Online Dating Scams Cost Victims Tens of Millions of Dollars Each Year – Infographic

As Valentine’s Day approaches, security solutions providers rush to issue all sorts of advisories to help Internet users protect themselves against the threats that make the rounds during this time of year. 

Bitdefender told us about the spam emails we should keep an eye out for, and McAfee revealed some interesting things about sharing private information with your partner.

Now, ThreatMetrix has published an infographic that details online dating and the scams that revolve around it.

The figures show that online dating is a $4 billion (3 billion EUR) business. Large amounts of money usually attract the attention of cybercriminals, and online dating is no different.

They’ve managed to deploy scams that cost victims over $50 million (37 million EUR) in one year.

The phenomenon has gotten so out of hand that even the FBI has issued warnings about online dating scams.

“Unfortunately, the online dating market not only attracts people genuinely looking to meet, it also attracts cybercriminals, both foreign and domestic, who use fake profiles to steal personal and financial information,” ThreatMetrix’s Alisdair Faulkner said.

“Recognizing the huge profits in online dating, cybercriminals have found several sophisticated ways to target innocent users.”