Romance Scams on the Rise in Minnesota

WATCH OUT

Have you been watching any of the shows like "90 Day Fiancé"? or "Catfish: The TV Show?" They are hard to watch. I've made some terrible dating mistakes in my life; I truly have...but I don't think even I could fall for these kind of scams.

Minnesota isn't number one on the list, but boy; do we have issues. Minnesota was ranked number 21 most cat fished state in 2020. 307 people were scammed out of close to 7 million dollars to romance scammers. Ouch!

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HAVE YOU BEEN A VICTIM?

I'd like to think that us Minnesotans are too smart for this to happen; but hearts want what they want...and sometimes you think with your heart...not your head. So let me do the heavy lifting for you. These are the things you need to know to save your heart breaking the bank.

I don't know about you...but I'm constantly getting requests from these kind of people on Facebook. It's every...single...day. It's always a picture of some hot single guy, that supposedly thinks I'm "IT."

ARE THEY REALLY INTO YOU?

If you seriously think that that super hot guy or girl are into you, then open up their profile. They typically don't have any pictures other than about 3, and nothing else. It usually shows you where they are located, Italy, Germany, somewhere far far away.

What should you do? Do you just delete the request and move on? You can. But I think a better idea would be to report them.

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION SAYS REPORT IT

The Federal Trade Commission wants you to report it too. You can click HERE to report lots of issues; and the more we report, the more we can do something about these scammers.

You can learn more about Catfish scammers by reading the article HERE.

Some key points to keep in mind:

• If they start talkin' money...they're a scammer. Don't give them any financial info and dump the connection.
• If they tell you they love you and you just met....uhmmmm....hey...maybe you ARE loveable...but how would they know?!
• If they won't video chat with you, maybe they have something to hide...like that photo they sent you...isn't really them?
• You can use 'reverse search' platforms to check out the photos that have been sent to you, to verify that they are who they say they are.
• Lastly, remember that scammers are hard at work on dating sites, Facebook, Linked In...If they can find a way to scam you, and think you're a target, you'll find them everywhere.