Avoiding romance scams this Valentine's Day

REDDING, Calif. — February is the season of love, but romance scams, unfortunately, have no season. These online schemes are run year round, and work to take money from victims through the guise of a romantic relationship.

Anand “Lucky” Jesrani, who oversees the Consumer Protection Unit of the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office, explained these scams most often occur on dating sites, but nearly one-third happen on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. And while senior citizens often stand more to lose from these scams, as a result of their nest egg, the most likely demographic to fall victim is young adults aged 18 to 29.

With this universal threat in mind, he shared what you can look out for.

“The red flags that you very frequently will see is that they're going to be after a brief period of conversation, they're going to ask for money by way of wiring, by way of gift cards or cryptocurrency. And they're going to ask for money to help for a medical emergency, for themselves or a sick child. They may say that they're serving in the military overseas, and they just need some money to take care of some things, or that they may even just say they need money to be able to buy a flight to come out and see the victim. And once that money is sent, that money's gone, unfortunately,” he said.

An additional challenge he highlighted was the complexity of the schemes. "The thing is, with this type of scam, very frequently these are fly by night groups. These individuals who are the perpetrators of these scams who are luring these individuals into sending money, they're overseas, they're hard to identify, and the money changes hands multiple times through mules, through cryptocurrencies. So tracing and recovery of the money is near impossible. That's why our office really sees a high value in the community education to help ensure that people don't become victims in the first place," Lucky added.

To avoid situations like this, he advises talking to family members openly and checking in on them and their relationships, and in the case of elderly loved ones, monitoring their financial statements to watch for any red flags.

If you do find yourself in what feels like a scam situation, Lucky strongly encourages everyone to contact the Shasta County District Attorney’s office at 530-245-6300. They have had some success in recovering funds, and can at least spread the word to prevent further losses.

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