新奇事件簿 老年人需警惕网上约会陷阱

There is a new scam on the Internet for those looking for love. Criminals are trying to trick people by using old love letters and romantic language. Conmen can easily buy "scam packs" to help them trick would-be daters into their scam. The pack is available online and only costs a few dollars. It includes love-letter templates, photos, videos and false identities. This is all that is needed to pretend to be someone looking for love. The criminals pose¹ as potential partners and contact people seeking romance² on dating sites. After a period of correspondence³, they start asking their victim for money. They use many different kinds of excuses and reasons why they need money.

互联网上出现了针对寻找真爱的人的新骗局。犯罪分子试图通过老情书和浪漫的语言来欺骗人们。骗子们可以轻松地购买“骗局套餐”帮助他们欺骗准情人们堕入陷阱。这种套餐在互联网上可以买得到，只要几美元。其中包括情书模板，照片，视频和假身份。这些都是假装寻找真爱的人所必须的。这些罪犯在相亲网站上假装潜在的伴侣，联系寻找爱情的人。经过一段时间的通信后，他们开始要求受害者给钱。他们使用许多借口和理由来说明为何需要钱。

The police force in London reported 3,900 people being scammed online in 2016. The average amount of money they lost was $12,500. The average age of the victims was 59 years old. More women than men were scammed, with 61 per cent of the victims being female. A senior police officer described the damage the scams do to victims. He said: "These crimes destroy lives and the emotional damage often far outweighs⁴ the financial loss. "He advised people against giving strangers money. He said: "Never give money to people you meet online, no matter what emotional sob⁵ story the person uses." He added that to be safe, people should always be on their guard when communicating with a stranger online.

伦敦警方报道，2016年，网上共有3900人被骗。他们损失的金钱总额平均为12500美元。受害者的平均年龄为59岁。被骗的女性多于男性，61%的受害者是女性。一名高级警官描述了这些骗局给受害者带来的损失。他说：“这些犯罪行为毁坏了受害者的生活，给他们带来的情感伤害远远大于经济损失。”他们建议人们不要给陌生人钱。他说：“千万不要拿钱给网上认识的人，无论他们使用的是多么悲伤的感情故事。”他补充说，为了安全起见，与网上认识的陌生人交流时，人们应该时刻保持警惕。

1 pose   

vt.造成，陈述；vi.摆姿势，装腔作势；n.姿势

参考例句：

• He sat in a relaxed pose.他轻松自如地坐着。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend.他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

2 romance   

n.恋爱关系，浪漫气氛，爱情小说，传奇

参考例句：

• She wrote a romance about an artist's life in Tokyo.她写了一个关于一位艺术家在东京生活的浪漫故事。
• They tried to rekindle the flames of romance.他们试图重燃爱火。

3 correspondence   

n.信件，通信（联系）符合，一致，相似

参考例句：

• He showed me all the correspondence relating to the matter.他把与这件事有关的全部信件都给我看了。
• What she has just said isn't in correspondence with the views of the majority.她刚才所说的同大多数人所持的观点不一致。

4 outweighs   

v.在重量上超过( outweigh的第三人称单数 )；在重要性或价值方面超过

参考例句：

• Her need to save money outweighs her desire to spend it on fun. 她省钱的需要比她花钱娱乐的愿望更重要。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Its clarity in algebraic and analytical operations far outweighs any drawbacks. 文化代数和解析运算中的清晰性远远胜过任何缺点。 来自辞典例句

5 sob   

n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣

参考例句：

• The child started to sob when he couldn't find his mother.孩子因找不到他妈妈哭了起来。
• The girl didn't answer,but continued to sob with her head on the table.那个女孩不回答，也不抬起头来。她只顾低声哭着。