Crypto romance scam: how it unfolds
A crypto romance scam, step by step: how a relationship becomes a trading platform, why a small withdrawal succeeds and a large one does not, and what to do next.
6 min read
Romance scam warning signs and what to do
Romance scam warning signs are worth learning before you need them. This is the part of the site that matters most, and it is the part most dating sites will not write, because writing it honestly means admitting that the risk is real. It is real, adults aged 40 to 69 are the most likely to report losing money to it, and almost all of it follows a handful of patterns that can be learned in an afternoon.
What the published figures show
The FBI logged 17,910 romance scam reports in 2024, with reported losses over $672 million. Most reports never turn into a figure at all, because people do not report. The Federal Trade Commission publishes its own losses by age band. Its figures put the largest median losses on people 70 and older, and its finding on who reports at all runs the other way from the usual assumption: adults aged 40 to 69 are the most likely to report losing money to this kind of fraud.
The reason is not that older adults are more gullible. It is that the sums involved are larger, the isolation is often greater, and a person who has recently been widowed or divorced is at a point in life when a new relationship is both wanted and overdue.
Military romance scams: a deployment story
Why the deployment story works so well, the details that do not hold up, how to check a claim of service, and where a fake service member is reported.
6 min read
Sextortion after a dating app match
How sextortion starts on a dating app, why paying makes it worse rather than better, what to do in the first hour, and how to report it.
6 min read
Someone asked me for money: what to do
Someone asked you for money online: the emergencies used most, the details that never resolve, how the money is asked for, and the question that ends them.
6 min read
Is this dating profile fake? Check sites
Dating profile check sites: what these services actually run, what you can check yourself at no cost, and what to ask before handing over photographs or payment.
6 min read
Why scammers target the recently widowed
What becomes visible after a death, the approach that follows a loss, how to raise it with someone you love, and the practical steps that help.
6 min read
If something is happening to you now
Read this before you read anything else on this site.
- Stop sending money, and do not send more to fix it. A second payment is treated as proof that you will keep paying. Nothing you send makes the first payment more likely to come back.
- Do not delete the conversation yet. Screenshots of the profile, the messages and the payment records are what every report and every bank inquiry needs.
- Contact your bank or payment provider today. Speed is the only thing that improves the chance of recovering money, and a wire, a gift card and a cryptocurrency transfer each behave differently.
- Report it. Anything involving money goes to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov, and consumer fraud goes to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. Reporting it to the app as well protects the next person even when it does nothing for you.
- Tell one person in real life. Secrecy is what the whole thing runs on. Saying it out loud to somebody you trust is the step that ends it.