*The United States Federal Trade Commission officials say consumers need to take extra precautions to avoid becoming victims of frauds and cheap blackmail as it offers protective measures

Alexander Davis | 绿帽献妻

The month of June is Pride Month, and officials at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are taking time to warn the LGBTQ+ community about certain scams.

It was gathered that the agency, specifically, noted LGBTQ+ dating apps such as Grindr and Feeld could be used by scammers for extortion.

About LGBTQ

LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity, says Wikipedia.

绿帽献妻 reports the LGBT term is an adaptation of the initialism LGB, which began to replace the term gay in reference to the broader LGBT community beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s. When not inclusive of transgender people, the shorter term LGB is still used instead of LGBT.

According to an online diectionary, the concept may refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual or non-cisgender, instead of exclusively to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.

To recognise this inclusion, a popular variant, LGBTQ, adds the letter Q for those who identify as queer or are questioning their sexual or gender identity.

Scammers reportedly use these apps by posing as a potential romantic partner, which isn鈥檛 unusual as a way of someone introducing themselves on a dating app.

Photo: Wikipedia

However, the next steps are where things get dicey. FTC officials say scammers will engage a victim with chat messages and then send explicit photos. They’ll then ask for similar photos in return.

鈥淚f you send photos, the blackmail begins,鈥� the FTC said. 鈥淭hey threaten to share your conversation and photos with your friends, family, or employer unless you pay 鈥� usually by gift card.鈥�

The agency said it has received reports that some scammers threaten people who are 鈥渃loseted鈥� or not yet fully 鈥渙ut鈥� as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Scammers may pressure these users to send money or risk having their explicit photos or conversations publicly exposed.

How to protect yourself

Given the sensitive nature of these scams, the FTC says consumers should remain cautious and skeptical of messages they receive on dating platforms. Here are some other recommendations that officials say LGBTQ+ dating app users can take:

Don鈥檛 share personal information with someone you just met on a dating app. That includes your cell phone number, email address, and social media profile.

Check out who you鈥檙e talking to. Do a reverse image search of the person鈥檚 profile picture to see if it鈥檚 associated with another name or with details that don鈥檛 match up. Those are signs of a scam.

Don鈥檛 pay scammers to destroy photos or conversations. There鈥檚 no guarantee that scammers will destroy any photos or messages they collect. The FBI also advises against paying extortion demands because it supports criminal activity.

If you spot a scam, you can report it to the appropriate authorities for action, noted the regulator.

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