Romance Scam Dupes Daters With the Promise of a ‘Sugar Daddy’ or ‘Sugar Momma’

There is no end to scammers trolling the internet, apps, and social media. Meanwhile it seems every month there's a new Netflix documentary or Dateline NBC episode involving a con artist stealing tens of thousands of dollars from victims.

The latest dating scam is drawing unsuspected victims in because it involves receiving money, money, and more money just in time to kick of the new year looking for romance as well as Valentine's Day.

Sugar Daddy/Momma Scam #1

According to the Better Business Bureau, this latest scam involves a con artist offering to be your "sugar momma” or “sugar daddy" and pay your bills. Here's how it works.

You're doing your thing on one of the dating apps or social media messaging and the person you're talking with offers to pay you a several hundred or even thousand dollars a week for your affection.

However, since you're going to have this new source of "income" in your account, and in many cases the scam starts off with you receiving actual money, your new lover needs your help as well.  He or she asks you to pay off a couple of bills, gives you a link to a charity they want you to donate to, buy a gift card they want you to send to a friend of theirs, or help out one of their friends in need through peer-to-peer payment methods like Venmo or Apple Pay.

According to the BBB, while it looks and feels legit in the beginning, in reality each and every place you're sending money is fake, filling up the scammer's personal account.

Chances are the scammer is doing this with several people at the same time to keep funds fluid.

Sugar Daddy/Momma Scam #2

According to the BBB, victims are actually giving out bank account info along with their social security numbers and other forms of ID because the scammer needs the info to directly deposit your weekly allowance into your bank account. Clearly this leads to the con artist stealing money and even using your info to open credit cards or other accounts.

Click here to to to the BBB scam tracker to report a scam whether you're a victim or you know someone who is.