Emotional manipulation is part and parcel of being a cybercriminal or scammer. There are of course those who just stop at the emotional manipulation part and dive into a life as a romance scammer.

The term may be popular thanks to Netflix’s documentary The Tinder Swindler. Romance scammers lure targets into a pseudo-romantic relationship that generally exists exclusively online. Over time the scammer establishes trust with the target via text messages, social media posts and other digital forms of communication.

Romance scammers generally take a “spray and pray” approach when targeting victims so as to reach as many people as possible in hopes of one taking the bait. Valentine’s Day presents an opportunity for these scammers to lure in romantics hoping to meet somebody online.

Meta is well aware that it’s platforms – which are home to billions of users – are a fertile hunting ground for romance scammers and so it has been making moves to address these scams.

Working with researchers at Graphika to find and disrupt these sorts of scams, Meta has outlined three of the most common ways romance scammers prey on victims.

The “When will my husband return from the war” scammer

One of these scams sees scammers impersonating military personnel. These scammers will post online that they are lonely and looking for love. Those who respond are invited to have a conversation on a messaging platform before being asked to send wire transfers, gift cards or pay the postage fee for a romantic gift.

The “Tom Cruise” scammer

The age of AI and deepfake technology has made it easier than ever to pretend to be somebody you’re not. Recently, Meta uncovered a less advanced scam where YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X users were being targeted. The scammers would send photos of celebrities to targets claiming they were looking for love. Of course it wasn’t love targets would find but a scammer asking for money, cryptocurrency or gift cards.

Sadly, this sort of scam is all too effective, especially if the target truly believes they are talking to the celebrity.

The “Promise of Love” scammer

Some scammers are pretending to be dating agencies according to Meta.

“We disrupted Kenya-linked scammers posing as fake dating agencies in an attempt to target people in Africa on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram, claiming to offer opportunities to meet rich men from Western countries or build relationships with ‘African women.’ The ‘dating agencies’ posted about fictitious bachelors based in or traveling to Africa and looking for love, at times promising relocation to a Western country for a future partner. If someone responded, the scammers would direct them to a Telegram channel or WhatsApp group for more information, including about a fee for a ‘bachelor”s contact details,” says Meta.

The company has several measures in place designed to protect users. Automated systems work hard to remove malicious accounts. However, Meta is aware that some malicious accounts can remain dormant for long periods, avoid detection. As such, meta warns users to exercise caution when speaking with strange accounts.

These warnings ought to be taken seriously as Meta is monitoring the activity of accounts in the background for suspicious actions an ordinary person may be unlikely to engage in. As such, Meta has more data than your gut so take warnings to proceed with caution, seriously.

“We constantly work to find and disrupt romance scams targeting people across the internet, based on the malicious signals we identify and constantly update, as part of our investigations and scaled detection efforts around the world. In 2024, we took down over 408,000 accounts from Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Benin and Cameroon. They posed as military personnel or businessmen to try to trick people in Australia, the UK, EU, US, South Korea, Syria, Japan and Ukraine into engaging with them. This year, we detected and removed over 116,000 Pages and accounts on Facebook and Instagram, primarily in Nigeria, Ghana, Côte D’Ivoire, Benin, Kenya and Cameroon, engaged in similar activity,” writes Meta.

But it’s not just singletons who may fall prey to scammers this Valentine’s Day.

Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has noted that cybercriminals are setting up fake websites to sell fake products to users. In one scheme a fake Amazon website aims to steal Amazon login details as well as payment information by offering unbelievable deals on jewellery.

“Being cautious, when receiving favourable offers and tremendous discounts online, is crucially important. It is advisable to verify website addresses and avoid entering your personal information or banking details on suspicious sites in order to protect yourself from potential scams,” warns Olga Svistunova, a security expert at Kaspersky.

Whether you’re a single person looking for love or you’re in a relationship looking to impress your partner with a grand gesture of love, we recommend you be a bit more cautious online this Valentine’s Day.

[Image – Gerhard Litz from Pixabay]