With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, people are looking for love more and more online. Unfortunately, hackers and scammers are waiting to prey on online daters, hoping to steal their heart, along with their cash.
Never Turn Over Personal Information or Pictures You Wouldn’t Want Broadcast for the World to See.
It’s not love if they ask for your credit card number or for you to buy a plane ticket, or request your Social Security Number or passport number. They may ask for pics of you in compromising situations, or to engage in some NSFW (Not Safe for Work) video chats. Sending personal pictures or screen grabs can backfire and now the catfisher has fodder to blackmail you. We have all seen the poor victims of “revenge porn” and you don’t want to be the star of those seedy websites!
Remember, Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate love. (You can go here to find more scams to watch out for as Feb. 14 approaches.) It’s a day to share your heart and your good fortune with those you love, not your personally identifiable information and your money with a 400-pound hacker sitting on a mattress in his mother’s basement.
