SayNoToScams Practise sms scams

text message · Romance scam

Is this romance text from someone I met online a scam?

A scam. Australians lose more money to this than to any other kind.

Below is the text message itself, with every phrase that gives it away marked and numbered. There are 5 signs to find. It is invented for practice — the pattern comes from the public alert linked at the bottom.

From
Michael
Received
Today 10:58 pm

I’ve been thinking about you all day. I know it’s only been three weeks but I’ve never felt this sure about anyone1 x

Still can’t get a video call to work on the ship’s connection2 — soon as we dock, I promise

I hate even asking you this3. My contract payment’s been held by the port authority and I can’t touch my account until we’re back in Singapore. I need $6,000 to release the cargo bond or I lose the whole contract4

My broker says the fastest way is a crypto transfer, he’ll send you the details5

Why it is a scam

  1. Very fast, and very certainThree weeks and never surer. Real affection can move quickly; manufactured affection always does, because the timetable is set by how long they can afford to invest in you.
  2. Never on cameraThe excuse varies — a ship, a rig, an army posting, bad signal — but the answer is always no. If you have never seen the face live, you do not know who you are talking to.
  3. “I hate even asking”It is a scripted beat. It reframes a demand as reluctance, so refusing feels like doubting them rather than declining a payment.
  4. A large sum inside a story you can’t checkPort authorities, cargo bonds, frozen contracts, customs fees. The story is complicated on purpose: complexity discourages questions.
  5. Crypto, through a third partyCryptocurrency is chosen because it is fast, foreign and effectively unrecallable. There is no bank to ring and no payment to reverse.

What to do

Don’t send it — and don’t decide on your own, because that is the hard part, not the spotting. Tell one person you trust, run a reverse image search on the photos, and recognise that the request for money is what the relationship was for. If you have already sent some, ring your bank, then Scamwatch. It happens to sharp people every day.

Pattern drawn from Moneysmart: financial scams

Practise

Reading it is not the same as catching it

You have just been told the answer. The drill shows this message without it, one at a time, and asks you to call it.

Start the sms scams set

If it has already happened

Not your fault, and not too late

Ring your bank, report it, and tell one person you trust. The first hour matters most.

What to do now