1 © www.staysafemagazine.co.uk Scam Alerts 2014 StaySafe Magazine Scam Alert Service

New ‘Annual leave’ Online Dating Trick Scammers have a way of manipulating the deepest of human desires. According to a consumer survey

around 25% of British adults will at some point sign up for an online dating site. This year, over 600

dating scams were reported in May, June, July 2014 costing victims on average £9589. Action Fraud UK

has found that the approaches used by these con artists are becoming more sophisticated.

In some cases, victims are told that their potential lover has run out of annual leave. In order to come

and visit, they would need to purchase more annual leave from the company they work for. Typical

requests are for around £250 per day of annual leave. If payment is agreed, then travelling costs may

also be requested.

Alternatively, victims are being told that a box containing valuables perhaps gold, money or other

valuables has been found at an obscure location but is currently being held in customs. The box contents

they claim are going to be used to secure a future between the potential couple. A release fee is

requested from the scammer’s target.

Online dating websites are powerless in many respects to these scams. So careful consideration is

required by users when speaking with someone -the same attitude should be adopted as if meeting

someone in a bar or club. Trust instincts, especially if there is a doubt whether someone’s profile is

2 © www.staysafemagazine.co.uk Scam Alerts 2014 StaySafe Magazine Scam Alert Service

genuine and report it to the site administration team. Additionally, conversations should always take

place on the website itself rather than by email or other methods.

In one incident, a retired woman named Brenda Parke, lost £60,000 to a scammer who posed as a

successful Dutch business man. He claimed that he had just entered the UK with his daughter and his

wife had died in recent years. Also, he told Ms Parke that his daughter had been injured in a road

accident and needed almost £10,000 to finance the operation.

After the former amount was paid, further requests to cover travel fees, accommodation and business

endeavours were requested. Ms Parke never met the perpetrator.

Ms Parke said, “with great hindsight, I am fully aware of how utterly stupid I have been and I appreciate

that there is little, if any, chance of getting my money back.”

Stay Safe Magazine and its on-line journal contain an outsized quantity of key information and stories

regarding current scams & criminal behavior.

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