Victims of romance scam rose more than a fifth (22%) in 2023, compared to 2022, according to new figures from Lloyds Bank.
The average lost amount per incident was £ 6937 last year ($ 8847). This was lower than in 2022, when the average loss was £ 8237 ($ 10.505).
Romantic scam has exploded in the foreground in recent years, whereby attackers use fake profiles on social media and online dating apps to attract potential victims.
They are also often used as a gateway to other types of fraud and malignant cyber activity. In December 2023, attackers often build relationships with victims using romantic scam techniques in approval Phishing scam.
What are the common characteristics of romantic scams?
The Lloyds report noted that romantic scammers are often very advanced and spend time building a relationship of trust with victims online, “shower them with affection and attention.”
Their social media and dating site profiles are carefully made, often with fake photos and information.
The scammers will make countless apologies why they cannot meet each other personally or show their faces on video calls. Lloyds said that there are common apologies, among other things, working in the armed forces or in international aid and charity work.
After building trust with the victim, they will ask for money to claim reasons such as family problems or medical accounts. They often start to request small amounts and to build up over time.
The new data showed that men were a little more likely to fall victim to romantic scam, which made 52% of the incidents.
However, when women fall victim, they report considerably higher average losses than men – £ 9083 ($ 11,589) compared to £ 5145 ($ 6564).
People between the ages of 55 and 64 were most likely misled by romantic scammers, and the number of cases under this age group increased by 49% compared to 2022.
The age group that lost the most money to this scam was between 65 and 74. These victims lost on average £ 13,123 ($ 16,742) per incident.
How romance scammers detect
Liz Ziegler, director of fraud prevention at Lloyds Bank, emphasized the enormous emotional and financial damage caused by romantic scams.
She advised: “Social media and online dating apps are full of fake profiles, and it can be difficult to say who is real. Remember that there is no good relationship by sending money to someone you didn’t meet and this should be a big red flag.”
The British bank giant gave the following advice for people to prevent the victim of this kind of fraud:
- Be careful with profile photos that look professional or model -like, and reverse search photos where possible
- Talk to someone you already know to get their perspective if you are suspicious of a profile with which you speak
- Be on your guard if someone has endless apologies about why he cannot meet each other personally
- Never send money, or spend personal or financial data to someone you only met online
AI is used in romantic scams
Cyber criminals have been observed with the help of generative AI tools such as chatgpt to improve social engineering attacks, including romantic scams.
In August 2023, Sophos researchers noted that the infamous cryptorom campaign, which combines fake crypto -trade and romantic scam, uses generative AI tools to lure and communicate with victims.
Jake Moore, a global cyber security advisor at ESET, explained that AI chatbots make it more difficult for victims to detect such scams.
“SCAM artists focus on people with smart psychological techniques to impress them and even use the newest powerful AI to help with this manipulation,” he noticed.
Read more: Nigerian ‘Yahoo Boys’ behind Social Media Sextortion Surge in the US.