CAPE TOWN - South Africa is among a list of countries where you are reportedly most likely to fall victim to a dating scam, the analysis of a technology security company said.
Catfishing scams, also known as dating scams or romance scams, had seen an increase over the course of the pandemic with fraudsters leaving many people broken-hearted with empty pockets.
Interested to know where the catfish hotspots were, Techshielder analysed the data to find where the biggest fraudsters live, the cities with the highest number of victims and how much money was lost to find the places you should avoid when looking for love..
South Africa came out number 18 on the list of 20, with 190 reports and over R130 million reportedly lost in 2020.
“The Philippines is responsible for the highest number of dating scam cases. Over 1300 romance fraud cases have been reported against the country,” the company said.
Meanwhile, ranking in second place was Nigeria. With a population of 201 million, the West African country accounted for 1129 reports of scams. Rounding off the top three was Canada with 1054 reports.
At the other end of the scale was Iceland, and the nation had only accounted for a total of one case of dating scam.
Techshielder co-founder Lasse Walstad said: “In today's society, it’s normal to meet and build a relationship online, especially during a pandemic. If you are dating over the internet, looking for the one, it’s important to be on your toes, so you can spot when something is wong. There are people out there who will take advantage of those looking for love, thus before you fall for the whirlwind that is love or send any money, look out for any red flags. If it’s too good to be true, then it usually is.”
Red flags included good-looking photographs and stories about their financial success which was often too good to be true.
A full breakdown of the data can be found at https://techshielder.com/catfish-analysis-the-countries-with-the-highest-rates
Cape Times