Quit Playing Games with My Heart: Understanding Online Dating Scams

Jingmin Huang, Gianluca Stringhini, Peng Yong

Abstract: Online dating sites are experiencing a rise in popularity, with one in five relationships in the United States starting on one of these sites. Online dating sites provide a valuable platform not only for single people trying to meet a life partner, but also for cybercriminals, who see in people looking for love easy victims for scams. Such scams span from schemes similar to traditional advertisement of illicit services or goods (i.e., spam) to advanced schemes, in which the victim starts a long-distance relationship with the scammer and is eventually extorted money.

External IDs:dblp:conf/dimva/HuangSY15