It starts with a simple DM on Instagram. It ends with an AI-generated con artist, thousands of dollars lost, and a harsh lesson in digital deception.<\/p>\n
The story that follows offers a look at how far romance scams can go. With that, we warn you that this story is a cautionary tale. We share it to show just how high the stakes can get in these scams and how cunning the scammers who run them can be.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, it gives us an opportunity to show how you can spot and avoid romance scams in all their forms.<\/p>\n
For five months, 25-year-old computer programmer Maggie K. exchanged daily messages with a man she met on Instagram, convinced she had found something real.<\/p>\n
When it was finally time to meet in person, he never showed. Instead, he claimed he had missed his flight and needed money to rebook. Desperate to finally see him, Maggie sent him $1,200.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014silence. His accounts vanished.<\/p>\n
He hadn\u2019t just ghosted her\u2014he had never existed at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ignored my gut feeling… I sent him the money. Then he disappeared,\u201d Maggie told McAfee, hoping her story would serve as a warning to others. \u201cWhen I reported the scam, the police told me his images were AI-generated. He wasn\u2019t even a real person. That was the scariest part\u2014I had trusted someone who never even existed.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Maggie\u2019s story falls into a heartbreaking extreme, romance scams of all sorts happen often enough. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s (FBI) 2023 Internet Crime Report, losses to reported cases of romance scams topped more than $650 million.<\/span>i<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cites even higher figures for 2023, at $1.4 billion, for a median loss of $2,000 per reported case.<\/span>ii<\/sup><\/span> That makes romance scams the highest in reported losses for any form of imposter scam according to the FTC.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Sadly, many romance scams go unreported. The reasons vary. Understandably, some victims feel ashamed. This is particularly the case when it comes to older victims. Many fear their friends and families might take it as a sign that they aren\u2019t able to fully care for themselves anymore. Other victims might feel that the romance was real \u2014 that they weren\u2019t scammed at all. They believe that their love interest will come back.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Practically anyone can fall victim to a romance scam. People of all ages and backgrounds have found themselves entangled in romance scams. With that, there should be no shame. These scammers have shown time and time again how sophisticated their playbooks are. They excel at slow and insidious manipulation over time.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When<\/span> the scammer starts asking for money, the victim is locked in. They believe that they\u2019re in love with someone who loves them just the same. They fork over the money without question. And that\u2019s what makes these scams so exceptionally damaging.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Sophisticated as these scammers are, you can spot them.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Even with the arrival of AI chat tools and deepfake technology, romance scammers still rely on a set of age-old tricks. Ultimately, romance scammers play long and patient mind games to get what they want. In many cases, scammers use scripted playbooks put together by other scammers. They follow a common roadmap, one that we can trace and share so you can avoid falling victim.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Top signs include \u2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It seems too good to be true.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If the person seems like a perfect match right from the start, be cautious. Scammers often stake out their victims and create profiles designed to appeal to their desires and preferences. In some cases, we\u2019ve seen instances where a scammer uses pictures and profiles similar to the deceased partners of widowers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Love comes quickly. Too quickly.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As the case was with \u201cFrank,\u201d two weeks hadn\u2019t passed before the word \u201clove\u201d appeared in the messages. Take that as a red flag, particularly online when you\u2019ve had no in-person contact with them. A rush into declarations of love <\/span>might<\/span> indicate ulterior motives.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The story doesn\u2019t check out.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Victims might think they\u2019re talking to a romantic partner, yet they\u2019re talking with a scammer. Sometimes several different scammers. As we\u2019ve shown in our blogs before, <\/span>large online crime organizations run some romance scams<\/span><\/a>. With several people running the scam, inconsistencies can crop up. Look out for that.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What\u2019s more, even individual scammers forget details they’ve previously shared or provide conflicting <\/span>info<\/span> about their background, job, or family. It\u2019s possible that one romance scammer has several scams going <\/span>on at<\/span> once, which can lead to confusion on their part.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You feel pressured.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Romance scammers pump their victims for info. With things like addresses, phone numbers, and financial details, scammers use that info to commit further identity theft<\/a> or scams. If someone online presses you for this info, keep it to yourself. It might be a scam.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Another mark of a scam \u2014 if the person asks all sorts of prying questions and doesn\u2019t give up any such info about themselves. A romance scam is very one way in this regard.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019re asked for money in some form or fashion.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This is the heart of the scam. With the \u201crelationship\u201d established, the scammer starts asking for money. They might ask for bank transfers, cryptocurrency, money orders, or gift cards. In all, they ask for funds that victims have a tough time getting refunded, if at all. Consider requests for money in any form as the reddest of red flags.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Watch out for AI.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Scammers now use AI. And that actually gives us one <\/span>less<\/span><\/i> tell-tale sign of a romance scam. It used to be that romance scammers refused to hop on video calls as they would reveal their true identities. The same for voice chats. (Suddenly, that Swedish businessman doesn\u2019t sound so Swedish.) That\u2019s not the case anymore. With AI audio and video deepfake technology so widely available, scammers can now sound and look the part they\u2019re playing \u2014 in real time. AI mirrors every expression they make as they chat on a video call.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As things stand now, these technologies have limits. The AI can only track faces, not body movements. Scammers who use this technology must sit rather rigidly. Further, many AI tools have a hard time capturing the way light reflects or catches the eye. If something looks off, the person on the other end of <\/span>the call<\/span> might be using deepfake technology.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The important point is this: today\u2019s romance scammers can make themselves appear like practically anyone. Just because you\u2019re chatting with a \u201creal\u201d person on a call or video meeting, that\u2019s no guarantee they are who they say.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Romance scammers track down their victims in several ways. Some scammers blast out direct messages and texts <\/span>en masse<\/span><\/i> with the hope they\u2019ll get a few bites. Others profile their potential victims before they contact them. Likewise, they\u2019ll research anyone who indeed gives them a bite with a response to a blast.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In all cases, locking down your privacy can make it tougher for a scammer to target you. And tougher for them to scam you if they do. Your info is their goldmine, and they use that info against you as they build a \u201crelationship\u201d with you.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With that in mind, you can take several steps \u2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Make your social media more private.<\/span><\/b> Our new\u202f<\/span>McAfee Social Privacy Manager<\/span><\/a>\u202fpersonalizes your privacy based on your preferences. It does the heavy lifting by adjusting more than 100 privacy settings across your social media accounts in\u202fonly\u202fa few clicks. This makes sure\u202fthat your\u202fpersonal info is only visible to the people you want to share it with. It also keeps it out of search engines where the public can see it. Including scammers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Watch what you post on public forums.<\/span><\/b> As with social media, scammers harvest info from online forums dedicated to sports, hobbies, interests, and the like. If possible, use a screen name on these sites so that your profile doesn\u2019t immediately identify you. Likewise, keep your personal details to yourself. When posted on a public forum, it becomes a matter of public record. Anyone, including scammers, can look it up.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Remove your info from data brokers that sell it.\u202f<\/span><\/b>McAfee Personal Data Cleanup<\/span><\/a>\u202fhelps you remove your personal info from many of the riskiest data broker sites out there. That includes your contact info. Running it regularly can keep your name and info\u202foff\u202fthese sites, even as data brokers collect and post new info. Depending on your plan, it can send requests to remove your data automatically.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Delete your old accounts.<\/span><\/b> Yet another source of personal info comes from data breaches. Scammers use this info as well to complete a sharper picture of their potential victims. With that, many internet users can have over 350 online accounts, many of which they might not know are still active. <\/span>McAfee Online Account Cleanup<\/span><\/a> can help you delete them. It runs monthly scans to find your online accounts and shows you their risk level. From there, you can decide which to delete, protecting your personal info from data breaches and your overall privacy as a result.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019ve always had to keep our guard up to some extent when it <\/span>comes<\/span> to online romance. Things today call for even more skepticism. Romance scams have become tremendously more sophisticated, largely thanks to AI tools.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Even with technology reshaping the tricks scammers can pull, recognizing that their tactics remain the same as ever can protect you from harm.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Romance scammers flatter, manipulate, and pressure their way into the lives of their victims. They play off emotions and threaten to \u201cleave\u201d if they don\u2019t get what they ask for. Emotionally, none of it feels right. Any kind of emotional extortion like that is a sign to end an online relationship, hard as that might be.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The trick is that the victim might be in deep at that point. They might not act even if things <\/span>feel<\/span> wrong. That\u2019s where family and friends come in. If something doesn\u2019t feel right, share what\u2019s happening with someone you\u2019ve known and trusted for years. That can help clear up any clouded judgment. Sometimes it takes an extra set of eyes to spot a scammer.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If you or someone you know falls victim to a romance scam, <\/span>remember<\/span> that no one is alone in this. Thousands and thousands of others are victims too. It might come as some comfort, particularly as many, many victims are otherwise savvy and centered people. Anyone, <\/span>anyone<\/span><\/i>, can find themselves a victim.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Lastly, romance scams are crimes. If one happens to you, report it. <\/span>In the U.S., you can report it to the\u202f<\/span>FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)<\/span><\/a> and you can\u202f<\/span>file a complaint with the FTC<\/span><\/a>. Also, report any theft or threats to your local authorities.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In all, the word on romance online is this \u2014 take things slowly. \u201cLove\u201d in two weeks or less hoists a big red flag. Very much so online. Know those signs of a scam when you see them. And if they rear their head, act on them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It starts with a simple DM on Instagram. It ends with an AI-generated con artist, thousands of dollars lost, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1407,"featured_media":190236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10670],"tags":[],"coauthors":[15735],"class_list":["post-190189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-tricks"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSigns of a<\/span> romance <\/span>scam<\/span> to look out for<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
How to make it tougher for a romance scammer to target you<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
Stay extra skeptical of sudden romance online<\/span><\/b><\/h2>\n