Online, it's hard to tell who's fake and who's real.
An estimated one of every 10 dating profiles online are fake, and more than $50 million is lost to romance scams annually, according to the FBI.
Online dating site Seeking Arrangement deletes more than 600 fake accounts per day. It got together with background-screening company TC LogiQ and analyzed 60,000 banned profiles for common traits.
Of the 60,000 fake accounts, here are the seven most shared qualities.
Hint: be cautious when approaching "Catholic" "women."
82% of the 60,000 banned accounts listed their religion as "Catholic."
63% of the 60,000 banned accounts listed their relationship status as "widowed." Scammers use this to play the sympathy card.
71% of the 60,000 banned accounts said they were "females."
Scammers like to appear smart too. 54% of the 60,000 banned accounts said they had a Ph.D. and 37% said they had a graduate degree.
Many scammers list their location abroad. 28% of the fake accounts said they were based in Nigeria. 23% were in Ukraine. 21% were in the Philippines.
36% of the 60,000 banned accounts listed their ethnicity as "Native American." 19% said they were "mixed."
26% of the 60,000 banned accounts listed their employment as "Engineer." 25% said they were "royalty." 23% listed themselves as "self-employed."
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