The scale measured by the FTC
In its 2025 annual report on internet crime, the FBI ranks romance scams among the categories causing the most financial harm, alongside investment scams and fake tech support — with people 60 and older as the hardest-hit group across all fraud categories combined ($7.7 billion in losses in 2025 for this age group).
Source: FBI, Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), 2025 report.How contact starts
According to data aggregated by the FTC for 2025, nearly 60% of people who reported a loss from a romance scam say the first contact happened on a social network, before moving to a private messaging app — a shift that takes the conversation out of the reach of any platform moderation.
Source: FTC, 2026 Data Spotlight on social-media-related scams.The mechanism, not the judgment
🕐Manipulation built over time
The bodies that document these patterns stress one point: it's not an isolated lapse in judgment, but progressive manipulation, sometimes carried out over weeks or months, before any request for money. Trust is deliberately built before being exploited.
🎭Profiles tailored to each target
The FTC documents that approaches are often personalized based on the target's public profile information, before introducing financial urgency — a sudden crisis, or conversely an investment tip presented with confidence.
This report doesn't cover the cryptocurrency side of romance scams — a topic in its own right, deliberately left out here and reserved for a dedicated editorial piece.
Frequently asked questions
Do romance scams mostly target gullible people?
No — the bodies that document these scams stress that they rely on progressive, professionalized manipulation techniques, not a lack of judgment on the victim's part. Anyone can be exposed to them.
Where do these scams most often begin?
Nearly 60% of people who reported a loss from a romance scam in 2025 said the contact began on a social network, before moving to a private messaging app.
Does this report cover cryptocurrency-related romance scams?
No, deliberately. The financial side of crypto-linked romance scams (sometimes called "pig butchering") is a topic in its own right, reserved for a dedicated editorial piece.
Also documented on television
Beyond the official figures, established broadcasters have documented the same pattern through people who lived it:
📺BBC, Panorama — "Catfish: The Billion Pound Romance Scam" (2018)
A retired man and a woman who lost tens of thousands of pounds each describe how contact started on a dating site and gradually turned into requests for money — the same progressive manipulation the FTC data above describes. The reporter also poses as a target to expose the networks behind the fraud.
Source: BBC, Panorama, 2018.📺Netflix — "The Tinder Swindler" (2022)
A documentary built around a real, named case: a man posing as a wealthy businessman on dating apps to manipulate several women into covering his expenses. Three of the women speak on camera about how the relationship was used to extract money — the mechanism this page describes, not the individuals in it.
Source: Netflix documentary, 2022.📺ABC (Australia), Four Corners — "Meet the Scammers" (2019)
An investigative report tracing the networks behind romance scams targeting Australian women, built on the same emotional-manipulation playbook described above: a fabricated identity, a fast-moving relationship, then escalating requests for money. The reporting traces the scam back to the organised operations running it, not just the individual con artist.
Source: ABC, Four Corners, 2019.📺CTV (Canada), W5 — "Cheatin' Hearts" (2013)
An investigation into online dating fraud in Canada, following people who spent months building what they believed was a real relationship online before being asked, gradually, for money — the same pattern of trust-then-extraction this page documents.
Source: CTV, W5, 2013.📺eNCA (South Africa) — Special Report: Romance Scams (2023)
A televised special report on South African women targeted by scammers posing as long-distance suitors, describing losses that built up over months of online conversation before any money changed hands — the slow-trust mechanism at the centre of this report.
Source: eNCA, Special Report, 2023.Other markets we cover
This report leans on FTC figures, the most detailed federal data available, but romance scams aren't a US-only problem. Here's what's documented in four other major English-speaking markets — the emotional manipulation, not the crypto-investment angle covered in our separate report.
🇦🇺Australia — $28.6 million, up 21.8% in a year
Australians reported more than $28.6 million in romance-scam losses to Scamwatch in 2025, up 21.8% on the year before, across 1,330 reports. More than 80% of the money lost started with contact on a dating platform, social network or online forum.
ACCC National Anti-Scam Centre, Scamwatch data, 2025 annual figures.🇬🇧United Kingdom — £102 million, reports up 29%
UK victims lost more than £102 million to romance fraud in 2025 across 10,784 reports, a 29% jump in reports year-on-year — almost £280,000 a day. People aged 55 to 74 accounted for close to half of the total amount stolen, and investigators are seeing more AI-generated images and messages used to sustain the fake identities.
City of London Police (Report Fraud, formerly Action Fraud), 2025 figures · reported by The Register, May 5, 2026.🇨🇦Canada — $63.3 million, part of a record fraud year
Canadians lost $63.3 million to relationship scams in 2025, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre — up from $58 million in 2024 — in a year the centre has already called Canada's worst on record for fraud overall. The centre estimates only 5-10% of victims ever file a report, so the real toll is likely far higher.
Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, 2025 annual figures.🇮🇳India — 1 in 7 have lost money to a dating or romance scam
One in seven Indians surveyed have lost money to an online dating or romance scam, with an average loss of ₹280,650, and 60% say they've received an invite to an "exclusive" dating app or site that turned out to be fake. India also has one of the world's largest diasporas, with families spread across the US, UK, Canada and beyond while staying financially connected to relatives back home — exactly the kind of distance these scams exploit. Egidio's Cercle family plan covers up to 4 devices from one purchase, letting someone abroad help protect a parent's phone remotely — see our full report on remittance and immigrant scams for more on that corridor.
McAfee, "Modern Love" research, press release, Feb. 10, 2026.Go further
Egidio — The Threat Laboratory, "Romance scams: $1.16 billion in nine months", egidio.app/en/laboratoire/romance-scams/. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
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