Hundreds of people in Lithuania have been scammed by online fraudsters pretending to engage in romantic exchanges, making transfers totalling more than a million euros, according to estimates by commercial banks. Some of the transactions were stopped.
Experts say lonely people are the most vulnerable group, particularly women who are made to believe they are interacting with military officers or sailors.
According to data from the Center of Excellence in Anti-Money Laundering, released on Tuesday by the Association of Lithuania Banks, they recorded 350 cases of so-called “romance scam” last year, and victims made attempts to transfer more than 1 million euros to fraudsters.
According to data provided to BNS by Swedbank, 148 of its client were victims of romance scammers last year as they were looking for romantic relationships online. And they lost more than 300,000 euros.
SEB Bank says 45 of its customers were affected last year, losing 154,000 euros.
Luminor estimates that romance scams swindled 380,000 euros last year, and the customers of Šiaulių Bankas lost around 73,000 euros.
Banks say not all the money swindled by fraudsters can be recovered, especially when people delay reporting the scam to their banks.
“Romance scams are a delicate issue and people who realise they have been duped by a romance scammer are more likely to feel ashamed and embarrassed to admit it, and some may deny it and not approach the bank at all. Such cases are more often than not unrecorded in the statistics,” Daiva Uosytė, head of the Prevention Department at SEB Bank, told BNS.
She says banks cannot turn to law enforcement institutions on their own initiative, as only the affected customers can do it.
Aina Adomaitytė, president of the Lithuanian Union of Psychologists, says a strong feeling of loneliness is the main reason why people fall victim to romantic scammers.
“Everybody wants to be important to someone, to give and receive attention and care. People are afraid of the feeling of loneliness and often, in the case of a scam, they had already been lonely for a long time, so the resulting contact seems to be very strong and they become fully immersed in the creation of a new relationship, so rationality and critical thinking disappear,” the psychologist said.
According to Šiaulių Bankas, elder women looking to meet new people on social media are the most frequent victims of romantic scams.
“They become interested in military officers and sailors who are impersonated by scammers,” Saulius Jarmalis, head of communication at Šiaulių Bankas, told BNS.
Bank representatives warn that requests for money are the red flag that a person one met online may be a fraudster.
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