Crypto scammers are now finding new techniques to scam people out of their hard-earned digital coins. This time, elderly singletons in Japan are their targets. It is especially the case for elderly singletons on different dating applications who need help as they find themselves in the maze of scammers.
In the past week, many have reported that women they have been speaking to on dating apps tempt them into different crypto investing or mining offers, only to steal from them.
It was concluded that elderly people visiting dating apps in hopes of finding a companion are becoming easy targets. Sometimes their desperation for companionship makes them vulnerable to scammers who exploit them without wasting time.
It is not just the elderly, but the middle-aged and youngsters trying to find relationships in dating apps are urged to be cautious. They are warned not to get carried away in the conversation, not to share financial details over chat, and stick to more dating-related conversations.
In a column, Kuroiwa narrated the story of a 60-year-old who found himself against a scammer in a dating app. When this man was contacted by Kuroiwa for some bitcoin advice when he shared this anecdote, he faced a “woman” who insisted on him investing in Bitcoin only via a certain link. Being a mindful investor, he immediately picked this to be a scam and didn’t indulge.
Some of the scamming techniques these ‘women’ weaponize are tempting people to open accounts on different crypto platforms. They are usually unauthorized platforms built solely for scamming people out of their digital currencies.
Once they have opened an account and transferred all their coins, they are ghosted.Some have even reported their “potential dates” promoting themselves as MLM advocates.
The genuine concern began when a 30-year-old man at Kashima lost $56,000 in crypto money after falling for a tempting offer over a dating application.
He was conversing with a “Singaporean woman” who gave him compelling proof of herself making more than $200,000 a month on a crypto trading platform.
Because of his naivety and greed, the 30-year-old invested $36,000 in a crypto coin. A month later, an employee allegedly working for the trading platform informed him that his coins had been frozen. Consequently, he couldn’t withdraw the coins or get his money back.
The government warned every singleton between the ages of 30 and 49, who are accessing social media, and these dating applications to be aware of these situations and not indulge in crypto conversations.
These cryptocurrency scamming techniques are not new. In 2021, at the height of the pandemic, a national watchdog warned every man about the scamming risks associated with cryptocurrency, and dating application scams were one of them.
