Watch Out for Online Dating Scams

Notable statistics on romance scams, the warning signs to watch for, and practical ways to protect yourself when meeting people online.

A good-looking profile, claiming to be an engineer working on an offshore oil rig, messaging every day, dropping sweet nothings after barely a week of chatting — it sounds like the setup for a romance, but it's also almost exactly the script behind a huge number of documented romance scams. Cybercriminals increasingly exploit free dating and social platforms to find trusting victims for financial fraud, and in some cases, money laundering.

The numbers worth knowing

According to figures published by the FBI (via CNET reporting), this isn't a small-scale problem. In 2017 alone, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) logged more than 15,000 complaints related to romance scams, with reported losses totaling around $211 million. By 2018, that number climbed to roughly 18,000 complaints and an estimated $362 million in losses. And those are just the reported cases — many victims never come forward, either out of embarrassment or because they never fully realize what happened.

The playbook scammers tend to follow

Most romance scammers don't rush. They often pose as someone working abroad on a remote job site, a service member on deployment, or a busy entrepreneur who can't meet in person — cover stories that are appealing enough to be interesting, yet convenient enough to explain away video calls or in-person meetings. They may spend weeks or even months building trust before making their first request, which usually starts small — a phone card, a modest money transfer — before escalating to plane tickets, electronics, or urgent "paperwork" fees. Some run more elaborate versions, staging a fake arrest at an airport to demand bail money, or eventually using the victim's own bank account for other illegal activity entirely.

Warning signs worth watching for

• Declaring strong feelings very quickly, sometimes within days of first talking
• Always having an excuse to avoid video calls or meeting in person
• A profile with overly polished, stock-photo-like pictures or vague, inconsistent personal details
• Sharing urgent hardship stories that require money fast — illness, an accident, being stranded abroad
• Pushing to move the conversation to another app soon after matching, away from the platform's oversight

How to protect yourself

• Never share financial details, OTP codes, passwords, or ID photos with someone you just met
• Stay skeptical of requests for expensive gifts or money transfers, no matter how reasonable the story sounds
• Ask for an early video call to confirm the person is real and matches their photos
• Run a reverse image search on profile photos to check whether they've been lifted from elsewhere
• Always meet for the first time in a busy public place, and let someone know your plans
• Report suspicious accounts to the platform right away
• Talk to a trusted friend or family member about the relationship, especially before sending any money — an outside perspective often spots red flags that are hard to see from the inside

Not everyone who shows quick interest online has bad intentions — most connections made this way are genuine. But staying a little clear-headed, especially once money enters the conversation, is always the safest way to protect yourself before the heart gets ahead of the head.