The 12 scams of Christmas: Romance scams

With the festive season nearly upon us, ‘tis the season for online scams.

The Financial and Cyber Crime Group are reminding Queenslanders to be aware of Grinch-like scammers and be sure to stay alert to scams, such as romance scams.

Unfortunately, scammers are active on online dating sites, and, like other forms of scams, will attempt to exploit people’s emotions to steal money.

Scammers can also use social media to make contact.

Always consider the possibility an approach could be a scam.

Never send money to someone you haven’t met, no matter what elaborate story they tell you.

Doing a reverse image search of a profile picture can help you spot a scammer.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre has instructions on how to do this.