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What are romance scams and how can they be avoided?

“The added layer of emotional deception involved with romance scams means that victims could be left emotionally and financially devastated”.

Liz Ziegler
Retail Fraud & Financial Crime Director
Last updated: 26 March 2025
4 min read

For millions of people across the country social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are a convenient way to share interests online, plus keep in touch with friends and loved ones. And using dating apps is a chance to meet like-minded individuals, and potential romantic partners too.

But suppose the person you’d struck up a connection with – who you might have spoken with online for weeks, months or even years – was actually an imposter. Worse still, what if their sole reason for speaking to you in the first place was to try and scam you out of your hard-earned money.

Unfortunately, this awful scenario is a reality for thousands of people across the UK. While social media platforms boast many benefits, they can also be used as a tool for fraudsters to deceive innocent victims online.
 

What are romance scams?

Romance scams – also known as dating scams – are when fraudsters hide behind the anonymity afforded by social media platforms to manipulate those seeking love or friendship into giving them money, personal information or, in some cases, gifts.

By creating phony names, pictures and biographies on dating apps and social media sites, these callous fraudsters are able to gain the trust of their victims over time. Often, these criminals will also research their victims’ profiles prior to reaching out to them, making note of their interests to strike up conversations. 

And while not as common as other types of impersonation fraud – whereby criminals pretend to be friends, family or from reputable organisations – romance scams can be seriously damaging.

2024 saw a

64% rise

in romance scams for people over the age of 75, compared to the year before.

Are romance scams on the rise?

Research from Lloyds Bank has found that 2024 saw a 64% rise in romance scams for people over the age of 75, compared to the year before. Victims aged between 75 and 84 lost £9,054 on average – 52% more than all other age groups, which lost on average £5,338.

Last year, those between the ages of 55 and 64 were the most likely to be duped by dishonest individuals feigning a romantic interest, making up 20% of all romance scam reports.

Of course, any type of fraud is totally unacceptable. But the added layer of emotional deception involved with romance scams means that victims will be left emotionally and financially devastated, with many losing trust in people altogether.

Kathy’s story:

Kathy (aged 80) started talking to someone called ‘Freddie’ through a word game on Facebook. After first speaking online, they began to speak on the phone and eventually this developed into a relationship.

Freddie told Kathy his son was working on an oil rig near Germany.

Freddie then told Kathy his son was in a tragic car accident and had passed away. Freddie said he was going to work on the oil rig to finish the job in place of his son.

After finishing the job on the oil rig, he told Kathy he had been arrested travelling back as machinery he had with him was worth £300,000 and he had to pay £30,000 in tax for this machinery, but his card was blocked.

He asked Kathy to help with this payment, telling her he could raise £20,000 by selling jewellery but he would need help with the rest. Kathy agreed to send £11,000 to Freddie, who said she should send the funds to a policeman’s bank account, as his own account had been closed by police.

Freddie asked for more money, as he claimed he was unable to get the money from the policeman. Kathy spoke to the bank and they explained she’d been the victim of a scam.

Kathy’s total loss was £11,000.

How can people protect themselves from romance scams?

We’re encouraging our customers to be especially careful who they share their information with online, or via mobile apps.

And as a rule of thumb, we strongly discourage anyone from transferring money to someone they have not met in person. After all, there’s no limits to the depths a scammer would sink to get what they want; if they sense a chance to pull on a potential victim’s heart strings with excuses such as family issues, business problems or even medical bills, they won’t hesitate – especially if they know these issues are close to their targets heart.

It’s all too easy for someone to set up a fake profile, so it’s sensible to question everything that’s in a social media bio. And when it comes to dating sites in particular, it pays to seek out the organisation’s guidelines via its website on how to prevent fraud from happening.

Naturally, we also advise that customers never share their banking details online. And should a customer be asked to transfer money quickly, they should take time to step back and examine the situation. If the person asking for the cash were truly someone that the customer could trust, they wouldn’t attempt to rush anyone into transferring any money – no matter how small the sum. 
 

What is Lloyds Banking Group doing to prevent fraud?

Here at Lloyds Banking Group, safeguarding our customers from fraud is a top priority. At the time of writing, we have invested more than £100 million in our defences to stop the majority of attempted fraud. And we are proud to say we were the first organisation in Europe to introduce new, state-of-the-art technology that helps safeguard over 30 million customers from telephone fraudsters.

Moreover, the Group was also the first financial services provider to offer a name-checking service – 'Confirmation of Payee' – on our app. The service is now available to our Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank customers – giving them peace of mind when sending payments online .

All of that said, we also understand that fraudsters never stop looking for new ways to scam unsuspecting victims. That’s why our dedicated team works 24 hours a day, seven days a week to fight fraud, and protect our customers across the country.

Originally published February 2023

Top tactics romance scammers use:

  • The most common ‘occupations’ used by scammers include military personnel, as well as oil rig or offshore platform workers. This gives scammers an excuse as to why communication can be difficult, and why they might have trouble speaking on the phone.
  • They may also pretend to be CEOs, business owners, doctors, aid workers or engineers, to give the impression that they are too busy to meet in person or speak on the phone. It also enables them to build a false veneer of financial stability and trustworthiness.
  • Reasons that scammers might say they need money quickly include medical emergencies, such as a car accident, or travel expenses so that they can travel to visit their victim.
  • They also might say they have legal fees, taxes or business problems, which is particularly common to those using the ‘CEO’ disguise. Scammers will persuade their victim that they need money quickly as a ‘temporary’ loan.
  • Generally scammers will ‘love-bomb’ victims. They may also emotionally manipulate victims and guilt-trip them into sending money.
  • Scammers will also avoid meeting face to face, and present excuses as to why they can’t video call.
  • They will request money, and often create a sense of urgency to put pressure on their victims. They may say that the money is for medical expenses, to cover a business expense, or even to be able to travel to ‘meet’ their victim. 

Financial wellbeing Fraud

Liz Ziegler
About the author Liz Ziegler

Liz is the Retail Bank Fraud & Financial Crime Director.  She has held a number of senior roles in Lloyds Banking Group, mainly in the Retail Bank, across credit cards, customer services, transformation as well as integrations & divestments. 

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