Star comment: Keep safe in search for love
The companies who profit from the romantic dreams of men and women across Shropshire and Mid Wales are not to blame for online abuses committed by fraudsters.
While such firms take measures to make sure that people can look for love from the safety of their own keyboard, they cannot completely eliminate the nefarious practices of ne’er-do-wells who prey on the vulnerable and needy.
The sad truth is that those who open their hearts to others expose themselves in a way that makes them an easy target for criminals. People with hard luck stories can provide sob stories for people whose kindness is too easily exploited.
And while we might not be so naïve as to offer colleagues or casual acquaintances access to our bank accounts or personal details, there are some who feel compelled to do so when in search of a lifelong partner.
We have a collective responsibility to reveal the fraudsters whose devious actions can cause considerable trauma. For when they steal from people whom they have befriended online, they are not simply taking personal property. They are also abusing trust and caused trauma that can take a lifetime to restore. Their cold, calculating behaviour causes the most profound sorrow and upset for innocent victims whose crime has been to be too trusting of others.
They say that all is fair and love and war, yet that maxim does not extend to criminal behaviour. And people who log on to legitimate websites should be able to do so without fear of exploitation. They ought not to have to keep their guard impossibly high on the basis that crooks might be seeking to deceive them. As those who have used online dating sites will attest, love is hard enough to find without the constant worry of encountering casual criminality or worse.
Police at West Mercia have offered safe advice for the lonesome and lovestruck, whose natural instincts might not be as sharp as usual as they seek romantic attachment.
They want people to take the same sort of precautions that they would if they were meeting a stranger for the first time; making sure that risks to personal safety are eliminated.
Those attending assignations should let others know, they should keep their financial details private, they should not put themselves in potentially dangerous situations and they should take necessary safeguards. Such advice is essential in the modern age.
