I've not known any victims personally nor been the target of an attempt, but it is all too common and will continue until the owners of the social-media sites used find the courage and morality to do something about it rather than just bleating about "taking down content" [sic].

a) Block the senders for life. (I realise the crooks will just use alternative names and URLs but eventually should learn any such attempts will always be met by a ban.),

b) Inform the victims and with their permission, their banks. (Sometimes banks will spot an uncharacteristic run of transfers and ask the customer about them, but there is little else they can do if the customer has freely given his or her money away.)

c) Pass the senders' identities to the appropriate authorities.

d) Make all posts show the country of origin, with an option for the user to block that wholesale.

e) Close all dating sites unless and until verified as bona-fide, and then verify the bona-fide of advertisers, and immediately and permanently ban any found to be demanding money.

Posts can be traced. An English First-Division footballer was the victim of racist abuse on-line which he thought was from a neighbour. The culprit was traced to Singapore where he was fined heavily. He did apologise, and added something that seems common among Internet bullies; their little digital world is so remote and hermetic from real life that they find it hard to believe they are abusing a real person with real feelings.

Anytime money is mentioned..nope

My uncle is law is in one and he just keeps sending 'her' all his money. lol

Yes, poor old guy is still waiting on his Russian bride to show up🤦‍♂️
Can't believe people fall for that stuff

I needed to research that to understand what it meant. No I have not, and don't think I can ever fall for that. I have a hunch for the goodness in people, even online.

No, I’d never fall for it. 😞 so sad people do though.

I get many trying, especially on other sites.

nope. the minute money comes up, i head out the door.

no, but I would sort of like to....

Thankfully I've never known someone to be scammed, but I know a lot of women who've been played, over the years, some repeatedly. The emotional pain might sometimes be harder to overcome than financial loss. Money can be re-earned, after all.

I know someone who sends money to some Army soldier that stationed out in california.

People get lonely and such but once it starts hitting someone's wallet, wouldn't they kind of wake up to the fact that they are getting ripped off?

I mean these internet scams are nothing new, if someone gets ripped off because their identity was stolen that is one thing but for somebody to sit there and willingly feed a catfish?

If I ever had some romance scammer ask me for something because their family member is in the hospital, I would just send them good vibes.

Yes I have I gave away money because of a guy saying he was Elliott North at first it was a give away of $1 million dollars for a thousand dollars then he kept on making excuses saying all sorts of things till I lost my whole life’s savings of $17-$20 k

Instagram is infamous for those interactions and does nothing about it.

So whatever came of this situation?

Poor guy

Oh no :(

@SW-User wrote about something similar recently

I don’t know anyone personally but I have heard many stories.

Why do you think there are catfish here. These accounts of young Asian women posting nudes and such. It’s not them and some of them are looking to latch on to people. That’s exactly why I point them out.

I am really sorry about your relative. Who is the famous musical performer? Is there anyway you can get through to your family member to convince them it’s not actually the celebrity?