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I work on this problem at one of the world’s largest social media companies. I deal with it 7 days a week for several years now. This is my life and it’s extrem

I work on this problem at one of the world’s largest social media companies. I deal with it 7 days a week for several years now. This is my life and it’s extremely sad as to how people are being exploited in these scams.

autobodie 2y ago
Why do avaiable sources claim otherwise? Statista has a report indicating 53% of victims are men and 47% of victims are women. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1481218/us-online-dating-service-users-scams-by-gender https://www.statista.com/statistics/1481218/us-online-dating... Additionally, the FTC says women report significantly higher financial losses than men. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2023/02/romance-scammers-favorite-lies-exposed?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spo...
- ronnier 2y ago
  possible reasons I can think of 1) these are based on self reporting and it’s very possible men report at lower rates. 2) it’s possible that the scams happen outside of the areas where I have insights (social media)
  - autobodie 2y ago
    Also, the specific social media network you work at would skew your perspective. I would bet money that romance scam victims are overwhelmingly men on TikTok but overwhelmingly women on Facebook.
    - orwin 2y ago
      Probably not, ticktock isn't male dominated. Twitter and Reddit however, I could see that.
      - autobodie 2y ago
        Tiktok facilitates primarily visual interactions and young people, whereas Facebook is less visually focused and has a much older user demographic.
prox 2y ago
So what are the ways people get exploited, or tricked? Is it a lack of knowledge on part of the people, are scammers just really sophisticated, or just one trick ponies that work at scale? Any ideas on how to stop or how we can protect he people around us from these scams?
- PaulHoule 2y ago
  People don't think straight when they think they are in love. [1] In my family we've learned not to confront people directly when they are experiencing this (even when it was me) because it's a delusional state where people won't listen to you. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Love-Limerence-Experience-Being/dp/0812862864 https://www.amazon.com/Love-Limerence-Experience-Being/dp/08...
PaulHoule 2y ago
I'd think Skype should just not let anybody DM anyone they don't know at this point. Bluesky now has an epidemic of 'girls' who send creepy DMs.
Henchman21 2y ago
Why do you work 7 days a week?

autobodie 2y ago

Why do avaiable sources claim otherwise? Statista has a report indicating 53% of victims are men and 47% of victims are women. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1481218/us-online-dating-service-users-scams-by-gender https://www.statista.com/statistics/1481218/us-online-dating... Additionally, the FTC says women report significantly higher financial losses than men. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2023/02/romance-scammers-favorite-lies-exposed?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spo...

ronnier 2y ago
possible reasons I can think of 1) these are based on self reporting and it’s very possible men report at lower rates. 2) it’s possible that the scams happen outside of the areas where I have insights (social media)
- autobodie 2y ago
  Also, the specific social media network you work at would skew your perspective. I would bet money that romance scam victims are overwhelmingly men on TikTok but overwhelmingly women on Facebook.
  - orwin 2y ago
    Probably not, ticktock isn't male dominated. Twitter and Reddit however, I could see that.
    - autobodie 2y ago
      Tiktok facilitates primarily visual interactions and young people, whereas Facebook is less visually focused and has a much older user demographic.

prox 2y ago

So what are the ways people get exploited, or tricked? Is it a lack of knowledge on part of the people, are scammers just really sophisticated, or just one trick ponies that work at scale? Any ideas on how to stop or how we can protect he people around us from these scams?

PaulHoule 2y ago
People don't think straight when they think they are in love. [1] In my family we've learned not to confront people directly when they are experiencing this (even when it was me) because it's a delusional state where people won't listen to you. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Love-Limerence-Experience-Being/dp/0812862864 https://www.amazon.com/Love-Limerence-Experience-Being/dp/08...

PaulHoule 2y ago

I'd think Skype should just not let anybody DM anyone they don't know at this point. Bluesky now has an epidemic of 'girls' who send creepy DMs.

Henchman21 2y ago

Why do you work 7 days a week?