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Even if you’re looking for love in all the right places, scam artists are ready to swoop in and steal your heart – and your cash.

They use the speed and excitement of online dating to hook you in and make you fall fast.

“They’re going to want time to move forward really, really quickly. And spotting that is really imperative,” said Dr. Chris Pierson, a cybersecurity expert with BlackCloak.io.

He says crooks might request crypto or a wire transfer of funds to help them out of a tricky situation or to help them get closer to you.

(Getty Images)

“If they seem like they are always far away, always traveling, it might be a romance scam,” said Pierson.

According to the FTC, losses from romance scams hit a staggering $1.3 billion dollars in 2022, with a median loss of $4400 dollars.

“It’s fun. It’s exciting. And sometimes when those things happen, your brain shuts down and you move more over to that kind of like you’re leading with your heart as opposed to your mind and you’re more likely to be able to be victimized,” explained Pierson.

Several things propel these scams, including the fact that people do indeed meet online and how we can send money from our phone instantly.

There are “operations that are all over the world that actually have individuals that are just having repetitively 200, 300 different romantic chats with different people,” said Pierson.

One of the biggest warning signs: the person you just met online wants to move outside of the dating app and into a more private chat, away from safety systems put in place to help catch them.

They also have frequent excuses why they can’t meet in person and might ask for money or travel or medical bills.

“They were on the way to go see you, but then they ended up in the hospital and the bill is too much. It’s $5,000 and could you possiblly help them,” said Pierson.

Try to keep your personal details as private as possible, especially early on. It’s also a good idea to scrub yourself from data broker sites. You can use tools like Google’s Results About You, Mozilla Monitor or DIY takedown requests you submit yourself.

At the same time, try to verify their identity and if you suspect a scam, stop communicating.

“Try to stick to platforms that have some type of member verification to them,” concluded Pierson.

Whatever you do, don’t send crypto, money or revealing photos. When in doubt, it’s probably a scam.

If someone’s trying to scam you, report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3.

They might not get your money back, but they can prevent this from happening to someone else.