Of all the Online Dating cons that are widely reported about, the Sweetheart deception may well be the most devastating. This is a type of fraud that is not only about potential financial loss but also involves tremendous emotional heartache. This is a blatant and intended act of betrayal that is known to leave its victims psychologically scarred and often frightfully embarrassed. The sense of humiliation born from these acts will often mean the quarry is unlikely to report the incident, leaving the perpetrator to continue on their way to defraud further unsuspecting targets. It's perhaps the cruelest act of deception that can be inflicted online.
Though it has its countless advantages the Internet has provided the Sweetheart Fraudster with the perfect forum, allowing them access to countless potential victims whilst maintaining complete anonymity. This is a con that affects both men and women alike and the more desperate you are to find true love the better the target you become. It's not just the naive that become targets of these reprobates, it can happen to anyone. The con artists are usually practiced in their craft and have fine-tuned the deception to the most intricate of details, making it extremely difficult to spot the treachery. In many cases these cons are the perpetrators primary source of income so it makes sense they are well trained and execute the act with precision.
It's not unusual for the fraudster to be working on several victims at once and it's not uncommon (after the event) for victims to discover they were not targeted alone. The Sweetheart Con Artist is most likely part of a wider network or gang of trained criminals who do this for a living, and it's not until after they disappear that the quarry realizes what has happened. In a sense it is a form of modern day organized crime.
The actual fraud comes in a number of forms but they can essentially be broken down into two distinct categories, the "quickie" and the "long-con". The first is designed to siphon cash from the victim in a short period of time, often in small amounts. The more devastating long form of the scam has been known to even go as far as marriage. The investment of time is determined by the amount they think they can get out of the victim before they catch on to the scheme. Essentially, they will promise anything to cement their plan in place as they gain the trust of the innocent party. It may involve something as simple as an expression of love to promising the world. Marriage, dream lifestyles, business partnerships, absolutely anything is possible to lure the prey into their web.
This is the weak point in their plan and how you will recognize the act of deception, hopefully before any damage is done. You see, in order to achieve all these wonderful promises the victim will have to pay. All the money that would be used to fund these dreams will be requested to come from you and you alone. They will be unable or not even offer to provide any financial input. They will make the promises and you will be required to deliver on them. This is the point where you should smell the rat!
As I have already said these scams come in many shapes and forms but this is essentially how it plays out:
Step 1: The Sweetheart Con Artist will kick things off by coming on quite strong. They will devote quite a bit of time to you and seek to chat with you every day, and usually several times a day. You will wake to messages in your inbox, requests for chat and most likely they will continue to send messages into the night. The barrage of emails will soon lead to regular phone calls, often long and engaging. They will ask lots of questions and draw as much information as possible from you in order to communicate on topics of your interest. They will tell you their dreams and how something went wrong in their lives that stopped these dreams from coming true, it will never be through any fault of their own. This misinformation is intended to make you feel sorry for them and want to help. It will be their aim to gain your trust and lead you into the next phase.
Step 2: This will be the first attempt to lure money from you. It will be a simple request for assistance in some way of form. Typically this initial request will be something small, to test the waters and see what kind of progress they are making. It may come in the form of an inquiry about a short-term loan or similar. A common tactic is to inform you that they are waiting for funds to clear or they have a business deal concluding any day soon that requires additional funds to complete. They may come to you with an emergency or hospital fees that they can't cover until they are paid later in the month. Any number of tactics will be used, all with the intent of getting you to relinquish funds, and of course they will express complete trust in you.
Step 3: If you present with any sense of reluctance or fail to respond to the requests immediately they will begin to push you away. At this point they are thinking their time is better spent elsewhere on some other poor unsuspecting victim. Remember they have more than one target underway at any point in time. There will be accusations of a lack of trust on your part, and of course a lack of love also. In the more professional scams they will even make offers of contracts for your protection, which will be dubious and offer you no protection at all. Worse still, these so called contracts may well leave you responsible for debts they rack up and they will simply do a runner. You're left with no recourse, engaging lawyers is generally fruitless and expensive. Even if you could track them down and get them to court they will most likely be worth nothing and you can't draw blood from a stone.
Step 4: If they actually do manage to get money from you and reach a point where there is nothing more to gain they will either vanish or engage an argument that will most likely turn nasty. Either way, at this point the con is over, they have what they came for and leave when they have sucked everything they feel they can from you.
It's not out of the question for these fraudsters to operate local to your area but the facts show most are perpetrated from overseas. As I have expressed before, be overly cautious of connections with potential partners overseas. You have to ask yourself, why are they seeking love in far off places? Why aren't they looking closer to home where it would be easier to begin a relationship? Long distance relationships are difficult at the best of times but the simple fact is they rarely work and have the potential to cause great heartache. I am not a big fan of the long distance thing at all and suggest you exercise a degree of patience and wait for something closer to home.
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