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A romance scam is a confidence fraud in which someone invents or misrepresents an online identity, builds affection and trust, and then uses that relationship to obtain money, personal information, intimate images, or access to financial accounts. Scammers may meet targets on dating apps or social media, move the conversation to private channels, claim that distance or emergencies prevent an in-person meeting, and eventually request payment or promote an investment. Generative AI can make the profile, photos, translation, and messages look more convincing and lets criminals operate at greater scale, but polished content is not proof that a person is genuine.
What a romance scam is
The FBI defines the pattern plainly: “In romance scams, a criminal uses a fake online identity to gain a victim’s affection and trust.” The relationship may be entirely online or may include calls and video chats. What makes it a scam is the deliberate deception about identity, circumstances, or intentions and the later attempt to extract a benefit.
The benefit is often money, but it can also be copies of identity documents, account credentials, access to a bank account, cryptocurrency transfers, gift cards, intimate images, or help moving funds. A person who asks to use your account to receive or forward money may be trying to launder proceeds from another theft, even if the request is presented as a favor to someone you love.
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A fabricated identity creates the opening
The scammer builds a profile around a stolen photograph, a fictional biography, or a real person’s details used without permission. The stated job, location, family story, and relationship history are selected to sound plausible and to explain why the person is available online but difficult to meet. A profile can be partly true and still be deceptive; the key question is whether the person is deliberately concealing who controls the account.
Attention turns into accelerated intimacy
After matching or making contact, the scammer may be unusually attentive, mirror the target’s interests, and declare strong feelings very quickly. The frequent messages create a sense of exclusivity before the target has had time to check basic facts. The scammer then often asks to “move the conversation off the platform” to text, email, or an encrypted messaging service, where moderation and account records are less accessible.
Distance and cancellations explain the missing meeting
The person may claim to live abroad, work on an offshore project, serve in the military, or travel constantly. They promise to visit but repeatedly cancel because of a new assignment, a flight problem, a border issue, or an unexpected family crisis. Each explanation is designed to preserve the emotional bond while postponing the one check that is hardest to fake: meeting safely in person.
An emergency or investment request arrives
Once trust is established, the request is framed as temporary and urgent: an emergency surgery, a plane ticket, legal fees, an important delivery, or help for a friend or relative who is sick, hurt, or in jail. Another route is an investment pitch, frequently involving cryptocurrency, a purported guaranteed return, or a professional-looking trading platform that displays profits the victim cannot withdraw. The amount may start small and increase after the victim complies.
The scam can expand beyond a single payment
Some victims are asked for account access, identity documents, one-time passcodes, or assistance receiving and forwarding money. Others are persuaded to send intimate images and then threatened with publication unless they pay. These are changes in the criminal’s objective, not evidence that the relationship has become more serious.
How AI and fake profiles improve the deception
More convincing text and translation
In its February 2026 San Antonio warning, the FBI describes generative-AI uses that include improving translation, eliminating grammatical errors, and writing messages that appear authentic and emotionally persuasive. A criminal who previously had difficulty maintaining a long conversation in another language can now produce fluent, personalized replies at any hour.
Realistic images and invented content
AI image tools can generate a plausible portrait, alter an existing photograph, or create supporting material such as a workplace scene. The FTC notes that fake profiles may also use stolen photos, including pictures of real military personnel. A consistent face across several images therefore does not establish that the person in the images owns the account.
Scale and personalization
Automation allows one operator or group to maintain many conversations, test which emotional stories produce replies, and tailor language to a target’s worries and interests. AI can increase the polish and volume of deception; it does not prove that every polished message, fluent speaker, or attractive photograph was AI-generated. The cited agencies have not established that AI is used in every romance scam, and there is no official AI-detection test that proves an account is real or fraudulent.
Warning signs that deserve a pause
One sign alone is not a forensic test. Several together, especially when followed by a financial request, justify stopping and independently checking the story.
| Pattern | Why it matters | Safer response |
|---|---|---|
| Intense declarations very early | Fast emotional commitment can reduce the time available for verification and make later pressure feel like a test of loyalty. | Slow the relationship down and discuss it with someone outside the conversation. |
| Pressure to leave the dating app or social network | Private channels can remove platform safety tools and make reporting harder. | Keep communication on the original service until identity and intentions are independently established. |
| Repeatedly cancelled meetings | Distance, overseas work, or a sequence of sudden hardships may be a permanent excuse rather than a temporary obstacle. | Do not treat a promised future visit as verification. |
| Isolation from friends or family | A scammer benefits when nobody else can question the story or see the messages. | Tell a trusted person what is happening before taking any action. |
| Requests for money, gifts, cryptocurrency, gift cards, wire transfers, or account access | These are direct routes to an immediate loss or to use of your account in another crime. | Do not send funds or credentials to someone known only online or by phone. |
| A romantic conversation shifts into investment advice | Guaranteed returns, urgent deposits, and a platform showing profits are common ways to obtain larger transfers. | End the investment discussion and verify through an independent financial professional or regulator, not through the person who introduced it. |
| Requests for intimate images followed by threats | The goal has changed to sextortion: payment is demanded to prevent disclosure. | Do not pay or send additional material; preserve the threats and report them. |
How to check a profile before sending anything
- Slow the timetable. Do not let an emergency, a countdown, or a promise of a future meeting decide for you. A legitimate relationship can withstand time for verification.
- Ask specific, repeatable questions. Ask about the person’s location, employer, travel dates, and other details, then check whether answers remain consistent. Contradictions matter more than a single polished explanation.
- Reverse-search the profile photograph. Use an image-search service to see whether the picture appears under another name or on unrelated profiles. The FTC recommends this step, but an image that produces no result is not proof of identity; new or altered images may not be indexed.
- Search claims independently. Search the stated job together with the word “scammer,” as the FTC’s 2025 consumer alert suggests. Contact an organization through a phone number or website you find yourself, not a link or number supplied by the contact.
- Use a trusted second opinion. Show the profile, messages, and proposed payment to a friend or relative who is not emotionally involved. Secrecy is an advantage for the scammer, so outside review is a protective control.
- Set a firm financial boundary. Never send money or gifts to someone you have not met in person, never share passwords or one-time codes, and never allow an online contact to use your bank account to receive or forward funds.
A video call, a voice message, or a live photograph can show that someone is operating an account at that moment; it cannot independently establish their name, location, or intentions. Treat those features as one piece of information, not as permission to ignore a financial request or contradictory details.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What to do if you think you are being scammed
Stop the interaction and preserve evidence
Stop replying, block the account, and do not send more money, images, identification, or verification codes. Before deleting anything, save the profile URL, usernames, email addresses, phone numbers, messages, attachments, payment receipts, wallet addresses, and dates. Screenshots should include enough context to show who sent each message.
Act quickly with the payment provider
If you paid by bank transfer, card, wire service, gift card, cryptocurrency exchange, or another method, contact that provider immediately. Ask whether the transaction can be stopped, recalled, frozen, or recovered, and explain that it resulted from fraud. Recovery is not guaranteed, but speed gives the provider the best chance to intervene. Change exposed passwords from a clean device and enable multifactor authentication; if a password was reused elsewhere, change it there too.
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The San Antonio FBI warning says that if you installed software at the scammer’s request, disconnect the computer from the internet, shut it down, and report the incident to law enforcement. Do not continue using a potentially compromised device for banking until it has been assessed and cleaned by a qualified professional.
Report through the appropriate channels
- Report the account and messages to the dating app or social platform.
- File a consumer-fraud report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
- Submit an internet-crime complaint to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
- Contact local police when money, threats, identity documents, or account access are involved.
Reporting can connect separate complaints that use the same images, payment accounts, scripts, or infrastructure. Do not blame yourself or the victim: deliberate emotional manipulation, stolen identities, and AI-assisted content can make a false story feel convincing.
What the available figures show
These numbers describe reports received by U.S. agencies, not every scam or every loss. Underreporting is common, and the definitions and geography differ.
| Measure | Figure and scope |
|---|---|
| FTC romance-scam reports and losses | Nearly 70,000 consumers and $1.3 billion in reported losses in FTC 2022 data, released in 2023. These are complaints and reported amounts, not a complete count of victimization. |
| Illness or legal-crisis story | Almost one quarter of the FTC’s 2022 romance-scam reports described a lie that a friend or relative was sick, hurt, or in jail. |
| Sextortion trend | The FTC reported more than eightfold growth in romance-scam sextortion reports over three years. In the cited data spotlight, consumers ages 18–29 were six times more likely than older consumers to report this form. |
| FBI San Antonio Division | More than $28 million in reported confidence/romance-scam losses in that territory in 2025, compared with $15.8 million in 2024. This is a local figure, not a U.S. national total. |
The FBI’s national 2025 IC3 report is the appropriate source for any nationwide AI-related total; an unverified search-result figure should not be treated as established data.
A practical decision rule
When affection, urgency, and money appear in the same conversation, treat the request as a fraud risk until independently disproved. Pause the payment, preserve the evidence, consult someone you trust, and verify the person’s identity through information you obtain yourself. No amount of fluent writing, realistic imagery, or an AI-assisted video call changes that rule.
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