Atlas VPN: Romance Scams could hit americans for 500 million in 2021. The fraud cost almost $350 million in the first three quarters of last year

Cybercrime Romance Scams cost americans almost $350 million in the first three quarters of 2021. It has been denounced by Atlas VPN cybersecurity experts.  Based on the information that researchers collected, it is safe to assume that they caused somewhere around $500 million in damages throughout the entire year. In 2020, impersonators swindled $268 million from victims of all age groups. In Q1/Q3 2021, monetary damages exceeded $342 million, representing a 27.7% growth. Perhaps the most surprising finding is that elders ages 60-69 lost significantly more money than all other groups in 2020 and 2021. This was the case in 2019, as well. Romance scam losses among older individuals (ages 60 and over) climbed from roughly $84 million in 2019 to around $139 million in 2020. The 60-69 and 70-79 age groups were hit the heaviest among older persons, accounting for $129 million of the total reported losses in 2020.

The cybersecurity experts: Seniors are the top victims and Covid-19 boosted the attacks

According to the cybersecurity experts, xumulative losses of $129 million in 2020 and $145 million in Q1/Q3 2021 also mean that romance scams were the most financially damaging fraud category for seniors. However, younger Americans are not immune to cybercrime romantic impersonators, far from it. Individuals ages 20-59 lost $130 million in 2020 and $187 million in Q1/Q3 2021, a growth of 44% even without the data on losses in Q4. The figures for the research were extracted from the official Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) website. Here, romance scam victims can submit their complaints and receive further help. Impersonators found the pandemic to be a treat – they have a legitimate excuse as to why they can’t meet up in person, at least for now. This allowed fraudsters to carry out romance scams on a larger scale than ever before.