What is the "Romance Scam"?

The Scam: You meet someone online and start a relationship by emailing and/or texting. This may continue for weeks if not months. You may able unable to meet this individual in person because he/she is in the military, overseas, or he/she indicates some other reason. However, this person has won your trust and you may have provided some personal information about yourself. Maybe you have provided him/her with your login credentials so they can remotely deposit a check into your account. Or, they may have a check sent to you to deposit. Either way, they will ask you to help them and wire funds to him/her.

How it Works: The check is a counterfeit. The person you are conversing with is a scammer. They want you to deposit the check into your account so that they can receive cash on the other end of that wire. Once you have deposited the check and wired the money (to the scammer) the check may take several days to be returned as a counterfeit. Unfortunately, if you have already wired the funds, you will suffer the loss.

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