13 February 2024
As Valentine’s Day approaches, it is important to have a heightened awareness of romance fraudsters, who view the day widely known for celebrating love as a sinister opportunity to deceive innocent victims looking for love.
Just yesterday, the government launched its new anti-fraud campaign, Stop! Think Fraud, and revealed that one in 17 adults were victims of fraud in just one year.
Sara Angol, financial crime prevention expert at Quilter, offers tips on how to stay safe:
“Romance fraud is the engineering of a fake relationship, typically prevalent on online platforms, which involves scammers tricking an individual to send over sums of money for their own financial gains.
“This type of fraud usually takes place on dating sites or social media platforms, where the fraudster can impersonate different identities using fake names and profile pictures, to manipulate people into thinking they’re real and forming a fake relationship with them in the hopes of receiving money.”
According to UK Finance’s 2023 Half Year fraud update, a total of £18.5 million was lost to romance scams during the first half of 2023, increasing by 26% when compared with the same period in 2022.
There were 2,120 recorded cases during the months of January to June in 2023, but the actual figures are likely to be much higher, says Angol:
“Romance fraud is a form of psychological manipulation which scammers use to take advantage of others through false pretences. This type of fraud can be damaging to an individual’s sense of emotional and financial security and many victims will be unaccounted for as they feel a sense of embarrassment to come forward to financial crime authorities.
“This type of fraud, which was recently highlighted after Love Island’s Georgia Steel discussed her experience being the victim of such a crime, tends to target wealthy individuals, but it is vital that everyone is vigilant and are aware that there are many scammers out there with the intention of using deceptive tactics to obtain sums of money, regardless of the damage they cause. Staying safe online has never been more vital and reporting fraudulent activities to financial crime authorities such as Action Fraud will help to eliminate these harmful scams.”
Angol offers the following tips to stay safe online against romance fraud:
- Avoid transferring money to individuals you have never met.
- Research the person you are talking to – uploading their profile picture to a search engine will allow you to see if they have copied someone else’s identity.
- If you are meeting someone you met online, always remember to schedule the meeting in a public place.
- Only accept friend requests from people you are familiar with.
- Speak with family or friends for personal advice.
If you believe you or someone you know has been a target for romance fraud, you should report any suspicious activity to Action Fraud.
