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Half of all dating site users fall victim to scammers & spammers

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By John Glenday, Reporter

February 5, 2016 | 2 min read

Dating site users may be searching for love but they are just as likely to stumble upon a scammer or spammer as a life partner, according to new research conducted by security specialists Symantec.

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A total of 3,000 web daters were quizzed for the survey with 48 per cent of respondents in the UK, France and Germany reporting that they had personally received scam and spam messages with some even reporting that they had fallen victim to blackmail, revenge porn or had been duped into handing over cash.

Some 32 per cent of those polled said they had been asked for cash by online acquaintances whilst 28 per cent fell victim to people adopting false identities and fake images. A further 32 per cent suffered extortion from gangs threatening to publish compromising images they had sent and 11 per cent had seen explicit content of themselves posted online.

Nick Shaw, European head of Symantec's Norton division remarked: "When people go online looking for love and affection they may not be as vigilant as they might be elsewhere. They look for the good rather than the bad.

“There is a lot of money swilling around in the online dating world and criminals will always go where there is money.”

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