605-334-2471
Branches
Membership
Calculators
RatesDon't Fall In Love With Romance Scams
Levo Credit Union® fraud specialist, Gabriel J., explains romance scams and how a fake relationship could end up costing you more than a broken heart.
What are Romance Scams?
A romance scam occurs when someone builds a romantic relationship, usually online, with the intention of getting money from you rather than forming a genuine connection.
The scammer may contact you through social media, a dating app, email, or text. They often spend weeks or months building trust through messages, phone calls, or video chats before asking for money. Once they believe you trust them, they may share an emotional story and request funds for a plane ticket, visa, family emergency, or other personal expense. Because the relationship feels real, you may be more likely to help and send the funds.
After receiving money, the scammer may disappear or continue the relationship while asking for more funds. A key warning sign is that they always have an excuse for why they cannot meet in person, even after months of communication.
Tips For Spotting Romance Scams:
-
A new relationship asking for money. If someone you’ve recently met online asks you to transfer funds, pause before responding. No matter how convincing their story sounds, sending money to someone you’ve never met in person is a major red flag.
-
Never meeting in person. If the person continually makes excuses to avoid meeting face-to-face, take it seriously. Whether they live in another state, another country, or nearby, repeated delays or canceled plans can be a warning sign.
-
Keeping the relationship a secret. If this partner has asked you to keep this relationship a secret, it should be a sign that something is not right.
- A celebrity is reaching out. Although there is a chance that a celebrity is reaching out for a relationship, it is more than likely just a scammer.
What to Do If You Fell For A Romance Scam?
If you think you’ve been communicating with a romance scammer, stop communicating with them. Ending contact can be difficult, especially after weeks or months of building a relationship, but protecting your finances and personal information is more important.
Talk with someone you trust, such as a close friend or family member. Romance scams can bring up strong emotions, and an outside perspective may help you recognize warning signs.
If you sent money or shared financial information, contact your financial institution as soon as possible. Depending on the circumstances, they may be able to help recover some funds, prevent additional losses, or replace compromised card or account numbers.
If you’re a Levo member and suspect you’ve recently been affected by fraud, contact our Service Center at 605-334-2471 or toll-free at 1-800-568-5711.
Learn More About Other Common Scams
Video Transcript:
(0:00) So one of the big scams that are going around right now are romance scams. (0:04) These can take a few different forms, but what it (0:08) boils down to is someone reaching (0:10) out to you, usually online, usually through social media or through a dating (0:14) app. They're trying to build a relationship with you, with the goal of not actually having that relationship, but from (0:20) siphoning funds away (0:22) from you.
How this usually starts is you'll get a message from them. It'll either be just a normal message (0:28) on social media, through a match on a dating site, maybe even through an email or a text message. (0:30) One way or another, the scammer will contact you (0:36) posing as a possible romantic interest. They're saying that, "Oh, hey, you know, I saw your profile. You looked (0:43) really nice. I wanted to start chatting with you." It doesn't usually go to the scam right away because you'd (0:48) catch that on. No one would send funds to someone that they' just met five minutes ago. Instead, (0:53) what they do is they kindle that relationship through calls and through video (0:57) chats, through messages for weeks or months (1:00) on end.
But eventually, after a certain period when they believe that they have enough trust with you, that's (1:06) when they ask for funds. Now, they're not just going to ask for money out of the blue. They might (1:10) ask for money for plane tickets so they can go and visit (1:13) you, or to help out with their visa if they're not in the country. Maybe just for family expenses (1:18) back home. They have a lot of bills, and they think that you (1:20) can help out. One way or another, they're gonna give you a story of why you should send (1:24) them. funds and why you should (1:25) trust them, and if you've been chatting with them for weeks or months, you're probably more likely to trust them (1:29) compared to just some stranger (1:31) on the internet. Then you send the funds however they ask for it.
Then what happens is usually one of (1:36) two things. Either they will just ghost you and cut off communications, (1:41) or they may thank you for the funds, tell you how it's going to help (1:44) get a plane ticket so they can come and visit you, or it'll pay their bills, and it's a lot (1:47) less stress for them. They'll continue that relationship, and then down the line they're going to ask for more funds (1:53) from you. So that's usually what their goal is. It's to siphon those funds away from you.
The difference between (1:59) this and, like, an actual relationship though is you're never gonna meet this person in real life. (2:04) A lot of times they'll say they're from out of state or out (2:07) of country. Or even if they are local, they're going to give you excuses for why they can't visit you. (2:13) If you ever think that you've been chatting with someone who may be actually a romance scammer, (2:18) there's a couple (2:19) of things you should do. The first is whenever you're questioning if they're a real person or not or if (2:24) they're trying to scam you, you should cut off communication.
This can be really difficult to do, especially if you've (2:30) been chatting with them for weeks or months on (2:32) end, but it's always better to be safe than sorry, especially when it comes to your finances. (2:37) Another, thing you should do is you should ta- talk to someone you trust, (2:40) whether it be a close friend or a family member, to see what their thoughts on the situation. (2:45) If this romantic partner has been telling you to keep the relationship a secret, (2:49) that's usually a big red flag. (2:51) Another thing to (2:53) watch out for is if they say that, they're a (2:55) celebrity. Now, it is possible that they could be a, an actual celebrity, but they're more than likely just a scammer (3:02) using that identity to try to get your trust or someone that you wanna chat with, (3:07) but they're almost never going to actually be that real (3:10) person.
Then if you're ever worried after you've sent funds, one thing you can do is contact your financial institution to see (3:19) what they can do to help. It will depend on. the situation, (3:22) but there may be things that they can do to either recoup some of those funds (3:26) or make sure that more funds aren't lost in the future. That's especially the case if (3:30) instead, of you sending funds, you've just given out some of your information where they're able to pull funds themself. (3:35) Financial institution should be able to get you new card numbers or new account numbers to help them fight against (3:41) funds being pulled in (3:42) the future.
