A 66-year-old woman named Sue lost $2 million to a romance scam after connecting with a man named Santos on Match.com. Santos used stolen photos and claimed to be a private equity investor. He convinced Sue to send him money for a fake professional license renewal. This case highlights the growing issue of romance scams, which cost Americans over $1 billion last year.
A 66-year-old single woman CBS News is calling 'Sue' had saved more than $2 million for her retirement and hoped to travel the world — but she wasn't done looking for love. 'It\'s like, man, I really would do better if I had a male companion,' Sue said. So she turned to the dating app Match.com and quickly connected with a man who used stolen photos, claiming to be a private equity investor in the United Kingdom and called himself Santos.
After weeks of nonstop romance, Santos said he needed help renewing a professional license and asked Sue for $40,000 dollars. 'I was in a position, I could help a person. Why not? I never thought he was stealing or scamming. There was no reason,' Sue said. But from then on, Sue says, it was full-speed into an elaborate and relentless stream of lies, deception and emotional abuse that drained her of the $2 million she had saved. More than 64,000 Americans were taken for over $1 billion in romance scams last year — double the $500 million just four years earlier, according to the Federal Trade Commission. About half of people who are using dating sites say they've come across somebody who's tried to scam them, according to Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Colorado Democrat who says tech platforms need to do a better job of protecting their users. Republican Rep. David Valadao of California echoes those concerns. The two lawmakers introduced the Online Dating Safety Act, which would require dating apps like Match.com to notify users if they've been in contact with a scam account. 'No matter how advanced you think your ability to understand what's out there, they're gonna deceive so many people and we really have to get in front of this,' Valadao said. After passing the House, the bill didn't get a vote in the Senate, so they'll try again next Congress. Meanwhile, Sue says she wouldn't have lost all of her money if she had been informed the man who contacted her was a known scammer
ROMANCE SCAM INTERNET SAFETY DATING APPS CONSUMER FRAUD ONLINE DATING
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