The 47-year-old Caroline van Eck from Bergen and Zoom thought he had a relationship with the world-famous actor Leonardo DiCaprio. After eight months she turned out to have been scammed hard for five thousand euros. According to spokesperson Tanya Wijngaarde of the Fraudhelpdesk, Caroline is not the only one who is victim to dating fraud because of a psychological game. “The scammers are looking for vulnerable people and have an answer to everything,” she says.
The Fraud Help Desk receives an average of five hundred reports of dating fraud every year. In 2024, more than thirty reports of dating fraud with celebrities were received.
In total, more than 145,000 euros were captured by scammers who occurred on social media such as Max Verstappen, André Rieu or Mark Rutte. Wijngaarde suspects that there are many more victims, but that many people do not report that out of shame.
According to Wijngaarde, dating fraud is a psychological game that can take months and sometimes years. “Scammers take the time, do not stop just like that and go refined,” she says. For example, scammers view the entire online life of potential victims.
“For example, someone has become a member of a fan club or likes a video of a concert and is supposedly first receives a message from the mother of fame. Whether someone shares to be divorced, having children or being a member of a certain church. Scammers go in search of agreements and for people who are vulnerable,” Wijngaarde explains.
In the contact that someone subsequently has with the ‘celebrity‘Is not immediately asked for money, but a bond is slowly built up. Any doubts are immediately removed with the craziest excuses. “It is often someone who offers support and has an answer to everything.”
“Scammers want to insulate someone.”
In practice there is a dark plan behind it. “Scammers want to insulate someone with nice talks and excuses why someone can’t talk to his environment. In the case of a fame, that might be quite credible,” says Wijngaarde. “Founders have whole scripts with things they can say. For people who want to believe the story, it is difficult to recognize that.”
According to Wijngaarde, photos are also easy to falsify and better techniques are coming through artificial intelligence (AI). At the beginning of this year, the Fraudhelpdesk even saw an example in which the voice of a fame in a personal speech memo was used.
With excuses, you are asked to transfer money, first small amounts and bigger afterwards. But that’s not the only thing. “We also see that people are asked to share a photo of their proof of identity or spicy photos with which they are extorted later,” says Wijngaarde.
“People judge very hard.”
People who are scammed often had a gut feeling. Shame ensures that they do not seek help. “People often judge very loudly. Comments like ‘how could you be so stupid’ do not help,” says the spokesperson.
The Fraudhelpdesk advises people not to transfer money to someone you have never seen, to check the origin of photos when in doubt via programs such as Google images and to have it checked by them when in doubt. Family members and friends who doubt are also allowed to contact the help desk.
In most cases, victims of dating fraud can whistle for their money, because it is difficult to detect the perpetrators. “Often there are whole groups from abroad,” says Wijngaarde.
In addition to financial damage, the scams has a large mental impact. “It is the form of fraud that people have the most emotional damage of. They have given their heart to a group of scammers, so that they lose confidence in themselves, the future and the world.”
