TENNESSEE, USA — More scammers are looking to steal money by making a romantic connection with people online.
Experts said that romance scams ramp up over the holidays and studies showed over $300 million was stolen from people's pockets nationally in 2020. According to SocialCatfist.com, people in Tennessee ranks No. 28 and lost $4,526,218 to romance scammers.
Tony Binkley with the Better Business Bureau said those scams are happening in East Tennessee.
"Love's in the air at that time, and you know it just makes it easier for the scammers to pick people off," Binkley said.
Data shows all online scams are also generally ramping up during the pandemic. As people shop online more, they spend more time at home and become more vulnerable to scams, Binkley said. And that vulnerability can take a massive toll.
"People are losing, I mean $20,000 or $30,000 and it's not small change. It's sad because people just get fished in and want to believe that story," he said. "[Victims] are going to fall in love fast. [Scammers] are going to say that they've never been able to talk to somebody as easy as they talk to you, and they're going to say all those things that somebody that's wanting some company wants to hear."
If something sounds too good to be true, he said, odds are it is. But the search for love can cost victims more than their time and do more damage than cause heartache.
"You just can't give out your personal information, your credit card or bank accounts because your money is going to be gone," Binkley said.
Spencer Morrill is living proof people can never truly know who is behind the screen on the other side of a screen during a conversation.
For 6 years, he believed he was in a romantic relationship with singer Katie Perry. He truly loved her, he said.
"I bought her a ring. I had this whole romantic moment played out in my head. It didn't quite work out that way," he said. "Anytime you're talking to somebody online you're always going to have a little bit of doubt."
Fortunately, he said he didn’t lose any money to the catfishing attempt but he does have advice for anyone who might be questioning the authenticity of their online relationship.
"Trust your gut. Trust that things are right and if you don't feel that, figure out why," he said.
The person he was talking to turned out to be an 18-year-old girl named Harriot who lived in England. When he confronted her on the TV show “Catfish” she told him she was only interested in women and left him with little explanation.
"My initial reaction was that this is a joke and Katy's still going to show up. And that took a while to dissipate," Morrill said.
Experts say that the biggest red flag hinting online love isn't real is if they can't meet face-to-face. Experts say if users on dating apps are suspicious, they should not be afraid to ask possible partners to meet in person or to speak over a video chat. They should ask the other person to do anything that would prove their existence in real-time.