We know people who run Internet scams are heartless, but this really drives the point home. Last year, the worst victims of fraud online were people looking for love — specifically lonely older people. See? Heartless.
The FBI just released its annual report on online fraud, and overall, Americans were scammed out of more than $800 million last year.
People looking for romance make up around 11% of that, at $86.7 million. Four out of five of people who fell for romance cons are over 40 — and almost 70% were women.
The most common scam is someone pretending to be a member of the military who starts an online relationship, then starts asking for money.
Auto fraud was the second-biggest online scam last year. People lost $56 million to people selling cars they didn’t have.
The average person who falls for fraud online loses $2,971.