Samenvatting

Every year there are some 130 cases of victimization dating fraud in the Netherlands. On average the victims lose more than 19.000 euros in this scam. With dating fraud a person on the internet pretends to be someone else and begins a love affair with the victim with the aim to make as much money off the victim as possible. This is a form of Nigerian fraud. In this article is described how this dating fraud is being done. Dating fraud is highly organized with highly educated offenders. Victims come from all layers of society, but according tot he Fraud Helpdesk midddle-aged women who are lonely, have a christian background and work in care, loose the largest amounts. The impact on the victims is huge: the emotional damage is even bigger than the fiancial loss. To reduce dating fraud it is necessary to pay more attention tot his form of fraud.