ROMANCE SCAM

 The Romance Scam. Those two words should never be spoken together. And yet. They are. Currently, the number one scam - especially for the elderly - statistic points to the romance scam, love for the lovelorn or whatever you’d like to call it. Worse, now victims are being used to money launder. And wow, a criminal offense (whether knowingly or not) has nothing to do with love or romance. Fortunately, we aren't elderly and we do not fall for scams. We read the fine print and listen between the lines. right?

I started thinking about scam statistics on Valentines’ Day. You can see how one thing just led to another.

And then, still absorbing this news, a network evening news program cited fifty-four million dollars lost to love.  FIFTY-FOUR MILLION DOLLARS. Another news outlet gave the figure as a billion. BILLION DOLLARS!

Women have lost and continue to lose millions of dollars to empty promises. Mostly made by me. And again, it’s men (usually men) who prey on lonely women promising love forever more. These scam artists use poetry and the words every woman longs to hear at one time in her life or another…”You are my everything.” They send “borrowed” photos of attractive men found on the internet claiming to be themselves.

Loneliness can be a mental illness and those women or men dealing with loneliness can be helped without losing a lifetime of their savings. Lonely people become prime prey for the scam artist. Women are the most abused.

For aging women, widows, or women who have been waiting all their lives for Mr. Right, romantic words mean the promise of happiness. The men, reading (or writing) these words with scripts in hand are usually communicating from a foreign country - but not always! The scam artist promises a happy ending after this amazing woman (you) they’ve found by chance on the internet, is the love of their lives. They implore you to send them enough money for surgery, enough funds for getting out of jail, paying off crooked politicians, or for a passport and plane tickets. They promise these funds will lead to your happy ending.

Wrong.

A generation of women were raised to believe life required a man and marriage. There are many who still believe life cannot be complete without love and the man/woman team concept. And having love too! So much the better! These women are especially susceptible to the romance scam.

Of course, there were, and are, always a few rogue women wondering if a man is truly necessary to the quality of life. The romance scam artists can spot these women instantly and avoid them immediately.

But honestly, does any woman hate it when a man tells them how desirable they are and how much they are loved?  What woman hates roses and poetry? No one I know!

Back in the day I wrote romance novels. There is a reason why finding love is the most popular genre. (Statistically.) The prevailing theme is love can overcome all, love heals. And it often does. Regardless of the scam artists, we all want to believe in love and the magic of true love. And we should.

Falling in love is glorious. Falling for a romance scam is not.

 

 

 

A SHORT RANT

 I'm back. An old friend was in town for a visit and I lost focus on this blog. Losing focus has nothing to do with aging, it’s been my problem since kindergarten. And visiting with old friends is always a priority. If I hadn’t been I would have been off on a rant about stereotypes. Like now.

Yes, I read an article on the local newspaper's online section. Seems a grocery store changed the location of several products and according to the the whiner, “the 60 and 70-year-old shoppers were lost.” 

What do you bet all the customers were lost?  Confusion happens with change and most of us get over it…no matter what our age. Readjusting at 30, 40 and 50 happens as a matter of life course. Oddly enough, many of the current stereotypes are based on our parents, what they looked like, what they were feeling and doing back in the 50’s, those folks who would be hundreds of years old today. The mothers who wore “housedresses,” and  dads in their bowling team shirts .

When I see these stereotypes I wonder who the creatives are who staff the advertising agencies. When I read a complaint like above I accept that the “average” person (And I hate the term! None of us are average!) may not be up to date. Still, it bothers me, so I take to the blog to rant.

Read, observe, do whatever it takes to stay current. Living in the past helps no one. Don’t be caught stereotyping. Those of us in our 60’s, 70’s and 80’s are no more lost than most.

And that ends today's rant.