STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Love may not cost a thing, in theory, but it cost romance scam victims a record $1.3 billion in the U.S. last year.
A recent study by Social Catfish found that romance scam losses increased by 138% last year, up from $547 million in 2021 – the largest single-year hike over the past five years.
The “reverse search” technology company utilized data from the FBI and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to rank the states based on how much money their residents were defrauded for and the number of victims.
The FTC reported that nearly 70,000 Americans fell victim to romance scams in 2022.
“These scams can take many different forms, where sometimes a single person develops a relationship with the victim over a long period of time,” Social Catfish said in its report. “In other cases, there are elaborate schemes that involve multiple individuals posing as love interests involving victims in money laundering, cryptocurrency or gift card scams.”
According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center fraud report, released last month, the country’s four largest states also held the top four ranks for most money lost in 2022. California topped the list with $158.1 million lost among 2,189 victims; followed by Texas for $60.3 million among 1,331 victims; Florida for $53.4 million among 1,474 victims; and $33.5 million in New York among 823 victims.
California also topped the list for highest average loss per victim at $72,239. Texas ranked sixth with an average $45,338 lost per victim. In terms of average loss, Florida and New York ranked much lower at 23rd ($36,236) and 15th ($40,720) respectively.
More than a third of the payments, 34%, were made via cryptocurrency, according to FTC data. The second most common form of payment was bank wire transfer, 27%, followed by gift cards, 7%.
Scammers’ most common lies used to request money from their victims involved them or someone close to them being sick, hurt or in jail, which was the case for 24% of the scams. The second most common was scammers saying they would help their victims with investing, which accounted for 18% of the scams.
Social Catfish polled 3,047 romance scam victims, noting patterns. Dispelling some stereotypes that intelligence plays a role in a victim’s susceptibility, the results showed that 75% of the victims had some level of college education and 13% earned graduate degrees.
There was a pattern, however, with socio-economic status. Middle- and lower-income Americans – those that make less than $100,000 per year – comprised 84% of the victims.
Social Catfish highlighted three romance scams to be on the lookout for this year:
- Celebrity Romance Scam: There has been a rise in romance scammers pretending to be celebrities on social media. One criminal pretended to be Bruno Mars and stole $100,000 from a woman in Texas. Thankfully, another victim chose not to send a fraudulent Keanu Reeves $400,000 to help him finance the latest John Wick movie. How to Avoid: If a rich celebrity claims to have fallen in love you – and asks for money – it is a scam, and you should block and report them on social media.
- Cryptocurrency Romance Scams: Fraudsters woo their love-struck victim by pretending to have gotten rich in crypto. They convince the target to invest alongside them by downloading an app. While the app even has data showing return on your investment, it is all just a scam. How to Avoid: Perform a reverse image search to confirm if the person is who they say they are. Conduct exhaustive research before making any investments.
- Military Romance scams: Scammers pretending to be military personnel are common in romance scams. They may use stolen military photos and claim to be stationed overseas, which is why they cannot meet in person. They claim to need money to fly back to the U.S. so they can finally meet and be together. How to Avoid: Never give money to anyone who can’t meet in person or video chat.
The full report ,as well more tips to avoid being scammed, can be found be on Social Catfish’s website.
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