The ACCC is warning people to be on the lookout for scammers who are trying to con their victims into paying for scams with Apple iTunes gift cards.

During 2017 to date, reports to the ACCC’s Scamwatch show 1236 people lost nearly $540,000 to scammers using gift cards as payments.

This is a growing trend: in the 2015-16 financial year losses were about $480,000.

“Scammers are increasingly getting their victims to pay with iTunes gift cards as they can quickly on-sell them and pocket the money,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said.

“If someone asks you to pay for anything using an iTunes gift card, it is a scam. There are never any circumstances where a legitimate business or government department will ask for payment this way.”

Apple’s website clearly states iTunes gift cards can only be used to purchase goods and services on the iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store, or for an Apple Music membership.

Reports to Scamwatch show there are three common scam examples the ACCC is currently seeing where scammers are demanding iTunes gift cards as payment:

• Tax scams – the scammer pretends to be from the Australian Taxation Office and claim there is a warrant out for their victim’s arrest. If the victim doesn’t pay an immediate ‘fine’ using iTunes gift cards, the scammer claims police will come and handcuff them.
• Catch-a-hacker scam – scammers pretending to be Telstra will ask their victim to help them catch a ‘hacker’ who’s trying to get into their PC or smart devices. They’ll use this sham story to get the victim to buy iTunes cards as a ‘trap’ for catching the hacker. Unfortunately the scammer will quickly get the serial numbers for those gift cards and sell them before the victim realises they’ve been duped.
• Centrelink scams – the scammer pretends to be from Centrelink and tells their victim they’re entitled to an additional payment, such as for their pension, and that they need to pay a ‘release fee’ in iTunes gift cards to receive the payment.

The scammers will get their victims to travel to a business where iTunes gift cards are sold, such as a supermarket or department store, and get them to purchase amounts sometimes worth thousands of dollars.

Businesses that sell iTunes gift cards are encouraged to inform their staff about these scams so that they can help warn customers and even question any customers spending large amounts of money on iTunes gift cards.

“The scammers are very persistent once they have a victim hooked and will, for example, keep their victim on the phone while they’re in a store buying the gift cards. Once a victim has bought the card, the scammer will get them to quickly read the serial number on the back—it’s this information they use to then on-sell the gift card,” Ms Rickard said. 

“If you pay for a scammer’s con with iTunes gift cards it’s nearly impossible to get your money back. Don’t ever believe the scammer’s lies, no matter how convincing they sound—hang up on their calls and delete their emails immediately.”

People targeted by scammers asking for iTunes gift cards as payment can report the scam to Scamwatch.

Consumers are invited to follow @Scamwatch_gov on Twitter and subscribe to Scamwatch radar alerts to get up-to-date warnings.

ITunes because they are easy to

Payments via iTunes gift cards why does everyone want a itunes card on dating sites

The unfortunate truth is that too many people have been a part of a love story that never ends in a happily ever after. Some of the proof is in these online dating scam statistics.

Romance scams on the rise

Loneliness — especially during COVID-19 isolation periods — and the development of new technologies have contributed to the rise of romance scams in the past years.

1. About half of all romance scam reports to the FTC since 2019 involve social media, usually on Facebook or Instagram. In the first six months of 2020, victims reported a record high of losing almost $117 million to scams that started on social media. (FTC, October 2020)
2. Over 35,000 victims reported that social media was the medium or tool used to facilitate online crimes. (FBI, 2020 Internet Crime Report)
3. The number of romance scams people report to the FTC has nearly tripled since 2015. (FTC, February 2021)
4. In 2020, more than 32,000 consumers filed a report with the FTC about romance scams. (FTC, February 2021)
5. Nearly 24,000 people fell victim to confidence/romance scams in 2020. (FBI, 2020 Internet Crime Report)

The real price tags of online dating

Romance scams can affect your emotional wellbeing and sense of trust, and can also be costly and irreversible.

1. Total reported losses to romance scams were higher than any other scam reported to the FTC in 2020. (FTC, February 2021)
2. In 2020, people reported losing $304 million to romance scams. That’s nine times higher than it was five years prior, at $33 million in 2015. (FTC, February 2021)
3. In 2020, the median individual amount loss to a romance scam was reportedly $2,500. (FTC, February 2021)
4. In 2020, the median individual loss to a romance scam was ten times higher than the median loss across all other fraud types. (FTC, February 2021)
5. Romance scam was the top six riskiest scam in 2020. (BBB 2020 Scam Tracker Risk Report) 
6. Confidence/romance scams cost victims upward of $600 million in 2020, the second-highest internet crime loss. (FBI, 2020 Internet Crime Report)

Online dating scams and older adults

1. Dating scams can happen with people of all ages, but are especially risky to older adults.
2. Romance scams are riskiest to people in the 55 – 64 age group. (BBB 2020 Scam Tracker Risk Report) 
3. Older adults reportedly lost nearly $139 million in romance scams in 2020, followed by prizes, sweepstakes, and lottery scams at $69 million. (FTC 2020 - 2021 Protecting Older Consumers Report)  
4. In 2020, 68% of the dollars reported lost on romance scams by older adults were sent by wire transfer.(FTC 2020 - 2021 Protecting Older Consumers Report)
5. Bank transfers and payments sent in connection with romance scams accounted for about $31 million, nearly a third of the dollars older adults reported romance scam losses. (FTC 2020 - 2021 Protecting Older Consumers Report) Romance scammers reportedly took an additional $12 million total in cryptocurrency from older adults. (FTC 2020 - 2021 Protecting Older Consumers Report)

Who’s most susceptible to romance scams

Online dating scams happen all over the world, but certain demographics tend to be more susceptible.

1. Romance scams have a 45% susceptibility risk to their targets.  (BBB 2020 Scam Tracker Risk Report)
2. Women are more susceptible to romance scams than men. And following online purchase scams, romance scams are the second-riskiest scam type to women.  (BBB 2020 Scam Tracker Risk Report) 
3. Californians lost the most to dating scams in 2020 at $120 million. (FBI, 2020 State Report)
4. Californians were the most caught up in confidence/romance scams in 2020, with 3,110 people scammed. (FBI, 2020 State Report)

Stalkerware is trending up

The use stalkerware, a software that enables someone to monitor a person's device without their knowledge, is another facet of romance scams that’s on the rise.

1. 86% of adults are unaware of stalkerware or have only heard the name (2021 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report)
2. Around 42% of younger Americans from ages 18 – 39, who currently have a romantic partner, believe their partner is at least somewhat likely to download an application to monitor their activity. (2021 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report)
3. Three in five of Gen Z and Millennial Americans, aging from 18 – 39, have admitted to stalking an ex or current partner online. (2021 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report)
4. There was a 63% uptick in the number of devices infected with stalkerware, amounting to more than 250,000 compromised devices per month, between September 2020 and May 2021. (2021 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report)
5. Men are three times more likely than women to use invasive apps to spy on a significant other. (2021 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report)
6. More than one-third of Americans aging from 18 – 39 believe it is harmless to stalk a current or former
   partner online. (2021 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report)

Falling in love can be great. But before you let someone steal your heart online, keep these romance scam warning signs and online dating pointers top of mind.

After all, you don’t want your love story to end in a cybercrime — everyone deserves a happily ever after.

Cyber threats have evolved, and so have we.

Last November, we asked the question, “Why do scammers like iTunes gift cards so much?” While having the best Farmville farm was a far-out idea, one answer was surprisingly close: They’re buying their own apps. However, we were off on one detail: They aren’t buying apps, they’re creating apps. According to oneex-scammer, his company was spending the iTunes money on in-app purchases from apps they had developed. Scam companies partner up with app companies to take those stolen iTunes gift card funds and turn them into real money.

As far as schemes go, it’s pretty impressive. Who would’ve thought Candy Crush could be a poster child for fraud? While the apps they use aren’t mainstream like Candy Crush, it is still worrisome. As ofJune 2017, 180 BILLION apps had been downloaded from the App Store. Since the apps created seemingly adhere to the App Store guidelines, it’s nearly impossible to tell how many are helping benefit these fraudulent companies.

The scammers don’t even get the actual card – all they receive is the number from the back of the card to use. Even still, they could be selling those card numbers online at discount prices to consumers. This has become an increasingly popular way to buy gift cards. Instead of buying them at full price, many people sell unwanted gift cards online cheaper than the actual value of the cards. It seems like a good deal now, but you could be paying directly into the hands of a scammer. The only way to avoid that for certain is to buy directly from the iTunes store.

It’s not a surprise that scammers chose iTunes gift cards to center their scams around; they’re readily available in a variety of stores across the country. What is surprising is how they’ve figured out a way to launder that money through a seemingly legitimate source. Remember that companies will never accept “alternate” forms of cash as payment, so if the IRS has you heading to the closest 7-11 for an iTunes gift card, think twice about the legitimacy of the call.

Download PrivacyStar for iOS or Android to block known scammers for free.

Cybercriminals offer dating scam letters with guaranteed return: Internet Scambusters #708

Dating scam packages that include letter templates and call centers staffed by bogus lonely-hearts are being sold to con artists who are told they can clear $2,000 a week in ill-gotten gains.

In this week's issue we'll explain how this scam operates and how to avoid being tricked. Plus, we have details on other dating con tricks.

And we'll tell you why you should never agree to pay the IRS with iTunes gift cards!

Let's get started.

Clever Dating Scam Kits Sold Online

What's love worth? Apparently, it's about $2,000 a week if you're a dating scam artist.

And you don't have to do a lot to get those dollars flowing because all of the bogus messages and email addresses are already prepared for you if you subscribe to a Russian crime syndicate.

According to Internet security specialist and blogger Brian Krebs, Russian cybercriminals have compiled a dating scam package that's packed with English language templates that tricksters can pick and choose from as they lead their victims along.

It even includes photographs of attractive women that users can personalize with romantic messages.

Many of them start by suggesting the writer has seen the victim's profile online so they're writing on spec to see if the person is interested in a relationship.

Krebs says the scammer usually poses as a Russian girl, although the email package also includes a fake message from the girl's mother supporting the relationship.

The templates include multiple-choice comments and replies that the scammer can just delete or include according to how the relationship develops.

Of course, at some point, the scammer asks for money using emails that even tells the victims how to raise cash if they're broke. The storyline is usually that the "girlfriend" is in trouble and needs money urgently.

"The romance scam package urges customers to send at least a dozen emails to establish a rapport and relationship before even mentioning the subject of traveling to meet the target," Krebs writes.

"It is in this critical, final part of the scam that the fraudster is encouraged to take advantage of criminal call centers that staff women who can be hired to play the part of the damsel in distress."

And the payoff?

Supposedly, itunes card scams on dating sites, the dating scam package includes a guaranteed 1.2% response rate from spam victims, netting an average $2,000 a week.

This is a very sophisticated scam. The perpetrators even predict that if users can keep victims going for eight consecutive messages, they have a 60% chance of success.

Needless to say, the real message is very clear: Unsolicited emails proposing some sort of romantic relationship are nearly always scams. If you get one, trash it.

Faith-Based Scams

Sadly, so many of today's dating scams target older folk, many of whom are single or widowed and just plain itunes card scams on dating sites the aim is to get them to hand over money -- and lots of it. In one case recently reported in Canada, a female victim handed over $100,000 before realizing she had been conned.

A particular sneaky trick is to use religious faiths as a cover for a scam.

Victims are more easily convinced that a would-be date is genuine if the crook claims to belong to the same faith as their victim.

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) reports that tricksters are targeting faith-based dating sites like BigChurch, ChristianMingle and JDate.

"People are itunes card scams on dating sites likely itunes card scams on dating sites fall for scams on sites like these because they can't believe somebody of their own faith is a con artist," says AARP's Jane Margesson.

The organization advises members to research the person they're thinking of dating, checking them out on Google and people-info sites like Spokeo. You might even view the individual's supposed address on a map site like Google Maps.

If you don't get a hit, that's a red flag, itunes card scams on dating sites, says AARP -- and "keep in mind that people who are legitimately looking for love won't ask for money (unless they're your kids)."

Tricked into Muling

However, there is one dating fraud where victims may not be asked for money. Instead, they become unwitting third parties -- "mules" -- in handling stolen goods.

The scam starts out seemingly innocuously, with the exchange of romantic messages via a popular dating site.

After the scammer has built up the confidence of his victim, he asks her (and it is usually a woman) to receive packages on his behalf and send them overseas to where the man is supposedly traveling.

In one case -- reported from Australia -- the victim discovered that the items were actually being bought with a credit card that had been taken out in her name.

A Consumer Protection spokesperson was quoted on Australian television as saying that this sort of scam was relatively new.

"With the general romance scams, you'll quite often find that they're asking for money," she said.

"So it seems to be a concerning turn in relation to how scams are being operated.

"(They're) moving away from taking the money from the victims, and encouraging them to become a mule in the middle of their (criminal) ring to send the stolen items overseas."

So, be warned. If you're involved in an online relationship in which you're asked to send packages to another address, especially overseas, just say "no."

Alert of the Week

Buying music and movies on iTunes may be enjoyable. And so is buying iTunes gift cards for people you love.

But nobody -- except scammers -- seriously suggests these cards can be used itunes card scams on dating sites a form of currency to pay an official.

So when you get a request to clear an unpaid IRS tax bill (or any other bill for that matter) by buying and sending iTunes gift card numbers, itunes card scams on dating sites, you know it's a scam.

That's all for today -- we'll see you next week.

Apple is being sued for allegedly refusing to help those who have fallen victim to a iTunes gift card scam. An 11-count class action lawsuit has been filed against the company.

Apple is itunes card scams on dating sites of lying when it says that there is no way to trace or refund the value of the cards …

There are a large number of scams which involve pre-paid gift cards like store cards and iTunes gift cards. Here’s how the FTC describes them.

Anyone who demands payment by gift card is always a scammer.

Many different kinds of imposters ask you to pay with gift cards. Someone might call you and claim to be from the IRS, collecting back taxes or fines. The caller might say he’s from tech support, asking for money to fix your computer. The caller might even say she’s a family member with an emergency and needs money right now.

But they all have in common an urgent need for you to send money right away […] Once you buy the card, the caller then will demand the gift card number and PIN on the back of the card. Those numbers let them immediately get the money you loaded onto the card. And once they’ve done that, the scammers and your money are gone, usually without a trace.

With itunes card scams on dating sites cards, the scammers usually buy high-value products like laptops and smartphones, which are then sold. iTunes gift card scams usually work in a slightly different way, typically being used to buy paid apps owned by the scammers, so they receive 70% of the money when paid by Apple.

The lawsuit says that Apple tells scam victims there is nothing that can be done once the money has been spent, but argues that this isn’t true. In fact, Apple holds 100% of the funds for a period of 4-6 weeks, between the apps being purchased and Apple paying the developer. During this time, the company is in a position to refund 100% of the card value.

Additionally, Apple takes a 30% commission, so would always be in a position to refund this much, even after the scammer has been paid.

As Patently Apple notes, iTunes gift card scams are big business.

The overwhelming majority of victims do not report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”). Yet even the limited iTunes gift card scams reported to the FTC during 2015-2019 exceed $93.5 million, with the dollar amounts increasing significantly each year. These publicly reported dollar amounts include the losses of only the subset of victims who fill out a detailed online FTC form asking for their personal information. As a result, this $93.5 million figure appears to be only the tip of the iceberg.

Even if only 10% of scam victims report to the FTC (versus local police, attorney general offices, Apple, or nobody at all), the iTunes gift card scam would approach $1 billion, with Apple retaining $300 million in commissions.

Many scam victims are elders, so three of the eleven counts accuse Apple of being in violation of laws designed to protect elderly people from financial abuse.

Photo: Sam’s Club

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.

Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

Kate Kleinert never imagined she would ever rush to a store to buy gift cards to fix somebody else's string of problems.

First, there was the young teen who lost her mother a few years ago, found herself in a boarding school in London and needed motherly assistance — and a $100 gift card — as she developed into a woman.

Then, the teen's father Tony needed to hire a lawyer — and get itunes card scams on dating sites of several thousand dollars — to get out of a work contract overseas so that he could return to the United States to be with Kate.

Kleinert is a kind, compassionate woman, and generally skeptical. She never imagined she'd feel an emotional spark like she did last summer when Tony sent her a friend request on Facebook during the pandemic.

"Normally, I don't reply to those but there was something about him that spoke to me," said Kleinert, 68, a retired executive secretary whose husband died in 2009 at their home in Glenolden, Pa., outside Philadelphia. 

Tony always seemed to know how to say the right things.

He gave her access to see his Bank of America online account, for example, to prove that he could be trusted and he'd pay her back soon. She saw that he had dating arab women france than $2 million sitting there in the bank. He just itunes card scams on dating sites her to help him deal with a payment while he was overseas. 

She thought she was managing OK after being a widow for 11 years. She had been married a long time, though, and missed her husband. Tony seemed like the real deal.

Her husband Bernard was a Teamsters Local 500 shop steward, according to his obituary online, worked as a tractor trailer driver and also drove a school bus where he knew the names and stories of each child on his bus.

The couple enjoyed online dating is dying rescue collies. They had been married 26 years. They never had children. 

She soon thought that the man who called himself "Tony Richard" — pronounced as ri-Shard — was itunes card scams on dating sites second chance for happiness, itunes card scams on dating sites. He was in Iraq, working for the United Nations as a surgeon. They soon began talking on the Hangouts App. 

Tony was handsome, spoke with a French accent, often was able to talk with her four or five times a day, and told her loving things, like: "I woke up this morning and I missed you." 

All the time, of course, there was another reason to send a gift card. 

Scammers want your money on a gift card

Federal Trade Commission data indicates that consumers have reported spending nearly $245 million on gift cards that they used online dating texting too much payment to scammers from January 2018 through September 2020. 

It happens for many reasons:IRS and Social Security impersonation scams. Scams where someone pretends to be a grandchild or other family member or friend in need. Tech support scams. Romance scams. An email from someone pretending to be your boss or minister who needs you to buy gift cards. 

Individuals can lose several hundred — or even several thousand — dollars. The median loss by individuals was $820 from January 2018 through September 2020, according to an FTC analysis. 

Kathy Stokes, AARP's director of fraud prevention programs, said the scammers have a winning formula for getting someone into a heightened emotional state. Professional con artists often refer to getting the victim under the ether.

When you're in this fog, you might not question why a Best Buy gift card can be used to pay a tax obligation to keep you out of jail or itunes card scams on dating sites you land a loan to cover bills. 

kim young kwang dating and demands for a variety of gift cards. File photo: A Ypsilanti woman who was shopping for a loan online is pictured holding some of the Best Buy gift cards she bought in 2018. She lost thousands of dollars to scammers in a loan-related scam.">

"Once they have somebody under the ether, they can pretty much convince them of anything," Stokes said.

"These are sophisticated criminal enterprises. It's not one against one. It's one against thousands." 

The crooks learn a bit about you in advance, itunes card scams on dating sites, often doing some research online, seem legitimate and can be extremely persuasive. 

After all the scam warnings, one might be amazed that anyone would go out and put hundreds or thousands of dollars on gift cards for strangers.

But the demand for gift cards continues to build, enough so that the AARP has launched a special campaign designed to crack down on Gift Card Payment Scams, including information at its web site, www.aarp.org/giftcards. 

Consumers also can call the AARP Fraud Watch Network at 877-908-3360. 

Stokes wants to work with retailers to test intervention strategies at the store to stop consumers from losing their money buying gift cards for crooks.

It's not enough to post signs that warn of potential gift card scams. Perhaps, she says, a video could be created to help store clerks understand the signs of a consumer under stress who is under the scammer's ether.

Consumers who are buying gift cards for a scammer might be overly anxious, appear worried or look scared, Stokes said. 

Sometimes, scammers will convince consumers that the gift cards, like Google Play, Steam, or eBay, can be used as electronic vouchers to pay bills or taxes. Or maybe the phony story involves using the gift cards to cover costs before collecting a sweepstakes prize. 

"If victims ask questions about why gift cards are being used for payment, scammers invent a plausible excuse, such as that the government has recently entered a contract with a gift card company to handle transactions," according to a Better Business Bureau alert. 

More:Roku setup, activation scam doesn't include cold calls, bogus links: What to know

One quarter of U.S. adults are unaware that gift cards are used as a form of payment in scams, according to an AARP survey. 

Stokes said scammers want payment via gift cards because the money ends up being virtually untraceable. 

"They're digitally able to drain dating in non-exclusive relationship card's value right then and there," Stokes said. 

Con artists can use the itunes card scams on dating sites card numbers and codes to buy expensive merchandise to later resell or they could trade the card value for cash or cryptocurrency, according to an online alert from Kroger. 

"In the case of Google Play and other online platforms, it is easy for the scammers to sell free no membership casual sex dating spokane gift card code in an online marketplace and disguise their stolen product among standard discounted gift cards," according to the Kroger alert. 

The BBB notes: "Providing the numbers from the back of a gift card is just like sending cash. Whether victims give the numbers over the phone or text a photo of the back of the card, they are essentially handing money to scammers, who may quickly drop the funds into foreign bank accounts. It’s nearly impossible to get the money back because gift cards online dating abd weight not have the same protections as credit or debit cards."

Gift cards are the among the most common ways that scammers get their money from consumers. Gift cards have topped the list of reported fraud payment methods every year since 2018, according to an analysis by the Federal Trade Commission.

The Better Business Bureau has proposed more education and consumer protection relating to gift card sales. One recommendation includes imposing a waiting period between when cards are purchased and when they can be used, at least for online purchases.

"Once the immediate pressure from the scammer is relieved, victims often recognize it is a scam and thus, with a bit more time, could try to stop the transaction," the BBB stated.

About one in four people who told the FTC that they lost money to fraud said they paid with a gift card. That's based reports itunes card scams on dating sites January 2018 through September 2020.

How a Troy woman lost nearly $10,000

Many times, the scammers are pretending to be someone in authority. Nearly half of people who reported handing over money to someone posing as a government agency or official said they paid with a gift card, according to the FTC. 

More:Social Security scammers now text pictures of phony badges

In March, a Troy woman got caught up in buying gift cards over a five hour period after receiving a call from a scammer who identified himself as Drug Enforcement Agency Officer “Watson.”

The con artist claimed that the woman's Social Security number was compromised and used in Texas. And somehow she was a suspect in a drug transfer from Mexico and she was being charged with a felony.

She needed to take money out of the bank and buy gift cards to fix her legal problems. As scammers played into her fears, itunes card scams on dating sites, she withdrew itunes card scams on dating sites of dollars from her bank account and used that money to buy numerous gift cards and Green Dot prepaid cards from several businesses. 

The caller itunes card scams on dating sites on the line with her the entire time she was buying the gift cards. 

Troy Sgt. Jason Clark said the victim was instructed to travel to various stores to buy the gift cards, including 7-Eleven, Kroger, CVS and Meijer. 

"Criminals have learned that if the gift card purchase from one location is too high, itunes card scams on dating sites, the cashier might question the sale," Clark said. 

She lost $9,047.60 to the scam on March 17, according to the Troy Police Department. 

More:South Haven model shows a different side of romance scams

Clark said most of these calls originate outside of the United States, and two of the numbers in this case were from Canada. 

"This makes it very difficult for local law enforcement agencies to complete any international follow up," he said. 

"Unfortunately we were unable to get any money back or charge anyone criminally," he said, noting that Troy police contacted the woman four times after her initial report. 

"The criminals attempted to contact our victim for about a week after the initial crime, but then the calls completely stopped after we were able to assist her with identity theft controls," Clark said. 

"The scammers are very good and very convincing."

Increasingly, consumer watchdogs warn, scammers are demanding that victims stay on the phone as long as possible while consumers head to the bank or the grocery store to buy those gift cards. 

Scammers are telling their victims that that if they hang up, they're likely to be arrested immediately or have their accounts seized. 

More:New scam demands victims stay on the phone: Here's how it works

Even skeptical consumers can become victims because scammers seem to have an answer for everything. 

Gift card payment requests must be treated as a huge red flag for a scam.

Stokes said if anyone contacts you and demands money on a gift card, you should immediately hang up or stop communicating with that person. 

How one woman lost $39,000

"God help me and anybody else I meet later who asks me for a quarter," says Kleinert. 

Kleinert — who plans to share her story in public speeches to senior groups and others — ended up losing $39,000 after about six months of conversations with Tony. 

Tony mostly asked her to put money on American Express gift cards, which she bought at several stores. She remembers seeing a warning at a cash register about gift cards being used in scams but she thought that Tony was a friend, not a stranger. 

She then often took photos of the numbers on the back of the gift cards and sent a picture to Tony. 

Once he asked her to send him $15,000 via Bitcoin for legal maneuvers needed to bring him back to the United States. She took the money out of her 401(k) and Tony walked her through how to send the money via Bitcoin. 

"He was going to pay me back the minute he got to Philadelphia," she said.

The plan was for him to arrive in time for Christmas. She had a bottle of champagne ready. They had even talked about buying a house together.

More:New tax refund scam targets college students, professors with .edu email addresses

She never got the call to pick him up at the airport. She only got a call supposedly from his lawyer who said that Tony needed another $20,000 for bail money after the FBI picked him up on his way back into the United States. It was all some sort of mistake, according itunes card scams on dating sites the man who claimed to be an attorney. 

She didn't send a dime. 

"He had cleaned me out by then. I didn't have two cents," Kleinert said. 

She had also used her credit cards to the max, ringing up $22,000 in credit card debt, to cover her own bills as her savings dwindled. 

Sure, she talked to Tony while he was supposedly in jail in the United States. He tried to talk her into borrowing money from family members or friends. He called five or six times a day. She didn't understand how he could call that often while incarcerated. 

She offered to come visit him in jail in Pennsylvania. But soon she was told he was transferred to Oklahoma. Oklahoma? 

"That made no sense either," she said. "The stories started to unravel." 

"If anyone asked me if I would fall for this, I would say absolutely not," she said.

But Tony was quite good at his day job. So good that now Tony appears to have sent a friend request to one of Kleinert's friends after Kleinert ended the relationship and stopped buying gift cards. 

"Who knows who the pictures are really of," she told me in a phone interview. 

The man in the photo looks more like a dream date than anything else. So I asked SocialCatfish.com to take a look at the photos that Kleinert sent me.

The photos that Tony Richard shared with Kleinert appear to be stolen from an Instagram account of a plastic surgeon in Columbia, according to SocialCatfish.com, which helps verify information like images, email addresses, phone numbers and online profiles.

If Tony isn't the plastic surgeon SocialCatfish.com found, he sure could behis body double. 

Things never stop at a nice picture, of course. The gift cards can only start flowing after serious work at building trust and a relationship. 

"He just immersed himself in my life until I was comfortable enough to send him this money,"  Kleinert said. 

He knew just how much she longed for family and a chance to build a new life. He'd ask about her dog. His children started writing her and wanted to call her Mom. 

"I never realized how much I missed being loved." 

ContactSusan Tompor via stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter@tompor. To subscribe, please go to freep.com/specialoffer. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.

A well-meaning church congregation in Nebraska was duped out of money after receiving an email from their pastor requesting iTunes Gift Cards for a parishioner with cancer.

“Buy an Apple free no vip dating apk card for somebody that can’t for somebody in the hospital dying of cancer,” Thomas Bauwens, a pastor at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church, wrote in the email.

And church goers responded.

“I know that there are two people that bought cards for $400, one for $300. I know there are a couple 200 and at least one $100 card,” Bauwens told WOWT.

The problem: Bauwens never wrote the email asking for the iTunes Gift Cards. It was a scammer.

“Several of my parishioners because they are very generous people, thought it was really me asking for the money from them,” he told the news station.

Unfortunately, itunes card scams on dating sites, the iTunes Gift Card scam is common ruse, and once the scammers get the code on the back of the card they’re gone.

But why is it an iTunes Gift Card scam instead of something else, like actual cash?

Why the iTunes Gift Card scam is so common

Thousands of people have been scammed out of their hard-earned money thanks to iTunes Gift Card Scams. The FBI reportedly receives more than 800 complains a day about the scam — and people lost more than $1.3 billion in 2016 to the iTunes Gift Card scam.

That’s a lot of cash.

The reason why scammers ask for iTunes Gift Cards is simple: The codes are hard to trace — and once they have it they can resell to get money. They use a variety of ways to coerce money out of victims: They might say there’s a warrant out for the victim’s arrest for IRS debt, or a love interest might need money abroad.

Either way, that money is gone.

The popularity of the iTunes Gift Card scam coincided with the decline of money order scams. Before, scammers would ask people to send money via Western Union or other wire transfer providers. However, employees of these companies — and even the company’s software —  are now better trained to spot and shut down scams before a victim even sends the money.

And Western Union was targeted by the government for letting this happen for years.

“American consumers lost money while Western Union looked the other way,” FTC Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen said last year. “We’re pleased to start the process that will get that money back into consumers’ rightful hands.”

The company agreed to pay a $576 million settlement to repay victims of scams who send money through Western Union between 2004 and 2017. And to top it off, scammers found a way to target people receiving the settlements by posing as representatives of Western Union.

How to stop an iTunes Gift Card scam

There’s currently no way to prevent the iTunes Gift Card scams, though Apple does have a warning on its website.

“I think that I thought I would itunes card scams on dating sites a little more help when it came from Apple, especially considering this is a known problem and I am a little surprised to know that they pretty much offer you no type of option,” Terrence Clark of Capital Heights, Maryland told ABC7. He was a victim of an iTunes Gift Cards scam and sent money he thought was intended for his niece.

Until they find a way to fix the iTunes Gift Card scam, people just need to use common sense when dealing with people online — and never take someone at their word. Always confirm with the company before sending money — and no love interest is going to ask for money to come visit you.

ITunes because they are easy to

Payments via iTunes gift cards why does everyone want a itunes card on dating sites

Last November, we asked the question, itunes card scams on dating sites, “Why do scammers like iTunes gift cards so much?” While having the best Farmville farm was a far-out idea, one answer was surprisingly close: They’re buying their own apps. However, we were off on one detail: They aren’t buying apps, they’re creating apps. According to oneex-scammer, his company was spending the iTunes money on in-app purchases from apps they had developed. Scam companies partner up sex before relationship dating app companies to take those stolen iTunes gift card funds and turn them into real money.

As far as schemes go, it’s pretty impressive. Who would’ve thought Candy Crush could be a poster child for fraud? While the apps they use aren’t mainstream like Candy Crush, it is still worrisome. As ofJune 2017, 180 BILLION apps had been downloaded from the App Store. Since the apps created seemingly adhere to the App Store guidelines, it’s nearly impossible to tell how many are helping benefit these fraudulent companies.

The scammers don’t even get the actual card – all they receive is the number from the back of the card to use. Even still, they could be selling those card numbers online at discount prices to consumers. This has become an increasingly popular way to buy gift cards. Instead of buying them at full price, many people sell unwanted gift cards online cheaper than the actual value of the cards. It seems like a good deal now, but you could be paying directly into the hands of a scammer. The only way to avoid that for certain is to buy directly from the iTunes store.

It’s not a surprise that scammers chose iTunes gift cards to center their scams around; they’re readily available in a variety of stores across the country. What is surprising is how they’ve figured out a way to launder that money through a seemingly legitimate source. Remember that companies will never accept “alternate” forms of cash as payment, so if women beware online dating scams IRS has you heading to the closest 7-11 for an iTunes gift card, think twice about the legitimacy of the call.

Download PrivacyStar for iOS or Android to block known scammers for free.