Racy liaisons arranged on social media may not eventuate into anything other than drained bank accounts and embarrassed victims. Victims of the sleazy scam are unlikely to get much sympathy - but the broader misuse of PayPal by con artists has concerned some experts. Some Snapchat scammers are demanding gift cards in exchange for sex but have no intention of engaging in amorous antics and may not even live in the same country as the targets.
A Snapchat user approached an Auckland man recently and struck up a conversation with him. According to screenshots of the exchange, the person appeared to be an attractive woman and asked for his location.
He said he lived in Auckland, and then the Snapchat user claimed to be in the same city. That answer made the man suspicious, and then he was sent nude photos and videos and his new Snapchat friend claimed to be an escort.
Apart from fake escort scams, broader misuse of PayPal has raised concerns. This could include looking at reviews of the business online or asking for some form of verification, a Cert NZ spokesman added.
But by then it was often too late to retrieve funds. A more sinister version of the scam, reported to be on the rise in the US recently, involved scammers targeting teenagers. CBS News said scammers posed as women, approached teens, and eventually asked for nude photos, demanding the target show their face in the photos.
