Wijngaarde: “Sometimes a dating partner says they are active in the crypto investment world. He convinces the victim to participate, in order to earn more money for their common future. Of course the investment will never come back, because it is about fictitious investments.”

Karen saw it

66-year-old Karen (real name known to the editors) has lost more than 30 thousand euros through online dating fraud. After her husband passed away, she installed Tinder. She met a Frenchie on this dating platform, or so she thought. “He was very friendly and kind and said exactly the things I wanted to hear.”

They mostly talked on Tinder and Google Hangouts for about six months, but Karen never heard his voice. However, she was not suspicious, she said. “At first he didn’t ask for money. It came after a while.” The guy said he got an inheritance, but he needs money to open it. She thinks she fell in love with his words because she was still sad for her husband: “I was so unstable.”

She eventually found out about the scam when the man asked for the money again and she no longer had it. “Then I asked my kids for that money and because they were decisive, the ball started rolling.”

Karen has filed a report, but she will likely never see the money again because it has been transferred to a foreign account. Eventually I called the guy once and got an “English speaking guy with an Indian accent” on the line. After that she no longer had contact.