FBiH Police Warn Citizens of Social Media Scams: It All Starts with Building an Emotional Connection

(Patria) - The Federal Police Administration warns citizens that in the previous period, several reports have been received regarding the criminal offense of "Fraud" under Article 294 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the so-called "Romance Scam," where the attacker, using dating apps and social networks, establishes contact with the victim, which then continues towards building an emotional relationship via the internet, and subsequently, using various fraudulent techniques, demands the victim to pay different amounts of money, with a promise of returning the same or a much larger amount than paid.

One example is the delivery of a package from the "emotional partner" to the victim, followed by "problems" with its delivery, where the victim pays larger sums of money for the delivery of said package/gift as a commission, given that a larger amount of money was "found" in the package during transport, etc.

It is important to note that during conversations with the victim, the attacker obtains information about them, such as marital status, possible illness of the victim or a family member, hobbies, and other habits, and based on this information, creates an ideal "profile" of behavior towards the victim, exploiting their weaknesses obtained in the previously described manner.

We call on citizens not to fall for this type of fraud, which aims at emotionally exploiting individuals and their gullibility. The Federal Administration points to the need to increase the level of information security for internet users in Bosnia and Herzegovina and raise awareness about current trends in computer crime.