In an online romance scam, a fraudster seeks to take advantage of a victim looking for love on a dating or social networking website by pretending to want a romantic relationship. The scammer’s goal is to obtain access to the victim’s financial or personal information and steal their money. While this year has been an especially bountiful one for romance scammers, as COVID has enabled them to prey on people’s loneliness and isolation to con them in greater numbers than in previous years, this scam is typically prevalent this time of year.
Increased isolation brought about by lockdowns, the need to quarantine, and social distancing has resulted in more people using the internet to look for love. Romance scams were way up in 2020 compared