情人节谨防“浪漫诈骗”  去年2.1万美国人被骗1.43亿美元 Americans Lost $143 Million In Online Relationship Scams Last Year

前段时间，杭州一位痴情小伙不忍女网友误入歧途，掏出34万帮她，最终发现自己才是那个误入歧途的人。

情人节来临之际，美国联邦贸易委员会发布报告说，2018年有逾2.1万美国人成为“浪漫诈骗”受害者，被骗总金额达1.43亿美元。

我们也借用这篇报道给各位一不小心就会被爱情冲昏头脑的亲们提个醒。

The Federal Trade Commission is celebrating Valentine's Day by reminding people to not get scammed when looking for love.

情人节来临之际，美国联邦贸易委员会提醒人们说，在寻找爱情时谨防上当受骗。

The agency received more than 21,000 reports about romance scams in 2018, with total reported losses of $143 million.

该委员会在2018年收到了超过2.1万名“浪漫诈骗”受害者的报告，被骗总金额达1.43亿美元（约合人民币9.66亿元）。

Of those who said they lost money in a romance scam, the median amount lost was $2,600 — seven times more than the median loss for other types of frauds tracked by the FTC.

“浪漫诈骗”受害者所受损失的中位数是2600美元，是该委员会所追踪的其他类型欺诈行为造成损失中位数的7倍。

Romance scammers often use online dating sites and create fake profiles or use a real person's identity, the FTC says. Scammers also cultivate targets on Facebook and social media sites not specifically designed for dating.

该委员会表示，浪漫诈骗者常使用约会网站，创建虚假个人档案，或者使用某人的真实身份。这些诈骗者还在脸书和其他非约会类社交媒体网站上培养目标。

Fraudsters may say they can't meet in person because they're serving in the military abroad.

诈骗者通常说因为他们在国外服役，无法与被害人见面。

Once a scammer is able to start an online relationship, requests for money will follow. Common requests are for money to cover travel expenses or a medical procedure.

受害者“上钩”后，诈骗者就开始索要钱财，常见的理由是需要旅行费用或就医。

The number of reported romance scams has been going up — 8,500 in 2015, 11,000 in 2016 and almost 17,000 in 2017, the FTC says.

该委员会表示，“浪漫诈骗”类案件数量一直在上升，2015年8500起，2016年1.1万起，2017年则上升到近1.7万起。

People between the ages of 40 and 69 said they lost money at the highest rates among the different age groups. But people 70 and older lost the most money individually — about $10,000 was the median amount, the FTC says.

该委员会表示，在不同年龄群体中，40岁到69岁的人受骗比例最高。但从个人损失来看，70岁及以上的人受损最多，中位数大约1万美元。

The AARP said 4 percent of US adults who responded to a survey said they were victims of an online relationship scam.

美国退休者协会说，4%的受访美国成年人称他们是网络“浪漫诈骗”的受害者。

Romantic scams are a subcategory of what the FTC classifies as "imposter scams," which include people posing as the government, businesses or tech support services. Almost 348,000 imposter scams were reported to the FTC in 2017. Americans lost $328 million to imposter scams that year.

美国联邦贸易委员会将“浪漫诈骗”归为“冒名顶替骗局”的一种，谎称自己来自政府机构、商业公司或科技支持服务部门等行为都属于“冒名顶替骗局”。2017年，该委员会共收到近34.8万件“冒名顶替骗局”报告，当年美国人因此共损失3.28亿美元。

subcategory[sʌb'kætɪ,ɡɔri]：n.子范畴；亚类

imposter [ɪm'pɒstə]：n.骗子；冒名顶替者

Most of the people who paid scammers told the FTC they wired money or sent money via gift cards.

多数受害者告诉该委员会说，他们通过转账或寄送礼品卡的形式给骗子转钱。

The FTC advises Americans to not give money to people they haven't met in person and to look for inconsistency in answers to questions. Try doing an image search using the person's profile pictures.

该委员会建议美国民众不要给从未谋面的网络恋人赠予钱财，还要留意他们回答问题是否前后一致，最好试着在网上搜索一下此人的个人资料图片。

那么如何避免掉入“网络诈骗”的温柔陷阱呢？一起来看看下面几招。

Watch for Email Discrepancies

仔细观察邮件差异

什么样的邮件需要你高度警惕？

Communication is vague, difficult to understand or is repeated.

交流沟通模糊不清，很难理解，或前后重复。

Immediate (within 15 minutes) responses are received every time you send a message, with no discussion beforehand as to when you'll be online.

每次你一发送邮件就立即收到回复（15分钟内），之前没有讨论过你何时在线。

Email messages change in tone, language, style or grammar throughout the communication. This could evolve over time, or it could be apparent in just one email.

邮件沟通中，对方的语气、语言、风格或语法变来变去。可能你通过多次邮件联系才会发觉，也可能在一封邮件中就很明显。

A sob story is shared early on that changes quickly from an annoyance into an emergency, and only you can help.

很早就告诉了你一个悲伤的故事，很快从烦恼变为紧急的事，而且只有你能帮上忙。

Look for Appropriate Responses

回复是否恰当

Where the danger lies, however, is not their interest in you as a person, but rather that they don't offer any detailed, personal information about themselves in return, or doesn't really answer your emails in a personal manner but rather changes the topic with each contact.

危险之处不在于对方是否对你个人感兴趣，而在于他们并不向你介绍详尽的个人信息，或者回复邮件时并不个性化，而是每次都改变主题。

Being Asked for Money And/Or to Cash a Check

被人索要钱财或兑付支票

If somebody asks you to wire them cash online - no matter what the reason, no matter how plausible or sad it sounds - don't.

如果有人让你网上转账，不管什么理由、不管听上去多么可信或悲伤，都不要转。

Unrealistic or Fake Photos

不切实际或虚假的照片

Although cliche, the saying holds true for internet dating scams: if the person's photo looks too good to be true, that's because it probably is.

听上去像是陈词滥调，但这条建议对网络浪漫诈骗来说是千真万确的：如果对方的照片看上去好得令人难以置信，那是因为它原本就是假的。

cliche['kli:ʃei]：n.陈词滥调

情人节快乐！

英文来源：NPR、liveabout

翻译&编辑：yaning