Single mum Kate from Melbourne met a guy on Zoosk, an online dating site, who drained her bank account of over $11,000. Gabriel made up a number of stories including his daughter needing urgent medical attention in another country, plane tickets to come and see Kate with his two daughters for Christmas, and customs issues at Melbourne airport.

NAB banking who Kate was with contacted Kate while she was attempting to deposit almost $2000 into Gabriels account. They told Kate the account she was trying to deposit the money in had been involved in fraudulent activity. Luckily in Kates case the banks agreed to repay $6000 of the $11,000 she spent on Gabriel.

Dating apps are the largest contributors to romance fraud. In 2020, Australia lost $37 million to romance scams. While the scamming usually isn't happening on the dating site and rather their conversations have moved to an 'encripted' chat site like WhatsApp for Kate and Gabriel, the dating apps are still the initial meeting place.

A number of warning signs can be present, these can include asking to chat in a different chat app, poorly written messages, inconsistencies with their profiles and what they are talking to you about and becoming persistent when eventually the money is not sent straight away. Kate describes Gabriels efforts to scam as 'blantaly obvious,' when she looks back on them. Unfortunately it is often the elderly that fall into these romantic traps, as scammers often use 'emotional triggers' such as divorce or being widowed.

Overall, staying vigilant and knowing the signs of these particular scams can help ensure you are not a victim.