FTC Offers Valentine’s Day Safety Tips for Consumers

Looking for Valentine’s Day safety tips? You should be. As you spend time online this month, look out for unscrupulous companies posing as legitimate businesses and making promises they can’t keep. And if you’re online dating, Valentine’s Day can be a particularly vulnerable time. Don’t let loneliness and FOMO get your guard down. It’s now more important than ever to arm yourself against romance scams.

Fortunately, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been providing consumers with Valentine’s Day safety tips for years. The FTC works to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace. The FTC provides information that helps consumers spot, stop, and avoid these practices. Here is a summary of Valentine’s Day safety tips from the FTC:

Valentine’s Day Safety Tips for Sending Flowers

If you want to send flowers to a special someone this Valentine’s Day, you might think to call your local florist. You know well how to search for and find a florist in your area who has what you need and can provide the service you expect. But how should you respond to flower companies that reach out to you instead of the other way around?

The FTC warns against unscrupulous telemarketing firms that pose as local florists. Higher than average fees can be a good indicator of this. Consumers shopping for flowers around this time of year—or any time—should be wary of dealing with a business in an undisclosed location and question potential hidden costs.

“Fiscal” Attraction Tips

Physical attraction is definitely important when it comes to that “spark”. But if you’re looking for real chemistry, it’s important to ensure that you and your partner are financially compatible as well. The FTC recommends committing to a Valentine who is “dollars and cents-ible”. So don’t wait too long to have those hard conversations. Financial therapist Kate Dorman offers tips for couples wanting to approach money conversations together.

Valentine’s Day Safety Tips for Online Shopping

In the article “Guaranteed delivery by Valentine’s Day: If it doesn’t arrive, you have rights,” consumer education specialist Cristina Miranda offers some Valentine’s Day safety tips when it comes to shopping. If you’ve waited until the last minute to shop for a gift for your Valentine, you might be worried about it arriving in time. So what should you do if a seller guarantees delivery by Valentine’s Day but it doesn’t arrive in time?

Consumers have rights when it comes to guaranteed delivery timelines. “By law,” Miranda explains, “sellers must ship your order within the time they say they’ll ship. If they don’t give a specific time, your order must ship within 30 days. When shipping will be delayed, the seller has to let you know about it. Sellers also have to give you the choice to either accept the delay or cancel your order for a full refund.”

But Valentine’s Day isn’t the only time you should be careful shopping online. Your safety is always at risk, but there are some things you can do to help protect yourself:

• Research the seller
• Read refund and return policies
• Pay with a credit card and dispute charges when necessary
• Save receipts and confirmation emails

Valentine’s Day Safety Tips for Online Dating

Millions of Americans use online dating and social networking sites to meet people, says the FTC, which make them the perfect hunting ground for scammers. They target any age and any location looking for anyone they can convince to send money. 

If you are active on dating sites, the FTC encourages you to use your head as well as your heart when evaluating someone’s authenticity online. These articles from the FTC can help you learn more about how to spot the signs of an online dating scam:

“Love Stinks”—When a Scammer Is Involved

In the FTC Consumer Sentinel Data Book, romance scams are a subcategory of imposter scams. Although the number of reported romance scams is lower than the number of reports of both business and government imposters, the $1.14 billion in reported losses to romance scams (with median losses per person of $2,000) is higher than for any other form of imposter scam. 

The FTC offers the following advice for spotting and stopping a romance scam:

• Never send money, crypto, gift cards, bank or wire transfers, or anything else to anyone you haven’t met in person.
• Don’t believe promises that an online friend can increase your nest egg.
• Be suspicious of excuses about why an IRL meeting is impossible.
• Every picture tells a story.
• Tell a trusted friend that you’re talking to someone online.
• Who’s at risk for romance scams? Pretty much anyone.

What to Do if Your Online Love Interest Offers to Teach You How to Invest Your Money

Scammers start by contacting you on social media. They’ve researched you on social media and pieced together enough information about you from your profile to establish an emotional connection with you that’s strong enough to get you to trust them. Then, they pretend to care about your financial well-being when they tell you they can teach you how to invest your money in the crypto markets.

Here is what the FTC warns against if someone you meet online says they want to help you invest in cryptocurrency:

• Scammers promise big profits.
• Scammers say there is no risk.
• Scammers say they can help you learn to invest.
• Scammers tell you how to send the money.

Romance Scammers Love…To Take Your Money

The FTC warns that if you send or invest money in an investment scam, it’s probably gone forever. To avoid a romance scammer:

• Be wary of surprise or random messages or friend requests. Use your privacy settings on social media to limit the amount of information that’s readily available about you.
• Don’t send money to anyone who demands payment with cryptocurrency, gift cards, wire transfers, or a payment app.
• Learn the signs of common scams and tactics.

Did Your Dating App Match Just Ask You for Money?

According to the FTC, if an online love interest asks you for money or someone you meet online rushes you to start a friendship or romance, those are red flags. If this happens to you, cut off contact, alert the app or platform right away, and then tell the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Love, Not Money

It isn’t enough to be aware of the signs of romance scams. It is your responsibility to educate and look out for your friends and family, too. If a loved one tells you they’ve been talking to someone new, help them navigate that new relationship by asking some probing questions:

• Have you met in person?
• Have they asked for money or gifts?
• Do the details of their online profile check out?

Even if you know how to avoid falling victim to romance scams, someone you know might be facing one. You might just be able to help them spot and avoid it. 

Valentine’s Day Safety Tips from Searchbug

It’s the job of the FTC to look out for consumer safety and uphold consumer rights. But we at Searchbug have some Valentine’s Day safety tips of our own.

With identity verification tools, it’s easy to spot a catfish or determine whether someone’s story is real or fake. For example, a people search can allow you to verify someone’s address history, phone number, and email address. Simply input the information you have for the individual, and see if the information on the report matches the information they’ve provided you.

You can also conduct a background check to verify someone’s identity. A background check will provide you with a list of current and previous address history as well as phone numbers. The report also includes public, civil and criminal records with matching social profiles and associated web links.

Make sure you know who you are dealing with especially before arranging to meet in person. Identity verification can out an imposter, but it can also protect you from someone trying to keep their past a secret. 

Conclusion

Tuck these Valentine’s Day safety tips safely next to your wallet, in your pocket or your purse. Now, you can confidently swipe right and have yourself a night to remember. Love is in the air, but your money shouldn’t be. Protect it like you protect your heart: don’t give it away to just anyone. 

If you have suspicions about a possible romance scam, you can report it to the FTC. You should also notify the social networking site or app where the scam originated. To file a complaint or get free information on consumer issues, visit ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. 

And remember to let Searchbug be your Valentine when it comes to identity verification.