GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) – With Valentine’s Day this weekend, experts are warning that scammers are taking advantage of people looking for love. A scam prevention expert says these schemes are becoming more sophisticated and harder to detect.
Experts say romance scams tend to spike around holidays when more people are active on dating apps and social media.
“It’s not just Valentine’s Day, it’s around holidays, but specifically before and after Valentine’s Day, a lot of people are thinking about finding partners,” said Ron Kerbs, CEO of Kidas; a gaming and scam protection company. “They build trust with people only to convince them to wire money for suspicious activity or investment. It’s typically related to Bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency scam.”
Warning signs and patterns
Kerbs said many of these scams follow a familiar pattern and can escalate quickly.
“There is a lot of…