Crime

Swooned or swindled? Romance scammers bilked Mass. residents out of $8 million last year, FBI says

Watch out for people who intend to rip you off rather than take you out.

money heart stock Shutterstock

February 10, 2021

2 minutes to read

Cheating on a partner is no good, but cheating someone out of thousands of dollars by pretending to be their partner definitely isn’t better.

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, the FBI Boston Division is warning New Englanders about online romance scams — plots to dupe people looking for companionship and exploit their vulnerability to nick their financial or personal info.

The scams break hearts, but they also break the bank. In total, 361 people in Massachusetts reported $8,006,260 in losses from romance scams to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2020. Details for individual cases aren’t available, so there are likely major outliers, but that works out to an average loss of over $22,000 per victim.

The actual figure for total losses is likely much higher “as many victims are hesitant to report being taken advantage of due to embarrassment, shame, or humiliation,” the FBI said in a release.

“The criminals who carry out romance scams are experts at what they do,” the bureau said. “They spend hours honing their skills, relying on well-rehearsed scripts that have been used repeatedly and successfully, and sometimes keep journals on their victims to better understand how to manipulate and exploit them. In some cases, victims may be recruited, unknowingly, to transfer money illegally on behalf of others.”

Elsewhere in New England, 80 people in Rhode Island lost nearly $1.4 million, 57 in Maine lost over $1.5 million, and 71 in New Hampshire lost over $820,000. Almost 24,000 complaints were filed to the FBI nationwide last year, with losses totaling around $605 million. The number of complaints in 2020 was 22% higher than in 2019, which the FBI suggests was caused by increased isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bureau provides plenty of warning signs for online valentines. If a prospective partner seems “too perfect,” tries to isolate you from friends or family, claims to live very far away, consistently flakes on promises to meet in person, or asks you to send saucy snaps or financial information that could be used to blackmail or extort you, then they could be a scammer.

The FBI is also reminding online daters to research photos and profile information, ask lots of questions and avoid going too fast, and never send money or help someone move money if you don’t personally know them.

If you suspect that someone online might be a scammer, consider filing a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.