Fraudsters targeting people looking for love are behind a surge in romance scams – many linked to Facebook – that are raking in millions from lonely Britons.
The average loss is put at £4,500 while the victims range across all income groups and ages with the conmen targeting people from 18 to 93.
New data from Santander UK reveals a troubling rise in romance scams with the figure effectively stolen from its customers put at £3.8 million over the past six months, an increase of 27 percent on the previous six months.
A natural reaction to loneliness in today’s digital age is creating an opportunity for scammers to exploit, according to the bank.
The scammers steal images from the web to catfish their targets into forming an online relationship before hitting their targets with sob stories about financial problems and desperate pleas for cash.
Its behavioural expert, Peter Staffell, and The Traitors’ star, Paul Gorton, have teamed up to explore why so many people are falling for the scams despite nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of people believing they would never become a victim.
Mr Staffell said: “Scammers are experts at presenting themselves as someone you can trust, someone who ‘gets’ you.
“They play the long game, building a relationship before executing on their scam and, as our research shows, it’s a natural instinct for many of us to willingly lend a financial hand to someone who we have formed an emotional bond with.
“Then they’ve gone. The scam is complete, and the impact extends far beyond the financial losses, leaving emotional scars and often people feeling more isolated than before. You can take control though, a few simple checks when you first start to speak to someone, and before your emotions take hold, can reveal a lot about the person you’re speaking to and save heartache further down the line.”
The bank’s research found more than one in two (55 percent admit to feeling lonely at some point.
A third (31 percent) say they would use social or online forums to meet new people to combat feelings of isolation and a similar number (33 percent) believe they can form a deep emotional connection with someone simply by speaking online.
The bank said: “ Unfortunately, this creates an opportunity for scammers and half of Brits (50 percent) have received unsolicited romantic or flirtatious messages online, which they either suspected or turned out to be scams.
“Facebook and have become hunting grounds for the “romantic” scammers, with more than two-thirds (72 percent) of the suspicious messages received on these platforms.”
The bank said that once an emotional connection has been formed the scammers can execute their plan, with nearly a third (29 percent) of people saying they would offer financial support to a romantic partner they’ve known for less than six months.
This number rises sharply to more than half (58 percent) where the relationship has been going on for longer than six months. Common reasons cited by scammers requesting money ranged from support with medical expenses, to simply requiring a gift.
Paul Gorton said: “In my experience, it’s surprisingly easy to build deep trust, especially when someone is charming and says all the right things. As we start to feel a connection, whether it’s real or not, we can end up overlooking red flags and ignore any warnings from others around us.
“Stay vigilant to spot a traitor, it’d be too easy if they simply messaged you out of the blue asking for your money. Approach any new relationship with cautious optimism, complete checks and having your wits about you at the start.”
The average loss is put at £4,500 (Image: Getty)
To raise awareness about the dangers of romance scams, Santander has created a poem in the style of William Shakespeare, performed by Paul Gorton and now available on .
The poem highlights common tactics used by romance fraudsters, illustrating that even if someone seems to be saying all the right things, it might still be too good to be true.
How to protect yourself from romance and friendship scams:
Try to remove emotion from your decision making. Be really careful if you’re lending or giving someone money. No matter how urgent their reason might seem, it’s important you think it through. We’d always suggest talking it through first with a trusted friend or your family.
You can check if the person you’re talking to is really who they say they are. Pictures can be edited, and fake profiles can easily be made. Performing a reverse image search on a web search engine can show whether the photos have been taken from another website or social media platform.
It’s a red flag if the person you’ve been talking to online won’t video call or meet you in person. Fraudsters will make excuses about why this can’t happen or change plans to do so at the last minute.
Never send money or give card details, online account details, or copies of important personal documents to anyone you’ve only met online.