Vietnam has seen a tremendous boom in Tinder users during and after the pandemic. (Photo: VNA) The backlash is so strong that many young Vietnamese are saying "You can'tfind real love on Tinder".
Truong Tan, 30, was using Tinder for two years before he was swindled outof 3 million VND (126 USD).
"She said she came from a well-educated family, had a police fatherand a teacher mother," said Tan.
After some conversations and dates, the girl started to share about her"hard life", which Tan later learned was all fabricated.
As the woman got closer to Tan, she asked him to pay for her purchases and loanher 5 million VND (211 USD).
"She promised to return the money soon but kept on delaying. She laterreturned me 2 million VND (84.5 USD), but disappeared with the rest of themoney," said Tan.
Later on, when Tan posted warningson social media groups, many other people also confirmed that the samewoman used the dating app for scams.
"One more thing to note is that at the time I was deceived, she waspregnant and still married," Tan added.
That was the first and only time Tan was deceived through a dating app.However, he said he had experienced other types of scams, such as colludingwith a restaurant to lure customers for overcharging.
"She arranged to meet me at a place whereshe seemed very familiar and proficient with the menu, then ordered a lot ofexpensive alcohol and suggested ordering expensive dishes. I asked for moreinformation based on what she had declared before, but she couldn't answer. Iwas suspicious, so after the first round of ordering, I stopped. That time, weate at a regular restaurant, but the wine price was three timeshigher than that in the supermarkets," Tan recalled.
Like Tan, Hanoian Do Son also fell victim toa scam by a girl he had never met before.
When Son started messaging to get acquainted, the girl claimed to be an actorfilming an advertisement in Ha Giang.
"She said the weather there was harsh, and while shooting, she got a virusfever and needed to borrow money from me to buy medicine. A few days later, sheasked for money again to buy things. I lent her money on both occasions,"said Son.
But on the third request when the girl asked to borrow 1 million VND (42 USD),Son didn't have any money to lend. When the girl returned to Hanoi, Sonarranged to meet her, but she insisted on borrowing 1 million VND before themeeting.
"When I told her I didn't have any money to lend, she started blaming me.I asked her to return the money from the previous two times, and she said menare calculative, then she said, 'I don't lack wealthy men,' and unfriended me.After a few times of me demanding the money back, she made empty promises andcut off contact, leaving me feeling deceived," Son recalled with regret.
Not only do they deceive people into borrowing money, but there are alsonumerous other scams that users of dating apps often encounter.
HCM city native Nha Van once encountered a cunning scammer with a sophisticatedscheme that she never expected.
"This guy had a handsome appearance, he was politely mannered, and seemedknowledgeable about financial investment. He presented himself as the owner ofan interior design company in Hong Kong. He even gained my trust by sharingstories of his unfortunate childhood - his parents' divorce and having to livewith his grandmother. I was even moved to tears by his story," said Van.
According to Van, this person was very proactive in wooing her, initiatingvideo calls. After a week of persistent pursuit, he constantly talked about howhe had made a lot of money from cryptocurrencies, even showing his accountbalance and boasting about earning 60-70 million VND (2,500-3,000 USD) in asingle day.
Afterwards, he expressed a desire to guide her to achieve financial prosperitylike himself. He told her not to bother researching anything because even withexplanations, she wouldn't understand, and instead, she should just follow hislead to gradually comprehend. And the initial investment amount required was 500USD.
When Nha Van refused to invest, the personstarted to sulk and then enticed her by suggesting that she learn theseskills to eventually take over his work. However, she firmly declined. Fromthat point on, he disappeared and no longer wooed her.
Curious, she decided to investigate and discovered that many other girls hadbeen lured by him using similar tactics. "One girl agreed to participatewith a 100 USD investment. After more than two months, she realized she hadbeen deceived. Then he created another fake account to terrorize her,threatening to share all the things she had confided in him with her friendsand family. This girl also shared with me stories of dozens of scammers whospecialize in persuading girls to invest in cryptocurrencies, just like what Iunwittingly encountered."
Nha Van revealed that these individuals would woo their targets until they wereinfatuated before bringing up the topic of investment and money. "Becauseonce there are emotions and trust involved, not everyone remainsclear-headed."
As for Truong Tan, he learned from his experience: "Nowadays, new forms offraud are constantly emerging, so the best way to avoid being deceived is to becautious with money and not let relationships become too involved withfinancial matters too early. Those who have ulterior motives will quickly loseinterest and move on."/.
VNA
