RALEIGH, N.C. (February 10, 2026) – With Valentine’s Day only days away, many find themselves looking for love and stumbling upon scammers instead. Beware of fraudsters trying to romance you into giving up money or personal information. According to the BBB’s Latest Scam Tracker Risk Report, romance/friendship scams proved to be the third most risky scam of the year and resulted in the highest median dollar loss. Better Business Bureau, Eastern Carolinas (BBB) has tips to help you spot this scam before you fall.
“As people search for a Valentine or life partner, be wary of those you find online,” Mallory Wojciechowski, BBB President and CEO, warns. “Scammers will try to play with your feelings to get personal and financial information from you. Do your research before you share too much with a potential partner.”
BBB Warns of “Partners” who:
-Offer to help increase your finances. Investment/cryptocurrency scams were the top riskiest scams reported to BBB Scam Tracker in 2024. According to survey respondents, 26.2% of investment/cryptocurrency scams began with the scammer forming a false relationship with them.
-Seem too hot to be true. Scammers offer up good-looking photos and tales of financial success. Be honest with yourself about who would be genuinely interested. If they seem “too perfect,” your alarm bells should ring.
-Are in a hurry to get off the dating site. Catfishers will try very quickly to get you to move to communicating through email, messenger, or the phone.
-Try moving fast. A catfisher will begin speaking of a future together and tell you they love you quickly. They often say they’ve never felt this way before.
-Talk about trust. These scammers will start manipulating you with talk about trust and its importance. This will often be the first step to asking you for money.
-Don’t want to meet. Be wary of someone who always has an excuse to postpone a meeting because they say they are traveling or live overseas or are in the military.
-Use suspicious language. If the person you are communicating with claims to be from your hometown and has poor spelling or grammar, uses overly flowery language or uses phrases that don’t make sense, that’s a red flag.
-Share hard luck stories. Before moving on to asking you for money, the scammer may hint at financial troubles like heat being cut off, a stolen car, or a sick relative. They may also share a sad story from their past (death of parents or spouse, etc.).
Tips to Protect Against Romance Scams:
-Never share money or personal information. A person you’ve never met can use you for identity theft. Your credit card information likely won’t be used to book a ticket to visit you; it will instead be used for personal purchases that may cause debt. Cut off contact if someone starts asking you for information like credit card, bank, or government ID numbers.
-Ask specific questions about details given in a profile. A scammer may stumble over remembering details or making a story fit.
-Do your research. Many scammers steal photos from the web to use in their profiles. You can do a reverse image lookup using a website like tineye.com or images.google.com to see if the photos on a profile are stolen from somewhere else. You can also search online for a profile name, email, or phone number to see what adds up and what doesn’t.
-Verify investment opportunities. Research any trading platform or investment opportunity independently. Look for reviews, warnings, and whether the platform is registered with financial regulatory authorities.
