Financial Crimes Carried Out via Romance Scams Have Soared to a Crisis Level

Financial crimes in the guise of romantic affairs continue to proliferate in social media sites, which the banking industry noted to have escalated to a crisis level. Since the pandemic, unscrupulous individuals have been posing as highly appealing romantic partners who reach out to lonely Americans through social media platforms.

Inasmuch as the predatory romantic affairs have swindled billions of dollars from their victims, the banking industry is appealing to operators of social media sites to shutdown the phoney accounts of the romance predators, as well as ban this kind of people from posting their amorous enticements.

The romance scammers are actually members of syndicates that target mostly lonely individuals with no particular demographics; whether old or young, male or female and highly educated or not. As long as the potential victim has been convinced that he or she is involved in a real romance and already willing to engage, banks are unable to prevent the scam from proceeding.

Beguiled bank clients who have been psychologically hooked, still insist in completing a dubious financial transaction, even if bank officials give them advice about the possibility of being victimized by fraudsters.

Paul Benda, the American Bankers Association’s EVP for Risk, Fraud and Cybersecurity is also calling on law enforcement agencies engaged in apprehending the criminals to try and prosecute some of them. Benda said in an interview with CNBC that

“Unless these bad guys are put behind bars, they will keep on doing what they’re doing.”

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