Romance Scams Across Borders
Globalized World
We live in a strange contradiction. On one hand, humans invented nations, borders, religions, gender roles, and money, concepts so “real” they exist mostly in our collective imagination. On the other hand, local societies often had to endure very real hardships: closed-minded living, few opportunities, and self-imposed cages of limitation.
Of course, nothing global comes without side effects. Alongside global trade and collaboration came global tax loopholes, worldwide criminal syndicates, and scams that can now reach everyone, everywhere, from anywhere.
Online Scams 2.0
Online fraud isn’t new. What is new is how easy it’s become. In the beginning, only a few highly skilled nerds knew how to exploit digital cracks in the system. Today? Anyone with a Wi-Fi signal, a cracked smartphone, and an internet café latte can run a scam.
And with the rise of ChatGPT, deepfakes, and other tools, what only a cyber-wizard could do five years ago can now be done by a bored teenager, a lazy criminal gang, or your cousin’s friend who just discovered YouTube tutorials.
Tinder as a Global Scam Festival
It took less than three hours after I installed Tinder before the first “like” appeared faster than Amazon Prime delivery. The scam routine kicked in immediately:
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Match appears out of nowhere with a girl called Tarun on Tinder.
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They insist on moving to WhatsApp, which turn out to be Wendy
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Suddenly, we’re talking about cryptocurrency “investments” and cryptocurency value.
Now, I actually know people who found love online got married, had kids, built families. So I won’t blame the tech itself. Dating apps are like knives: you can make dinner or stab someone it’s about how you use them.
But the problem is, instead of meeting someone local, my actual goal, I end up chatting with someone “nearby”… who turns out to be across the Pacific Ocean. With ChatGPT in hand, she or he doesn’t even need to speak my language. She becomes the perfect partner in the Chinese Room experiment (thanks, John Searle): witty, ethical, funny basically a custom-built soulmate who also happens to be interested to get my cryptocurencies.
Where the Scams Come From
Southeast Asia is a rising hotspot for these digital romance traps. But it’s hardly alone. West Africa has long been a hub for romance and crypto scams. Add to that sub-Saharan Africa, the Philippines, the Balkans, and even Dubai where a massive police operation nicknamed “Pig Butchering” cracked down on criminal groups fattening up victims before the final money slaughter.
Interpol and local forces are getting better at tracing these fraud networks, but as long as someone is willing to click “invest,” the cycle continues.
Who’s to Blame?
Dating apps make things worse by design. For a subscription fee, you can filter by location, gender, age, income, education… but so can scammers. Instead of finding someone you’d bump into at the local café, you’re hand-delivered to the most suitable scammer targeting your country’s wealthiest users.
I don’t entirely blame the individuals on the other side of the screen. Many of them might be poor, undereducated, or even forced into scams by criminal gangs. Others are just opportunists who realized they can earn money with minimal effort and some AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity.
Conclusion
Every system humans invent for good intentions whether money, religion, dating apps, or even AI eventually gets abused. The lesson is simple: we need to think about the security and consequences of these systems before they’re hijacked. Otherwise, the same tools meant to connect us end up spreading more suffering, heartbreak, and empty wallets.
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