Critical risk

Romance & Relationship Scams

Romance scams use emotional connection, urgency and isolation rather than a single trick. Victims are manipulated over weeks or months, often by organised criminal groups, and increasingly steered into fake crypto or trading platforms. These scams are never the victim's fault — they are engineered to bypass normal caution.

22 scam types in Romance & Relationship Scams

Fake Online Partners

Invented romantic identities built to win trust and then request money.

Emergency Money Requests

Sudden 'crisis' stories — accidents, arrests, stranded abroad — engineered to rush money out of you.

Fake Military Romance Scams

Scammers posing as deployed service members who cite duty rules to avoid meeting and then ask for money.

Dating-App Crypto Grooming

Romantic interest used to draw you into a fake crypto trading platform (a form of pig butchering).

Long-Distance Romance Scams

Relationships kept permanently remote, with endless reasons a meeting or video call can't happen.

Sextortion-Style Romance Scams

Intimate images obtained or faked, then used to threaten and extort the victim.

Fake Medical Emergency Scams

Invented illnesses or accidents used to extract money for treatment that doesn't exist.

Fake 'Travel to Meet You' Scams

Plans to finally meet that always require you to fund tickets, visas or fees — then collapse.

Romance Recovery Scams

Follow-up scams targeting romance fraud victims with promises to recover lost money for a fee.

Gift Card Romance Scams

Requests for gift card codes as 'help' or 'gifts' — an untraceable way to drain money from victims.

Catfishing Scams

False identities built using stolen photos and invented lives to manipulate emotions and extract money or information.

Sugar Daddy / Allowance Scams

Fake offers of a generous weekly allowance that require an upfront payment before anything is ever received.

Inheritance Romance Scams

A romantic partner reveals a large inheritance but needs your help with fees to unlock it — fees you will never see again.

Fake Celebrity Romance Scams

Scammers posing as famous people who build emotional relationships with fans before requesting money.

Widow and Widower Romance Scams

Scammers targeting bereaved people with manufactured empathy, exploiting grief to build trust and then request money.

Romance Blackmail Scams

Threats to expose a relationship, real or fabricated, unless payment is made to keep it secret.

Online Matchmaking Agency Scams

Fake or exploitative matchmaking services that charge high upfront fees for curated introductions that never materialise or are performed by paid actors.

Visa Sponsorship Romance Scams

Online partners who request money for visa fees, flight costs, or migration paperwork as part of a plan to supposedly come and live with you.

Psychic and Clairvoyant Romance Guidance Scams

Fraudulent psychics who exploit loneliness and romantic hope to extract repeated payments for rituals, readings, and 'curse removals' promising to bring a partner closer.

Fake Sugar Momma Scam

Fraudsters pose as wealthy older women offering a generous allowance to younger people, then request fees, gift cards, or personal information before the promised money is ever sent.

Military Deployment Leave Fee Scam

Fraudsters posing as deployed military personnel claim they need financial help to secure leave to visit the victim, then disappear after payment is made.

Online Marriage Visa Fee Scam

After building a long-distance romantic relationship, scammers claim they need money for visa or immigration fees to come and marry the victim — then disappear once paid.

Scams in the news

Exclusive-US holds more secret talks with Myanmar’s military-backed rulers in Tokyo, sources say
By Simon Lewis, Poppy McPherson and John Geddie WASHINGTON/TOKYO, Oct 16 (Reuters) – The US and Myanmar’s military-backed government held talks in Tokyo last week, people familiar with the matter said, their second meeting in a month as Washington steps up re-engagement with the generals it shunned after their 2021 coup. Earlier talks in Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw in mid-September focused on securing the release of an American businessman and shutting down scam centers that target Americans, b…
wkzo.com · Oct 16, 2026
Real-time Chatbot Romance Scam Detection in Stage Classification
Computer Science > Computation and Language [Submitted on 30 Sep 2026] Title:Real-time Chatbot Romance Scam Detection in Stage ClassificationView PDF Abstract:Romance scam has become a serious problem via social media, and the improvement of artificial intelligence enable to fake identify easily. In the study, a chatbot has developed to detect romance scam in real-time through Line Messaging API. Using the seven stage theories in the social science field, the stages of romance scam can be detec…
arxiv.org · Oct 16, 2026
Viral romance scam involving alleged 49ers impostor to get Netflix doc
Viral romance scam involving alleged 49ers impostor to get Netflix doc The viral romance scheme involving a man accused of posing as a San Francisco 49ers player to get millions of dollars is touching down at Netflix. The streamer announced on Wednesday, Oct. 14, that it will drop a documentary about the alleged scam, centering on Daejon Labrayae Love, as part of its "Untold" series, which unravels some of the most infamous and talked-about moments in sports. Love, 35, was arrested in late Augu…
miamiherald.com · Oct 15, 2026
'The real danger isn't whether you can spot AI, but whether you can recognize when somebody is trying to deceive you' — these are the AI fakes you need to warn your friends and family about
I've spent a year watching Reddit users ask ‘is this AI?’ — these are the AI fakes and scams you need to warn your friends and family about From fake puppy photos to romance scams, here's what to watch out for I've been reporting on AI for a year and a half now. Throughout that time, I’ve regularly visited Reddit's r/isthisAI community. This is where people share suspicious photos, videos and messages and ask other users to help them work out whether they're real or AI-generated. I find it fasc…
techradar.com · Oct 15, 2026
Netflix greenlights doc on Daejon Love, the fake 49ers WR who fleeced dating app victims for $1.3M
Netflix has officially ordered an Untold documentary on the wildest fake-baller scheme in modern sports, locking in on Daejon Love, the 35-year-old con man who swindled women out of more than $1.3 million by pretending to be a San Francisco 49ers wide receiver. This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX News may be compensated. This content was created by a team that works independently from the FOX newsroom. Titled "Untold: Wide…
foxnews.com · Oct 14, 2026

Headlines from their original publishers via the Currents news API — each link opens the source article.