Fraud Is in the Air: The Growing Threat of Online Romance Scams

Romance scams may spike around Valentine’s Day, but the reality is more sobering: online romance fraud thrives year-round and is expected to persist in 2026 as scammers increasingly use AI to scale and personalize their attacks.

Dating is among the most targeted industries, according to the Sumsub Identity Fraud Report 2025-2026. With fraud accounting for 6.3% of activity in the sector, dating platforms continue to face one of the most emotionally manipulative forms of fraud: romance scams.

TSB Bank plc has also reported a sharp rise in romance scams. Comparing 2024 to 2025 data, money sent to fraudsters posing as romantic partners increased 37% year-on-year, while case volumes rose 15%. Meanwhile, industry figures from UK Finance show that in the first half of 2025 alone, UK victims lost an estimated £20.5 million (US$28 million) across nearly 3,000 cases.

Behind these figures are real lives. In one recent case, a California woman lost more than $81,000—and her paid-off home—after falling victim to a sophisticated AI-driven romance scam.

Today’s attackers increasingly rely on AI-generated personas and deepfake selfies to build trust quickly. Once rapport is established, victims are often steered toward off-platform communication or pressured into financial requests.

The consequences extend far beyond financial loss, causing reputational damage and deep psychological harm. As social engineering converges with artificial intelligence, romance scams are becoming both more scalable and more devastating.

Let’s take a closer look at what defines a dating scam, the tactics romance scammers use, the key red flags to watch for, and how dating platforms can better protect their users.

What is a romance scam?

A romance scam—also known as an online dating scam—is a type of fraud in which a criminal creates a fake profile on a dating site or social media platform to build a romantic relationship and eventually request money. These scams rely on emotional manipulation, prolonged communication, and fabricated personal stories to gain trust before exploiting victims financially.

Romance scammers often target individuals who may be emotionally vulnerable, such as people who are divorced, widowed, or experiencing loneliness. For instance, elderly women who are divorced or widowed are usual targets.

In recent years, some romance scams have evolved into investment-based “pig-butchering” schemes, in which the scammer builds a romantic (or friendly) relationship over time, then persuades the victim to invest in a fake yet highly convincing investment platform. The victim is encouraged to invest more and more before the scammer disappears.

Suggested read: Pig Butchering: Inside the Billion-Dollar Scam Factories

What are the signs of an online dating scammer?

Romance scammers are experts in social manipulation. They deceive their victims by playing on emotions and creating likable profiles that speak to victims.

Here are the red flags of a romance scammer:

 🚩 Profile inconsistencies. There may be contradictions in their background, timeline, job, or location, and details that change over time can signal deception.

 🚩 Rapid emotional escalation. Scammers often profess love very quickly and discuss marriage or a future together after only a short period of communication.

 🚩 Requests for money or financial help. After building trust, they introduce an urgent emergency—medical bills, travel costs, business setbacks—and may become increasingly desperate or manipulative if refused.

 🚩 Overly dramatic life stories. Their life may sound unusually complicated or dangerous, often involving crises, enemies, or sudden misfortune.

 🚩 Claims of being abroad. Many scammers say they are working overseas, deployed, or traveling, which conveniently explains why they cannot meet in person.

 🚩 Repeated broken promises. There is always a reason they cannot visit, repay money, or resolve their situation.

 🚩 Moving conversations off-platform. Scammers often push victims to continue the conversation on private messaging apps to avoid detection.

How romance scams work

In 2026, romance scams are one of the fastest-growing forms of online fraud. Scammers use dating sites and social media platforms to pose as prospective romantic partners, creating fake profiles with fictional identities or stolen personal data.

As the FBI warns, “The Internet makes this type of crime easy because you can pretend to be anybody you want to be. You can be anywhere in the world and victimize people.”

The victim, emotionally attached and often isolated from outside opinions, is asked to provide financial assistance.

When the scammer believes they can no longer extract funds, they disappear. In other cases, the deception continues for months or even years, with money requested in installments. The long grooming period—sometimes lasting over half a year before the first financial request—is precisely what makes these scams so effective. By the time money is mentioned, the victim feels deeply invested.

Romance scams are often the work of a lone individual. Many operate within organized criminal networks. Accomplices may pose as lawyers, doctors, business associates, or family members to reinforce the illusion. In some cases, entire groups collaborate to impersonate a single romantic partner.

Investigations by journalists and law enforcement have uncovered large scam compounds in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, where trafficked workers were forced to run pig-butchering schemes targeting victims in the US, Europe, and Asia. These operations typically began with romance-style grooming on dating apps or social media, building trust over weeks or months before steering victims toward fake cryptocurrency investment platforms. Using scripted messaging, translation tools, and increasingly AI-generated profile images, the networks generated hundreds of millions—and collectively billions—of dollars in losses, while many of the scammers themselves were recruited through fake job ads and coerced into carrying out the fraud.

Another well-known example appears in the Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler, where the scammer constructed an elaborate cast of fake associates—including a wife, child, business partner, and bodyguard—to maintain credibility.

The role of AI in romance scams

Today, emerging technologies are making romance scams even more dangerous. Artificial intelligence allows criminals to generate realistic profile photos that cannot be reverse-searched. AI tools can write persuasive, emotionally tailored messages at scale. Some scammers now use voice-cloning software or deepfake video technology to simulate phone calls and video chats, making the deception far more convincing, as it happened with a man from Chicago.

A Chicago-area man lost about $70,000 after falling victim to a romance scam enhanced by AI-generated identity features. He met a woman calling herself “Kay” on Facebook Dating and developed a relationship with her over several months. They spoke daily, including video calls that were likely AI-assisted. Eventually, she persuaded him to invest in what appeared to be a lucrative cryptocurrency opportunity. As his apparent profits grew, he invested more, even taking out a large loan. When the platform suddenly locked him out, he realized the entire operation had been a scam.

In the past, inconsistencies in grammar, images, or identity could expose a scam. With AI, those warning signs are rapidly disappearing. As technology lowers the cost of impersonation and increases the realism of deception, romance scams are becoming more sophisticated—and more emotionally devastating.

Some regions last year appeared more vulnerable to romance scams. For example, in June 2025, INTERPOL reported warnings of the global spread of scam call-centers run through human trafficking, migrating from Southeast Asia to West Africa. Victims are lured by fake job ads and then forced to conduct romance scams, crypto-investment fraud, and other online schemes. Using AI-generated photos, deepfake videos, and automated chatbots, their social engineering schemes appear more convincing.

Cambodia has previously been identified as a base for large scam compounds, alongside activity in Laos and Myanmar, while West African countries such as Côte d’Ivoire (+51% YoY fraud rate) and Senegal (+28% YoY fraud rate), according to the Sumsub 2025-2026 Identity Fraud Report, are emerging as fraud hubs. In many cases, victims are lured by fake job ads and then forced to conduct romance scams, crypto-investment fraud, and other online schemes. Using AI-generated photos, deepfake videos, and automated chatbots, these operations make social engineering attacks increasingly convincing.

Suggested read: More Sophisticated—and More AI-Driven—Than Ever: Top Identity Fraud Trends to Watch in 2026

Common types of dating scams

To recap, a dating scam typically works like this: the scammer reaches out to a victim, builds a trusting relationship, and only then asks for money. While this is a general pattern, there can be other variations of online romance scams.

Emergency schemes. This is the most common scam. Scammers come up with a fantastic story about how they adopted a child and need money to raise them—or, maybe they’re detained at some remote border crossing and now need to pay for a lawyer. While these stories might seem hard to believe, scammers manipulate their victims for months to make them believe any lie.

Military romance scams. Scammers pose as members of the military stationed overseas, using fabricated military-related reasons to justify why they can’t meet in person or need money (for example, paying for leave or transport). Usually these scammers have suspiciously attractive photos and cite “military regulations” that prevent them from meeting.

Blackmail. Scammers can ask their victims to have a video call. During the call, they may pressure the victim to undress or perform other intimate acts. The scammer then claims to have made a video recording and threatens to make it public unless the victim sends money.

Romance baiting scams. This is a relatively new scheme that involves scammers encouraging victims to participate in an investment opportunity. For instance, scammers can pretend to be financially-independent women and, when asked how they made their fortune, will link to a shady crypto investment scheme. If traditional dating schemes tend to target older people, almost half of all losses to romance baiting scams come from people under the age of 35.

Gift card scams. After building trust, the scammer asks for gift cards under various pretexts, such as needing emergency funds, birthday gifts, or help with travel expenses. Gift cards are hard to trace and easy to convert to cash or sell. Beware requests for specific gift card brands, unusual explanations for why they need the gift card, and instructions to share the card's number and PIN.

Visa and immigration scams. Scammers pretend they need help with a visa or travel documents to come and see the victim. They may ask to pay fees related to visas, flights, or border processing. Their goal is to collect money for non-existent travel expenses. They usually tell stories about visa issues, asking for travel funds, and creating excuses for why they can’t manage the travel costs themselves.

Romance scams may be just the beginning of a chain of crimes, such as money muling. This is a form of money laundering where criminals employ other individuals to move illicit funds. Scammers can send their victims money, mobile phones, or other valuable items and ask to resend them somewhere. This type of fraud is particularly dangerous for the victims’ safety as they may be inadvertently tangled into the financial dealings of an international criminal network.

Suggested read: What’s Money Muling? Understanding Red Flags and Why Businesses Should Be Concerned

How dating sites can protect users from dating scams

To reduce scam activity, dating platforms can implement stronger user verification and fraud detection measures. Although full identity verification is not always legally required, it significantly limits fake accounts and bot-driven scams. Here’s how these measures help:

• Build trust and platform credibility. Visible safety controls make users more confident and improve retention.
• Reduce fake accounts and automated scam activity. Identity checks, liveness detection, and behavioral monitoring make large-scale fraud operations more difficult.
• Mitigate account takeovers. Combining verification with multi-factor authentication and anomaly detection helps protect user accounts and personal data.
• Increase engagement and retention. Safer, well-moderated environments reduce toxicity and fraud-related churn.

Since users of dating platforms aren’t always familiar with verification, the process should be as smooth as possible in order to avoid scaring them away. Also, users might have concerns about the safety of data they submit during the procedure, which is why modern verification solutions store data on secure servers and protect it from unauthorized usage.

Here are four features that can help reduce fraud while keeping the conversion rates high.

1. ID document verification—Security features and anti-photoshop checks help to ensure document validity. Platforms can also set age limits to keep underaged users out.
2. Liveness and face match—Biometric checks ensure that the true document holder is present during verification and can detect multiple accounts.
3. Behavioral fraud patterns detection—Device fingerprint analysis tracks suspicious user configurations, locations and IP address mismatches. This allows detecting if multiple people use one account, as scammers often do.

How users can avoid online dating scams

Here are a few things that can help you spot a romance scammer and avoid falling into an online dating trap.

❕Always consider the possibility that a match might be a scam. It’s a good idea to look beyond all the loving messages and focus solely on facts to determine if a potential partner is genuine.

❕Cross-check. Scammers can use photos from the internet or copy their bios from other websites and dating profiles. That’s why conducting an online search to cross-check the person’s name, photo, and email address can help.

❕Be wary of requests for money and personal data. The number-one red flag in online dating is if someone asks for money, bank card details, or copies of personal documents. Users should remember that scammers can do this in a very discreet way like asking for a copy of an ID card to buy a plane ticket for the user.

❕Seek advice from a trusted person. An experienced romance scammer might try to isolate their victim from friends and family or pressure them into making impulsive decisions alone.

Key steps if you've been targeted or defrauded by a romance scam

🫂 Remember: being deceived by a professional scammer is not a personal failure. Modern romance and pig-butchering scams are highly sophisticated operations, often run by organized criminal networks. They rely on advanced technology and carefully crafted psychological manipulation—and even experienced professionals, including anti-fraud specialists, have fallen victim to these schemes.

If a scam has happened, here's what you can do:

• Preserve all evidence. Before deleting accounts or blocking the scammer, save conversations, screenshots, profile links, photos, phone numbers, wallet addresses, transaction receipts, and any payment confirmations. This information can support bank disputes and official investigations.
• Stop contact immediately.
• Report the incident to your bank, the dating platform, and relevant authorities.
• Check whether your insurance policy covers fraud-related losses.
• Consider seeking psychological support. Romance scams involve emotional manipulation, and professional help can support recovery.

Recovering money lost in a romance or a pig-butchering scam is difficult, but victims should immediately contact their bank or card provider to request a recall or chargeback, and report the fraud to authorities and any involved crypto exchanges. While full reimbursement is rare, especially when cryptocurrency is involved, rapid reporting increases the chances of freezing funds and recovering at least part of the loss.

How to report an online dating scammer

There is no shame in being deceived by a professional scammer. Victims should not stay silent. Silence protects scammers—not victims—and reporting romance fraud is essential to stopping these networks and preventing further harm.

Reporting a scammer most often results in their account being blocked and may help prevent future victims. Here’s a quick guide on where and how to report online dating fraud:

Report to authorities.
File a complaint with law enforcement or the government agency responsible for cybercrime or fraud in your country, for example, IC3. Official reports help investigators track patterns and disrupt larger scam networks.

Report to the dating platform.
If you suspect a profile is fraudulent, report it directly through the platform and provide as much detail as possible, including screenshots and conversation history if available.

Report to your financial institution.
If you have shared financial information or sent money, contact your bank, card issuer, or other relevant financial provider immediately. Early reporting may increase the chances of limiting losses.

Stay ahead of fraudsters.

Download Sumsub’s Identity Fraud Report 2025–2026.

Explore the Report

FAQ

• What are the most common romance scams?

  Common online dating scams include requests for emergency funds, fake military stories, cryptocurrency investments, and blackmailing.

• How can you tell if someone is a romance scammer?

  Romance scammers often profess love quickly, avoid meeting in person, and eventually ask for money or personal information.

• What questions should you ask a romance scammer?

  Ask specific questions about their background, location, or daily life to see if their answers are vague, inconsistent, or overly scripted.

• How do you outsmart a romance scammer?

  Remain skeptical, avoid sharing money or personal details, and verify their identity independently before continuing the conversation.