Adoption Scams
Fraudsters posing as expectant mothers or as adoption agencies collect 'expenses' and fees from hopeful adoptive parents for a placement that was never going to happen.
Last reviewed: 23 July 2026
What this scam is
Adoption scams target people trying to adopt a child — a group that is emotionally invested, often exhausted by years of waiting, and accustomed to processes that genuinely do involve large payments. The fraud comes in two main shapes. In the first, someone poses as a pregnant woman considering placing her baby for adoption. She contacts hopeful parents directly — through social media, adoption forums, or profiles the couple posted — builds a relationship over weeks or months, and collects 'permitted expenses' such as rent, groceries, phone bills, and medical costs. There is no baby, or no intention to place one, and the same story is often run against several families at once. In the second shape, a fake or predatory adoption agency, consultant, or 'facilitator' charges substantial fees for referrals and case management, supported by fabricated situations and stalling tactics, and the promised match never materialises. Both versions convert hope into a payment stream, and both leave families financially and emotionally devastated.
How it works
The emotional-scam version follows a recognisable arc. First contact usually comes to the adoptive parents, not from them — a message responding to their profile, a comment in a support group, a text 'found your number through the agency'. The story is detailed and sympathetic: a difficult situation, a due date, a wish for the baby to have a stable home. The scammer sends ultrasound images (stolen or edited), discusses names, and mirrors the family's excitement. Then expenses begin — small at first, framed within what adoption law genuinely allows adoptive parents to cover, then escalating with emergencies: a rent arrears crisis, a threatened eviction, a hospital bill. Requests come by irreversible methods such as transfers, payment apps, or gift cards, and the scammer resists every step that would involve an agency, attorney, or medical release. The endgame is either a slow ghosting, a staged 'miscarriage' or 'change of heart', or discovery when the family pushes for verification. The fake-agency version is more bureaucratic: professional-looking websites, upfront program fees, 'situations' that keep falling through, and pressure to send additional fees to stay near the top of a waiting list that does not exist.
Why this scam works
Adoption normalises almost everything the scam needs. Large payments to strangers, months of waiting, deep emotional investment, and the principle of adoptive parents covering an expectant mother's expenses are all legitimate features of the real process, so the fraud does not have to make its victims act strangely — only to steer legitimate-looking behaviour away from oversight. The victims' hope does the rest: after years of failed matches, a warm, detailed, responsive expectant mother is something families desperately want to believe in, and scammers exploit the fear that asking for verification will look like distrust and drive her away. Running several families in parallel also lets the scammer borrow urgency from real competition — adoptive parents know that genuine situations move fast.
Common red flags
- An expectant mother who contacts you directly and resists involving any agency or attorney
- Escalating 'emergency' expenses paid person-to-person by transfer, app, or gift card
- Ultrasounds or photos that fail a reverse-image search, or details that shift between tellings
- Simultaneous contact with other families using the same story (compare notes in support groups)
- An agency or consultant with large upfront fees, vague licensing, and situations that always fall through
- Pressure that verification requests will 'scare her off' or lose you the match
- A due date or crisis that always lands just after the next payment
Sanitized example messages
Illustrative, sanitized examples. Personal details are replaced with placeholders such as [phone number] and [fake link].
I found your family profile and I just know you're meant to raise this baby. I don't want agencies involved — they take everything over.
The hospital says I'll lose my apartment before the baby comes unless I pay $800 by Friday. I have no one else to ask.
Here's the ultrasound from today's appointment. I cried thinking about you both seeing it.
To stay active on our waiting list this quarter, a program-continuation fee of $3,500 is now due.
How to verify before you act
Route everything through licensed professionals, because that is precisely what scammers cannot survive. Work only with agencies and attorneys whose licences you have checked against your state's or country's official register, and insist that any expectant mother be connected to your agency or attorney before money moves — every genuine placement can accommodate this, and nearly every scam dies at this step. Expense payments should flow through the agency or a trust account, never person-to-person. Ask your professional to obtain medical verification of the pregnancy through a proper release. Reverse-image-search photos and ultrasounds, which are frequently stolen. For agencies and consultants, search the business name with words like complaints and reviews, check how long it has existed, and confirm physical addresses and licensing rather than trusting a polished website.
Payment methods used
- Bank transfer
- Payment apps
- Gift cards
- Wire transfer
Who is usually targeted
- Hopeful adoptive parents
- Families after failed matches
- Intercountry adopters
What to do immediately
- Stop all payments immediately, however the story escalates in response
- Tell your adoption agency or attorney — they can verify or debunk the situation quickly and warn other families
- Contact your bank or payment provider about recalling recent transfers
- Preserve every message, image, and payment record before accounts disappear
- Report to police and your national fraud service; adoption fraud is prosecuted, and reports connect parallel victims
- Share the profile and story in adoption-community scam registries and support groups to protect other families
How to prevent it
- Work only with agencies and attorneys you have verified against official licensing registers
- Insist any expectant parent connects with your agency or attorney before any money moves
- Pay permitted expenses through the agency or a trust account, never directly by transfer, app, or gift card
- Ask for medical verification of the pregnancy through a proper release, handled by your professional
- Reverse-image-search photos and ultrasound images sent to you
- Treat refusal to involve professionals — however sympathetically explained — as the decisive red flag
Evidence to preserve
- All messages, emails, and texts, including the first contact
- Photos and ultrasound images sent, for reverse-image evidence
- Payment records with dates, amounts, and receiving accounts
- Names, phone numbers, and profiles used, and any agency paperwork received
Where to report it
- Action Fraud (UK) — UK national fraud & cybercrime reporting centre
- FTC ReportFraud (US) — US Federal Trade Commission fraud reports
- FBI IC3 (US) — US Internet Crime Complaint Center
- Scamwatch (Australia) — Australian competition & consumer reporting
- Your bank's fraud line — Use the number on the back of your card or in your banking app — never a number the caller gives you
Always verify reporting routes and emergency contacts on the official government or agency website for your country.
Frequently asked questions
Isn't it normal for adoptive parents to pay an expectant mother's expenses?
In many places, yes — which is exactly what the scam exploits. The difference is oversight. In a genuine adoption, permitted expenses are defined by law and flow through an agency, attorney, or trust account with documentation. A scammer needs the opposite: direct person-to-person payments by irreversible methods, justified by emergencies and secrecy. The request to keep professionals out is the tell, not the payments themselves.
How do adoption scammers get away with contacting many families at once?
Because families rarely compare notes. Each victim believes they are in a private, delicate relationship and fears that talking about it — or asking for verification — could lose them the baby. Scammers reuse the same scripts, photos, and ultrasounds across families in parallel, harvesting expenses from each. Support groups and adoption-scam registries exist precisely to break this isolation; posting details there is often how the fraud is discovered.
What should I check before paying an adoption agency or consultant?
Verify the licence, not the website. Look the organisation up in your state's or country's official register of licensed agencies, confirm a physical address and named responsible staff, and search the name alongside words like complaints, reviews, and scam. Ask exactly what the fees buy, get it in writing, and be wary of consultants whose promised situations repeatedly collapse just as a new fee falls due. A legitimate agency's paperwork trail is boring and consistent; a fraudulent one's is urgent and shifting.