Don't fall for a catfish this Valentine's Day!
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If you're planning on dropping a bunch of cash this Valentine's Day, make sure you're dropping it on someone worthwhile. According to the FBI, thousands of people in Western PA are falling for romance scamming, also known as confidence fraud. Romance scams, according to Patch.com, involve building relationships online for the sole pupose of gaining someone's money or personal information, and they happen more commonly than you may think here in Western PA. In 2020 alone, approximately 5,700 people fell for romance scam, which accounted for $20.3 million dollars.
That's a lot of money.
I know that all of us millennials and Gen Z'ers know how to be safe online, but, just in case, the FBI has offered some guidelines to follow while using the apps to find a Valentine's Day date. You can find them here, and please, please be careful. Let me be your big sister right now and tell you that you deserve better than to be scammed. You deserve someone who genuinely loves and cares about you, so go find them and BE SMART!