Romance Scam Stories You Should Learn From

Dating. Two people talking, getting to know each other, meeting, and then committing to each other. Sounds easy, right? Unfortunately, that's not always the case.

Like everything else in this world, there are two sides to a coin; for dating, "Romance Scams" are on the other side of that coin.

What are romance scams anyway? This has been defined thousands of times already; unfortunately, many people still fall victim to them.

Romance scams are basically fraudulent interactions disguised as innocent online dating correspondence. Hence, "romance." The most common form is people posing as an attractive match by using a fake identity. This is also known as "Catfishing."

Once someone falls for their fake profile, they then manipulate the victim to give in to their favors, which is usually asking for money. While the majority of victims are male, romance scams do happen to women as well.

If you feel you are interacting with a scammer online, never give in to their favors. If you give them money, for example, you won't be able to get it back when you realize too late that you've been scammed. Why would a scammer want to send money back?

To avoid these romance scams, the best thing you can do is to learn about them. And what better way than to listen to other people's experiences? That's why we've come up with this blog about people's romance scam stories so you can hopefully take something from them.

Catfishing scammers are one of, if not the worst, type of romance scammers anyone can encounter. Many men fall for them and are forced into sending money either through manipulation or blackmail.

One instance happened in New Jersey when a young man, 23, hopped on a dating app looking for someone to date. He matched with a good-looking woman. Their interaction started with wholesome conversations—the usual getting to know you better.

The longer they knew each other, the more intimate their conversations became. Things started to heat up, and he foolishly started to send her intimate pictures of himself. It was too late when he realized he was talking to a catfishing scammer. 

“I honestly don’t care if I am being blackmailed. I can just deny that the pictures are mine.” 

He didn’t give in to the scammer’s blackmail attempts, but the constant pestering soon broke him. He ended up sending the scammer hundreds of dollars to shut him up, but the scammer was relentless.

The scammer told him it wasn’t enough—he needed more. Enraged by the audacity, the young man decided to block him and delete all of his social media accounts. He hasn’t heard from the scammer since then, but the negative experience has traumatized him from online dating.

If you haven’t heard of OnlyFans, it is a subscription-based social media platform specifically created for niche influencers. It was a platform where people could follow and interact with others of the same passions.

Unfortunately, OnlyFans soon turned into an adult dating site where men subscribe to models and pay to chat with them. These men often spend thousands of dollars on these models. Unbeknownst to them, the platform has become a den for women scammers.

If you want to know how OnlyFans scams work, read this testimony of an OnlyFans chatter who conned and scammed men into spending thousands of dollars for a model she used to work for.

“In the agency, we were taught how to chat like the model. We were given information about her. We learned how to be the model assigned to us. Our goal was to get men to spend money on the model’s pictures and videos and interact with them to keep them subscribed to the model.

We were taught how to manipulate men, both young and old, so we can gain sales. We primarily target old men with retirement funds, lonely middle-aged men with respectable jobs, and men who are willing to spend on their fetishes.

We were told to sell the dream of being able to call the model and have a personal, romantic/explicit relationship with them. So we did our best to bait them into a romantic scam they will soon regret doing. A lot of them are not so smart, sadly.

We basically scammed these men by feeding their fantasy of being able to interact with a hot woman. I often feel remorse, but it pays my bills. Honestly, the job gets mentally taxing.

I was earning money by scamming men into thinking they were in an online relationship with the model. I had to quit because I was going through a rough burnout. I didn’t want to scam these men anymore. I didn’t want to see another man begging for their money back—I couldn’t stand it.”

From this chatter’s story, we can tell that a huge amount of effort is put into some of these scams. Instead of just individuals, they can also be corporations that recruit ordinary people to become scammers for their benefit. That’s why, before you invest your time or money in someone, make sure they’re not scammers hiding behind a model’s facade.

Can most victims find a real relationship after being scammed? Well, of course. Though some develop a lifelong trauma of trust issues, nothing like a good sense of reality and good-willed people could help them move on from their past. If it’s taking you a long time to heal, you can always seek help from a professional therapist.

Romance scams are still a thing, and they’re much worse now than they used to be. But with proper knowledge, it's not impossible to avoid them. Let these romance scam stories be your guide to a safer and healthier online dating experience. Because even with these scams, online dating is still a worthwhile undertaking.

Don’t be a victim of a romance scam. Learn how to navigate the online dating scene, and you’ll find that it isn’t as scary as you thought it was. With its convenience, availability, ease of use, and limitless dating pool, online dating shouldn’t be feared, but appreciated and put to good use.