Relationship and Trust Scams

Romance Scams

A person builds an online relationship and trust before creating reasons to request money, investments, or financial favors.

Understand the pattern

How this scam operates

The scammer develops an emotional bond over time, often while explaining why meeting or video calling is difficult. After trust is established, emergencies, travel costs, investment opportunities, or requests to receive money begin. The story may change, but each obstacle leads to another financial request.

Details can vary, but the goal is usually to create enough trust, fear, or urgency that you act before verifying the story. Caller ID, profile names, logos, and polished websites can all be copied.

A useful ruleEnd the original contact. Then find the organization or person independently and ask whether the claim is genuine.

What the scammer wants

Money, cryptocurrency, financial favors, or access to accounts through an emotional relationship.

Common tactics

Patient trust-building, emotional manipulation, isolation, fabricated emergencies, and repeated promises.

Evidence in context

Commonly documented operational hotspots

These are recurring locations in law-enforcement cases and established fraud research—not a ranking of countries or people.

Location does not identify a person Scam operations are transnational. A phone number, caller ID, profile or IP location, accent, or claimed location does not reliably reveal where an operation is based. Listing a location does not imply that ordinary people from that country or region are scammers.
Ghana Significant

Federal cases document Ghana-based networks using dating sites, social media, stolen identities, fabricated relationships and emergencies, and money-laundering participants.

Association
Significant documented location
Evidence source
Cyber-enabled fraud prosecutions — U.S. Department of Justice
Last verified
Nigeria Significant

Federal cyber-enabled-fraud cases repeatedly document Nigeria-linked organized networks conducting romance fraud and laundering proceeds. Romance fraud remains global.

Association
Significant documented location
Evidence source
Cyber-enabled fraud prosecutions — U.S. Department of Justice
Last verified
Recognize the pressure

Warning signs to look for

High risk

Relationship followed by money requests

A developing personal relationship shifts toward emergencies, investments, loans, or financial favors.

High risk

Discourages independent verification

The person insists you remain on the line, keep the matter secret, or avoid official channels.

High risk

Unusual payment method

Payment is demanded through gift cards, cryptocurrency, cash, or another difficult-to-reverse method.

Take back control

What to do next

Take protective action even if you are not yet certain this is a scam.

  1. immediate response

    Pause relationship payments

    Stop payments and discuss the full situation with someone you trust.

  2. Immediate response

    Preserve evidence and secure access

    Save messages, receipts, account names, URLs, and transaction details. If credentials were exposed, change them from a trusted device and review active sessions.

How to protect yourself

Pause unexpected requests involving money, codes, documents, or account access. Leave the original conversation and verify the claim using an official app, a known website, or a number from a statement or card. Do not rely on caller ID, profile names, or links supplied by the sender.

If you were affected

Stop contact and further payments. Contact the bank, payment service, marketplace, or platform through its official channel. Secure exposed accounts from a trusted device, preserve messages and transaction records, and report through the appropriate official service. Watch for follow-up recovery scams.

Open the recovery checklist

Related practical guides

Recovery

What to Do If You Sent Money to a Scammer

Immediate steps for contacting a payment provider, protecting accounts, and preserving evidence.

7 minute read

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Verified destinations

Official help and reporting

Choose the service for your location. External links open the organization’s official website.

United States

ReportFraud.ftc.gov

Federal Trade Commission

Official United States service for reporting fraud, scams, and bad business practices.

Visit official site
United Kingdom

Action Fraud

City of London Police

The United Kingdom’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime.

Phone: 0300 123 2040

Visit official site
Canada

Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre

Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ontario Provincial Police, and Competition Bureau Canada

Canada’s central service for information about fraud and for reporting fraud and cybercrime.

Phone: 1-888-495-8501

Visit official site
Australia

Scamwatch

National Anti-Scam Centre

Australian government information and reporting guidance about scams.

Visit official site

Investment and Cryptocurrency Scams

Fraudulent opportunities use fabricated returns, manipulated dashboards, and urgency to obtain deposits.

Read related guide