'Sugar Baby' Dating Scams

“Sugaring”, may mean sweetness but it is something else in the online dating game. It’s when a young person seeks out or accepts a much older man or woman for a partner. They becomes the “sugar baby” and the older person is the “sugar daddy” or "sugar mommy". Young college girls especially fall for these relationships on Instagram, Twitter, or dating sites. There are entire websites that are set up for "sugar dating", as it’s called! 

These relationships are transactional by nature. Right from the start, the sugar daddy or mommy promises money for companionship, dates, or sexual and non-sexual favours.

Sugar baby scams are basically money scams that are dressed up romantic intentions. Scammers trick the unsuspecting youngster who is invested in hopes of a real relationship full of money and gifts.

Types of Sugar Baby Scams

Advance Fee

Ambersweet19 responded to a message on the dating site. The message was typical. HotDaddy47 said she was beautiful and promised to send her $500 every week in exchange for her time spent chatting to know each other. He told her is not looking to get nude photos.

Ambersweet19 was beside herself with excitement. A rich man likes her and wants to spoil her with cash! He made her feel special. He asked for her CashApp tag to be sent via email. She was wary of taking this young relationship with a man she barely knew to her email. 

So, she played it safe by setting up a burner email with fake names and details then sent the Cashtag to HotDaddy47. True to his word, at the end of the week, HotDaddy47 sent the money through CashApp. She received the notification in email. That’s when she realized that she needs to deposit $100 first to get the money!

Ambersweet19 almost fell for an Advance Fee Scam. She almost gave a clever scammer $100 for a made-up fee! A sugar daddy willing to send you $500 every week but needs you to put money in first, is a scammer. Once you put in money, you will never hear from him ever again!

Fake/Fraudulent Check

Prettylucy21 met Richpete55 on Instagram. He slid into her DM with nice compliments on her photos and sweet words that left her heart fluttering. By the third text, Richpete55 said he would send her $3000 every month for her companionship. In the first week, he sent her a check for $1,500. Then three days later sent another check for $1,500.

By the end of that week, Richpete55 told her about his sick nephew who needed some cash for treatment. He needed to help him out but couldn’t till the end of the month. He asked Prettylucy21 to send $500 to his nephew. She agreed. The man had been really generous to her. Two days later he asked her to send $1,000 more because some complications had come up. She agreed and sent. 

9 days after she received and deposited the checks, she had sent $1,500 total from her bank account. That’s when the bank called to tell her the checks were bad! They were fake and couldn’t be cashed. But more importantly, that the money she had sent couldn’t be recovered! 

By that time, Richpete55 had gone silent. He ignored her messages. Prettylucy21 got scammed out of $1,500 by a sugar daddy!

Sugar Baby Scammer Tactics

These professional scammers have worked out some common tactics that they use:

• Generic-looking and sounding messages are used for every stage of the scam.
• They show no real interest in the person because their real interest is money.
• Request for personal details, email, phone number, and bank account details after a few message exchanges.
• Asking for a portion of the money that they have apparently sent you to be sent to some to a third party. Usually done using a sob story.
• Using threats when denied personal phone number, current photos, or other personal details.

Tips to Protect Yourself from a Sugar Baby Scammer

• Report fraud cases to the site.
• Call your credit card company and inform them your credit card/account details may be compromised. They may not recover your lost funds but will prevent further loss.
• Secure your email and passwords in case you gave your real email address.
• DO NOT share any information that can be used against you. When demands are not met like photos, address, phone number, desperate scammers post your personal stuff on social media.

Be careful while looking for love on the internet. Protect your identity fiercely. Watch out for behaviour that seeks money more than companionship. It could be a scammer posing as a sugar daddy (or mommy).