Based on the incredible amount of South Korean romance dramas Netflix recommends to my poor soul, I can guarantee you that I’m a sucker for a good love story. However, I’m not a fan of getting scammed, and come as a messenger bearing a humble warning: Online love and money will almost certainly result in an unhappy ending.
The actual sender of the message is the Federal Trade Commission, which was a lot sterner in the advisories it issued earlier this week telling the public to steer clear of online romance scams. According to the agency, this type of fraud reached a record high in 2021, with people reporting $547 million in losses. That’s nothing compared to the amount of money individuals lost over the last five years to romance scams—$1.3 billion, which is more than any other FTC fraud category.
“Romance scammers weave all sorts of believable stories to con people, but their old standby involves pleas for help while claiming one financial or health crisis after another,” the agency wrote in a news article. “People who lost money to a romance scammer often report sending money repeatedly: they believe they’re helping someone they care about. But it’s all a lie.”
The average person reported losing about $2,400 to online romance scams in 2021. Notably, the agency found that the largest number of reported losses were paid to scammers in cryptocurrency, which accounted for $139 million in losses last year. Gift…
