Safety
Romance scams in 2026: where they actually start
Reported romance-scam losses passed $1.16 billion in the first nine months of 2025 alone. The number most safety guides bury is where those losses begin: roughly 60% of people who lost money said it started on social media, not on a dating app.
Last updated 20 August 2026
- $1.16bn
- reported lost, first nine months of 2025 (FTC)
- ~60%
- of losses began on social media, not a dating app
- $2,218
- median individual loss (FTC, Q3 2025)
- +38%
- rise in FBI-recorded losses in one year
The scale, from the two agencies that count it
The FTC logged 55,604 romance-scam reports over the first nine months of 2025, up 22% year on year, with reported losses exceeding $1.16 billion and a median individual loss of $2,218 in the third quarter.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded 23,159 complaints of confidence fraud and romance scams in its 2025 report, with $929.3 million in losses — a 38% jump in a single year.
Both numbers are floors, not totals. Romance fraud is among the least-reported categories of crime there is, for the obvious reason that reporting it means telling someone what happened.
The finding that should change your advice
Nearly 60% of people who lost money to a romance scam in 2025 said it began on a social media platform rather than a dating app. An unexpected direct message, a friend request from someone with mutual connections, a comment that turns into a conversation.
The safety advice everyone repeats is aimed at the place where the minority of the money is actually lost.
This is not an argument that dating apps are safe. It is an argument that "be careful on dating apps" is aimed at the wrong window. The apps at least have reporting flows, photo verification and a moderation team with a commercial reason to care. An unsolicited DM has none of that.
How the money leaves
Cryptocurrency has overtaken wire transfer as the leading method, accounting for roughly 34% of reported losses. Gift cards follow at about 17%, wire transfers at 15% and bank transfers at 14%.
That distribution is the single most useful red flag available, because it is not about what someone says — it is about what they eventually ask for. There is no legitimate version of a romantic interest you have never met in person needing to be paid in crypto or gift cards. None.
What actually protects you
Reverse-image search the photos. Scam profiles reuse pictures, and a search that takes fifteen seconds catches a meaningful share of them.
Insist on a live video call early, and treat every reason it cannot happen as the answer rather than an obstacle. Move slowly on any conversation that jumps quickly to another platform — the pivot from an app to WhatsApp or Telegram exists to get you somewhere with no moderation and no record.
Treat any request for money as the end of the conversation, whatever the story attached to it. And if it has already happened: report it to the FTC and to the platform, tell your bank immediately, and know that the median loss is over two thousand dollars, which means you are not an unusually foolish outlier. You are the middle of a very large distribution.
Common questions
How much money is lost to romance scams?
The FTC recorded more than $1.16 billion in reported losses across the first nine months of 2025, from 55,604 reports. The FBI’s IC3 separately recorded $929.3 million in 2025, up 38% year on year. Both figures understate the total, because most romance fraud goes unreported.
Do most romance scams start on dating apps?
No. Roughly 60% of people who lost money to a romance scam in 2025 said it started on a social media platform rather than a dating app — usually an unsolicited message or friend request.
What is the biggest warning sign of a romance scam?
What they ask to be paid in. Cryptocurrency accounts for about 34% of reported losses and gift cards a further 17%. Someone you have never met in person asking for either is the clearest signal available.
What should I do if I have been scammed?
Contact your bank immediately, report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and to the platform where it started, and preserve the messages. Speed matters most with bank and crypto transfers.
Sources
- FTC — new data on social media scams
- FTC Consumer Advice — trends in imposter scams
- FTC — $1.16bn lost to romance scams in 2025
- FBI IC3 — Internet Crime Report
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