Honey Trap
A social-engineering lure that exploits romantic or sexual attraction to extract sensitive information, money, or compromising material from a target.
Also known as: honeypot (social), romantic lure, honey-pot trap
Last reviewed: 1 June 2026
A honey trap uses a fabricated romantic or sexual persona to draw a target into a compromising situation. In financial fraud, the technique is used to extract bank credentials, wire transfers, or gift-card payments from victims who believe they are in an intimate relationship — overlapping significantly with romance-baiting and sextortion schemes.
In corporate espionage and intelligence contexts, honey traps are used to obtain trade secrets, login credentials, or insider information from employees targeted because of their access. The perpetrator invests in building the relationship before requesting favours — access to systems, documents forwarded to personal email, or financial transfers framed as personal loans.
Online honey traps have exploded with deepfake technology: attackers can now sustain video-call 'relationships' using live face-swap tools, removing the historic limit of having to avoid face-to-face contact. Recognising a honey trap involves watching for rapid emotional escalation, reluctance to meet in person, and requests that benefit the scammer disproportionately.
Examples
- A new contact on a professional networking site quickly moves to a messaging app and, after weeks of flirty conversation, asks the target to invest in a 'private' crypto opportunity.
- An attractive profile connects with an executive on social media; over time, requests for company information escalate under the guise of 'getting to know each other's work'.