Victims report considerably less damage due to dating fraud

The average amount suffered by victims of dating fraud has so far been significantly lower this year than last year. Last year it was an average of 31,000 euros per person, while this year an average of 13,000 euros in damage was reported.

In 2022, 71 people have reported to the Fraud Helpdesk who have become victims of dating fraud. In total they were defrauded for an amount of 932,604 euros. This means that the rising trend of recent years when it comes to the amount of damage caused by dating fraud does not seem to be continuing.

Fraud Help Desk warns in the Pointer program of KRO-NCRV that the amount can rise considerably in the remaining months of the year because the total amount strongly depends on a few cases with large amounts of damage.

The internet fraud hotline indicates that its telephone lines were closed at certain times of the year due to the corona lockdown. This could affect the amount reported, as victims of dating fraud would rather call than fill out a web form.

In 2021, also a year with corona and lockdowns, the reported damage amounted to 7.2 million euros. In dating fraud, victims are scammed by people they have met through a dating site, social platform or online game. After making dating contact, scammers ask to transfer money for, for example, airline tickets for the appointment.