Romance Scams

A Fake Identity: Scammers will often create attractive and seemingly genuine profiles on dating websites and social media platforms. They will use stolen, edited, or AI-generated photos and build out profiles to trick victims into believing they are a real person.

Building Emotional Connections: A scammer will target a victim and attempt to engage in online conversations to build a sense of trust and connection. He or she may appear eager to get to know their victim and oftentimes these conversations are filled excessively with compliments, affection, and declarations of love to get a victim on the hook. Scammers will also talk about future plans together, like getting married or starting a family. This phase of the scam can last weeks or even months which further convinces the victim that the relationship is legitimate.

Request to Move Off the Platform: It is common for scammers to request a victim, typically early on and with some urgency, to move to other messaging platforms where accounts can be created with minimal verification. This makes it easier for scammers to avoid being traced. Scammers may try to isolate their victims from family and friends by encouraging them to keep their love a secret while simultaneously discouraging them from seeking advice or support.

The Vanishing Act: After obtaining money or sensing that a victim is growing suspicious, scammers will abruptly cut contact by ignoring messages, blocking the victim, and even deleting their fake online profile leaving the victim confused, heartbroken, and financially damaged. This tactic is used to evade consequences or legal actions and allows them to reset to begin a new fraudulent relationship with another victim.