情人劫:每3小時就發生一起約會詐騙案

One incident of dating fraud is now being reported around every three hours, according to an initiative warning of the dangers of con artists preying on people looking for romance.

據一份報案報告統計，英國平均每3小時就會發生一起約會詐騙的報案。報告提醒人們，騙子會對那些渴望愛情的人下手。

Around seven reports of dating fraud on average are received every day by Action Fraud, the national fraud reporting service, equating to around one every three hours.

英國防詐騙行動處表示，日均會接到約7宗報案，相當於每3小時發生一起。

Typically, victims will make their first transfer of money to the fraudster within a month of contact. The average victim of dating fraud loses ?10,000 according to the findings released ahead of Valentine's Day on Tuesday.

通常，受害者會在相識不足一個月就給詐騙分子轉第一筆錢。在週二情人節前夕發佈的報告顯示，人均被騙金額高達1萬英鎊。

The figures were released as Victim Support, Age UK, the City of London Police, London Metropolitan Police and Get Safe Online said they would work in partnership with the Online Dating Association in efforts to better understand how fraudsters operate and reduce the number of people falling victim to dating fraud.

這些數據發佈時，受害者協會、英國老年協會、倫敦市警察局、倫敦大都會警察局和安全上網俱樂部等多個組織表示將會聯手合作，與網上交友平臺一起努力揭露騙子是如何作案的，以此減少上當受騙的人數。

Tips for people using dating websites and apps using the hashtag #datesafe will be shared online.

他們在網上發起了#安全約會#的話題，與人們分享安全使用約會網站和app的技巧。

Tony Neate, CEO of Get Safe Online, said that while many couples do meet online, the problem of cyber criminals targeting people for significant financial gain is growing.

"安全上網"負責人託尼·尼特說，隨着更多情侶在網上約會，以騙取大量錢財爲目的網絡犯罪與日俱增。

He said: "?10,000 is a staggering amount for the average online dater to lose to a fraudster who they've been led to believe is the real deal. It's not just the financial loss though; dating fraud can have a huge emotional impact on a victim too."

他說："由於被騙子誤導，受害者以爲在做真實的交易，每人平均丟失的1萬英鎊是個驚人的數字。而這不僅是財務上的損失，受害者還會承受巨大的情感創傷。"

He said in some cases, people had lost everything - including their savings and their homes.

"在一些案件中有人失去了一切，包括存款和房子。"

Mr Neate said: "Anyone who has fallen in love knows how easy it is to get swept up in the romance of it all and let their heart rule their head, so we're urging people to take a little caution when meeting someone new online."

"任何一個陷入過情網的人都知道，在戀愛時多麼容易被浪漫衝昏頭腦，失去理智，所以我們敦促人們在網上認識新人時都得謹慎一點。"

Commander Chris Greany, City of London Police and national coordinator for economic crime said: "These crimes destroy lives and the emotional damage often far outweighs the financial loss.

倫敦市的警官員和國家經濟犯罪協調員克里斯·格里尼說，"此類犯罪毀掉了很多人的生活，心理創傷往往遠大於金錢損失。"

"Never give money to people you meet online, no matter what emotional sob story the person uses."

"永遠不要給你在網上結識的人匯錢，不管這個人講的故事多麼令人傷感。"

Those behind the initiative said that across 2016, nearly ?40m was lost through dating fraud. This is believed to be the tip of the iceberg, as many victims are thought to be too embarrassed to report what has happened.

報告稱2016年中，將近4000萬英鎊被約會詐騙分子收入囊中。據信這只是冰山一角，因爲很多人羞於報案。

Andrew McClelland, chief executive of the Online Dating Association said fraudsters will often try to move victims away from online dating services as soon as they can, "so we encourage users to continue communicating via the dating service which helps dating providers to detect fraudulent behaviour".

安德魯·麥克萊蘭德，網上交友協會的首席執行官說，通常詐騙分子會試圖儘快讓受害者從在線交友服務上下線，"所以我們鼓勵用戶先在約會服務平臺上保持交流，有助於平臺運營者識別出騙子行爲。"