Social media communication is becoming more active. As contact-free life continues due to COVID-19 which lasted for a long time, interactions through social media become more active. These days, hiding behind the anonymity of social media, a new type of scam called romance scams is on the rise. Romance Scam is a fraudulent crime in which a person who pretends to be the foreign soldiers or wealthy people on social media approach the opposite sex and defraud money in various purposes. According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the number of damages to the Romance Scam increased from 21,400 in 2018 to 32,800 in 2020. The number of damages surged 53 percent in two years.
Romance scams, also called romance phishing, occurred in English-speaking countries such as the UK and the United States in the beginning, but are also occurring in Europe and Asia because of the development of translation apps. The number of people who have been hit by romance scams around the world is gradually increasing. According to data from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) of Korea, the number of reports to the 111 call center from the number of reports to the January 2018 to November 2021 was 174. 111 call center is a place where reports are mainly received in relation to international crimes, spies, and cybersecurity threats. In addition, the amount of damages reported in 2021 increased more than five times compared to last year. The prolonged COVID-19 seems to be one of the reasons for the surge of romance scam. Since there are fewer opportunities for people to meet in person, they are likely to interact with people through cyberspace such as dating apps and socal media. Korea was not the only country suffering from romance scams. In addition, many countries are said to have suffered considerable damage from romance scams.
Meanwhile, how does the romance scam go? The techniques of romance scams are gradually diversifying. Due to the development of virtual currency, there are representative fraud methods such as false virtual asset investment, Internet banking proxy remittance, and cyber money exchange fraud. They steal other people’s photos, deceiving themselves as UN soldiers in overseas conflict areas, asking them to send money for treatment or various vacation expenses through social media. When their goal has been achieved, they disappear.
Listening to the victim’s story, the scammers were very meticulous and organized. When professionals tracked their location through their IP addresses, most locations they have lived in were African countries. Africans have committed crimes by deploying major organizations in Africa and sub organizations where people play a role in drawing cash in Korea. Major organizations in Africa are where overall work is done such as creating fake websites. They are continuously contacting people around the world by creating multiple accounts with the same name and picture. They even sent their pictures in military uniforms or video calls to pretend to be real soldiers. Therefore, they can give conviction. They continued to keep in touch for as long as five years to obtain the other person’s heart.
Romance scams can be said to be a very high-quality fraud that deceives a lonely and true heart. Unlike Voice phishing, romance scam has long-term contact. So most people are not able to doubt their intentions. Alao, Romance scams are said to be difficult to punish for fraud. Unlike Voice phishing, romance scams are difficult to rescue. Voice phishing can immediately suspend the account by reporting to the police and financial companies. However, since romance scams are mainly traded in virtual currency, account tracking is impossible. In addition, the level of punishment is much weaker than that of voice phishing. Since romance scams are usually punished for fraudulent crimes, the criteria for sentencing are lower than voice phishing, which is regulated by the Electronic Financial Transacions Act. Therefore, prevention is even more improrant. If you get a call from an unknown person on social media, you need to doubt it first.
These days, with the development of artifical intelligence, deepfake-like crimes are emerging as a fraudulent method of romance scams. Deepfake is a compound word of deep learning and fake. Deepfakers deceive people much more reliably by synthesizing photos or modulating voices. We should be more careful because it doesn’t have any signs of synthesis. The damaged areas of romance scams are spreading around the world. Many countries are aware of the seriousness of romance scams and are paying attention to them as international crimes. Therefore, a legal system should be established to punish it internally and externally.
K-UNIV Reporter
Soo Kyeong Kim
