Scammers Stole £92mn by Preying on Vulnerable Internet Daters

The period between Christmas Day and Valentine’s Day is the most perilous for users of dating services, according to UK police, since fraudsters are out in force. According to Action Fraud, many fraudsters try to make contact and form a connection with their victims around this period, resulting in an increase in reports of romance scams and financial loss in the weeks and months afterward.

After the epidemic, the only type of dating that was permitted was internet dating. According to Action Fraud, the UK’s fraud and cybercrime reporting center, 8,863 incidents of fraud and cybercrime were reported to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) between November 2020 and October 2021, up from 6,968 the previous year, with total losses of about £92 million. With 901 reports in March 2021, daters who started online relationships between Christmas and Valentine’s Day were the most vulnerable.

“Usually, romance fraudsters will spend weeks gaining their victims’ trust, feeding them fabricated stories about who they are and their lives – and initially make no suggestion or any desire to ask for any money, so the victim may believe their new love interest is genuine,” said Temporary Detective Chief Superintendent Matt Bradford of the City of London Police. “However, these crooks will beg for money for a variety of emotive reasons weeks, if not months later, and because the emotional link has already been established, victims typically send money without hesitation.”

The majority of the casualties were between the ages of 40 and 70, and more than half of them were women. Because victims are typically too upset and ashamed to come forward, the true number of romantic scams is estimated to be far larger than the number of reported offenses.