WASHINGTON—As Valentine’s Day arrives, new data shed light just how much the lies of romance scammers are costing.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, romance scams cost nearly 70,000 consumers $1.3 billion in 2022.
Using data from the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network, the commission’s new data spotlight breaks down the most common lies that consumers reported being told when they were contacted by romance scammers last year.
According the FTC, atop the list of romance scams is communications telling consumers they needed money because a friend or relative was sick, hurt or in jail – a lie consumers reported hearing in nearly a quarter of reports.
The next most commonly reported lie was that the scammer had great investment advice to share with their newfound romantic interest, followed closely by the lie that the scammer was in the military or that they needed help making some sort of important delivery, the FTC said.
A Growing Scam
The FTC said the data spotlight also highlights a growing tactic used by romance scammers: sextortion, when a romance scammer convinces a consumer to share explicit photos and then threatens to share those photos with the consumer’s social media contacts. The spotlight notes these reports have increased more than eightfold in the past three years, with consumers ages 18-29 six times more likely than older consumers to report this form of romance scam.
According to the spotlight, consumers most often report being contacted by romance scammers via social media, though they often push to move to other messaging apps.
Consumers also reported losing more money by sending cryptocurrency than any other method, the FTC added.
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