How Much Money Do New Yorkers Lose By Online Dating Scams?
Online dating websites and apps are absolutely everywhere. It makes sense considering New Yorkers work an average of over 40 hours a week. Sometimes you just don't have the time to socialize in person, so you do it online.
According to eHarmony, there are around 40 million Americans, ranging from young to old, using online dating websites. According to the numbers gathered at Cloudwards, nearly 14% of online daters get married to someone they met on a dating site or app.
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But with such an increase in presence in online dating, comes the risk of scams. Does the person you're talking to at some hookup site sound too good to be true?
How Much Money Were New Yorkers Scammed Last Year?
According to the experts, New Yorkers lost a lot of money to online dating scams in 2022. But as bad as the numbers may look, last year's losses weren't nearly as bad as the year before. NBC reported the numbers from a study from the online investigative service Social Catfish, and it says New York had 823 people fall victim to a romance scam in 2022, losing a total of $33.5 million.
The numbers from 2021 were even worse, with the state losing $57.6 million. This could mean that more people are becoming conscious and aware of online scams. Also, you must consider that perhaps more people were using online dating sites in 2021 with a lot of COVID restrictions still in place.
According to Social Catfish, New York was 4th in the country for lose of money through romantic scams. Florida ranked 1st overall, losing $53.4 million dollars in 2022 through dating websites and apps.