyn’s personal story is a very inspirational and harrowing one of how she went from having unhealthy and unfulfilling relationships with men (on the back of several serious traumatic sexual assaults in her teens) to now being in a soul fulfilling relationship which makes her feel alive, is full of passion and gives her inner peace.

She has a proven track record as a Love Solutions - Relationship Expert / Trainer / Inspirational Speaker and Best-Selling Author based upon her own vast personal research, experiential learning and training with the world’s leading industry experts.

Understanding the polarisation of masculine & feminine energy resulted in her creating massive attraction and a passionate, intimate, fulfilling relationship – that inspired her to design & present her own course programmes to share these break-through relationship techniques with women across the globe.

HEARTS Entwined is a world-class service based on care and understanding, which is committed to providing step-by-step high-value love, dating and relationship solutions.

Lyn makes a difference by helping you make a difference; she has a vision of contributing back on a global scale – to create a lasting legacy of safety, dignity and opportunity for children and women who have survived rape, abuse and severe trauma as a result of war crimes and sex trafficking – through the setting up of worldwide – ‘you can heal your life’ centres.

CONTACT METHOD

lyn@hearts-entwined.com