Tinder Swindler hits crypto - don't fall for it!

Bitcoin ATMs Are a tool leading to your independence and freedom. They are meant to prevent exploitation of you - not contribute to exploitation of you!

Anonymity online gives a great sense of privacy, but can be dangerous. Dating app users often fall victim to scam scams that involve defrauding them. Read why scammers exploit Bitcoin ATMs (and single women) for money, and what to do to avoid being fooled.

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A rising tide of love scams

Matrimonial fraud is becoming more and more common - swindlers arouse their victim's feelings of love and then induce her to send funds in cryptocurrency. Although not all such cases are reported to the relevant services, the revealed scale of the phenomenon can be frightening. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission released a report on February 10, 2022, discussing a problem straight out of the movie "The Tinder Swindler." 

At least 56,000 people fell victim to love scams in the US in 2021, and collectively lost as much as $547 million. In reality, the scale of fraud may be even greater. A comparison of the following years shows that the problem is getting worse. Over the five-year period, the number of victims of matrimonial scams increased 5-fold, and the value of the damage suffered increased 7-fold.

Love scams are very often referred to as scam or scamming crimes. 

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What do the terms scam and scamming mean?

Scam (in English) is a form of fraud that involves inducing the victim's trust and getting him to hand over money or his personal information. Scamming is very often used in matrimonial scams. 

Scammers may contact you, describe their difficult financial situation and evoke certain feelings. The end of the day, they will ask for financial support, such as a transfer in cryptocurrency. If you are fooled, you will lose a lot of money. Therefore, don't be fooled, be vigilant and don't blindly believe what you hear or read in a message from an online sympathizer.

For an example of another type of scam (other than matrimonial scams), see our article Scam "for blackmail".

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How do matrimonial scammers operate?

An acquaintance with a matrimonial scammer usually begins on a dating platform or with a message on Facebook or Instagram. Its characteristic feature is contacts exclusively in the virtual world. Due to pandemonium (lockdown, travel restrictions), scammers have had even more excuses to avoid meeting in real life and get exposed.

A matrimonial scammer wants to arouse romantic feelings in you and then get you to hand over money. Richard Bromley of Revolut says:

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"In the case of matrimonial scams, requests for financial support are accompanied by a strong emotional charge. The scammers convince that they need money for an emergency operation, medical care, a plane ticket that will enable the arrival and the desired meeting, to pay off a debt that must be settled immediately. A growing trend is to convince victims to make a joint investment to financially secure their future life together."

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As you can see, scammers rely on strong emotions. They want to induce a sense of obligation in you that will prompt you to take certain actions. We have noticed that recently, to achieve their goals, swindlers are increasingly using Bitcoin ATMs.

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Why sending bitcoin internet love is risky

Sending cryptocurrency to anyone is unprofitable as well as dangerous, because the difference in exchange rates means that the person who sells this cryptocurrency will lose out on the exchange rate. The exchange rate of cryptocurrencies is very unstable and changes every few seconds, in addition, no service in the world is able to trace to whom you send cryptocurrency and, therefore, there will never be any possibility of recovering this money. Please send money by traditional bank transfer to be able to recover it "in case of emergency", and preferably do not send it at all to people you meet online.

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All kinds of scammers including especially matrimonial scammers urge victims to buy BTC, because it makes them undetectable. Every day, the operator of Bitcoin ATMs Shitcoins.club blocks women who think they are sending money to their husbands, fiancées, for a ticket, for medical treatment, for a son or daughter, for a lawyer, for shipping valuables to Poland, for a visa. Their imagination knows no bounds.

The characters invented by "Tinder Swindler" scammers are widowers (less often widows) raising a child alone. Recently there has been a fashion among scammers for an American widower raising a child alone, and the motif of an American soldier often appears.

The height of brazenness was the recent extortion of $25,000 from a woman for an "international marriage certificate." The victim was convinced that she was sending funds to a U.S. military unit in Yemen so that the unit would release her fiancé from service so that she could remotely marry him. Be warned - they NEVER arrive.

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The sad story of a victim who accepted her Tinder Swindler

Only once did we allow a client who was a victim of a scam to send money to a matrimonial scammer. This was a unique situation and took place abroad. The client was aware that she might be a victim of a scam, but she said that this acquaintance kept her alive after the tragedies that had befallen her and gave her the only joy in her life. 

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We agreed to accept her transactions, but only small amounts. We treated it as if she was paying for the service of writing her nice words. The client promised that if by some miracle he nevertheless arrived she would invite us to the wedding. We had long since finished our business in this country and, as you may have guessed - he never flew in. The client gets back to us from time to time asking how and where closest to her place of residence she can send BTC to her beloved.

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Don't be fooled!

No exchange offers support and investment advisor. If anyone promises huge profits urging you to buy cryptocurrency - they are criminals and urge you to pay into financial pyramid schemes, whoever ever recommends you to register on some dubious platform to invest in crypto - please be vigilant.

Once the transaction has been ordered, no service in the world will be able to trace where the funds were sent and thus there will be no way to recover them.

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We are the last link that can save the money of victims of matrimonial scams, "cop" scams, financial pyramids and others. We are doing our best to protect as many people as possible, as the scale of scams via cryptocurrencies that the police have to discontinue due to failure to detect the perpetrator is appalling. 

The company that runs Shitcoins.club does not wish to mediate these crimes, as any fraud of this type stands against the values represented by the company.

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How to spot a matrimonial scammer - 5 signs

Internet fraud experts point out that matrimonial scammers often follow a certain pattern. If you have doubts about the identity of the person you've contacted, use the list below to do your own verification. Matrimonial scammers are distinguished by:

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1. A strong feeling that appears suddenly. You may hear confessions of love or declarations after just a few conversations. This happens because scammers are pressed for time and want to get into your wallet as quickly as possible
2. No meeting in real life. Matrimonial scammers don't want to meet in real life, and the best excuse is to assume the identities of people who have trustworthy professions and work abroad. If the caller rejects every date you give, consider who you are dealing with
3. A life shrouded in mystery. You won't learn much about the details of the con man's private life. It is unlikely that you will be able to talk to someone from his circle of close friends or family members
4. Cute nicknames. Scammers give victims cute nicknames. They don't do it out of love, but so that people don't get confused when they chat in multiple chats at the same time
5. Perfect photos. Matrimonial scammers on their profiles often use stock photos - perfect, perfectly cropped and unnatural
6. Trouble communicating in English. If the person you're contacting claims to have British or U.S. citizenship, yet speaks English poorly, something's wrong here - he's most likely lying
7. Poor financial situation. Scammers are eager to talk about life's problems, the solution to which is only money, and then ask you to transfer money, very often using Bitcoin ATMs. At first, they usually only care about small amounts of BTC, but if you get sucked into it and believe the manipulator, you can lose your entire savings

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How do I check my profile picture?

You can check if you're dealing with a real photo by dropping it into a Google search. The site offers a way to scour web resources for graphics. Scammers often use someone else's identity to give their story the appearance of truth. Use Google search this way:

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You sent money to a scammer - what's next?

If you got carried away by your feelings and sent crypto to a person you don't know in real life, you probably fell victim to a scam. In such a situation, it is always a good idea to report the matter to the police, even though the chances of recovering the deposited funds are slim. Don't be ashamed and pass all information to law enforcement. In this way you will warn others and perhaps help them avoid the consequences of emotional manipulation.

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Why is it that crypto fraud money can almost never be recovered? 

The scammer's identifying information is simply an address consisting of a string of letters and numbers. It is anonymous and can belong to anyone. This is why scammers choose cryptocurrencies as a tool for fraud. And that's why you should be especially safe here.

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Protect yourself from scam crime

The best way to protect your personal information and money, is to be vigilant. If you regularly interact with others online and don't want to fall victim to a scam, follow the advice below:

• Don't believe everything you read on the Internet
• Don't give out sensitive personal information to people you've never seen in person, including your address, PESEL no., ID card details or phone number
• Don't click on links received from online friends
• Never send money or cryptocurrencies to people you haven't met in real life
• When the slightest doubt arises, tell a trusted person you know about it
• If you discover that you are dealing with a scammer, break contact and report the matter to the police

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Don't fall for matrimonial scams

Remember - if the feeling formed between you and the person you met on the Internet is to be real, it cannot depend on money. Any acquaintance that goes towards financial support is potentially dangerous and suspicious.

Scam crimes are common and can affect you as well. They are based on inducing trust, so be vigilant when you go online. Before you do something, think it through well.

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How does Shitcoins.club protect potential victims from a huge number of matrimonial scams?

Although it is not our responsibility, we try to detect fraud victims early, and warn them with messages in the following style. However, keep in mind that no operator is obligated to do so, and the intentions of the person sending the transactions are very difficult for us to detect!

Good Morning Madam,

We are contacting you about your cryptocurrency purchase transaction at Bitcoin ATM in Warsaw.

Since you were unable to provide information on how blockchain works, the transaction was blocked based on the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act of March 1, 2018. We would like to inform you of a few important points that you probably have no idea about: (...)

*Here is information on how matrimonial scammers work*.

We hope that this information, even if trivial and obvious to you, will help you predict early enough the scam into which your loved one will one day fall. The imagination of some people, even our relatives and friends, is unlimited when it comes to such strong feelings as love or the hope of online love. That's why we should take the threat from Tinder Swindlers seriously.

Did you know that there are other forms of scams? For example, celebrities on social media sometimes "pump" cryptocurrency projects, encouraging fans to buy their token, and then sell their share. Then the fans lose and the celebrity gains. Learn more in the article 6 celebrity accounts used to pump crypto scams.

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Let's summarize why scammers use Bitcoin ATMs?

Matrimonial scammers often use Bitcoin ATMs, because they are very widespread and allow anonymous purchase of cryptocurrency without registration.

Transactions in bitcoin are very difficult and usually impossible to trace. Once you purchase the crypto at Bitcoin ATM and send it to the address provided by the scammer, you no longer have the ability to undo the transaction. Even if you report the scam to the police after time, investigators will not be able to trace who the money went to. 

As operators of Bitcoin ATMs , we do not want to participate in illegal activities. For this reason, we warn you never to send cryptocurrency to people you do not know or know only from online news. 

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