How a romance scam works
Romance fraud is one of the most widespread online scams (FTC, 2023), and it does not target only naive people: it exploits a universal need for attention and connection. The script is almost always the same.
- A flattering first contact, often from a very attractive profile, sometimes a younger one, who writes first.
- A very fast escalation: daily messages, passionate declarations, plans for the future after two weeks.
- Constant obstacles to meeting or appearing on video (Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, 2026): a soldier on deployment, an engineer on an oil rig (FTC, 2022), a humanitarian doctor abroad.
- The request for money, which always comes: a plane ticket, customs fees, a relative's hospital stay (FTC, 2022), the release of an inheritance, a cryptocurrency "investment" (Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, 2026).
Two developments make the scam harder to spot. The relationship increasingly leads to a fake financial investment: in its review of threats facing individuals, Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr reports a 277% rise in fake financial investments (Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, 2026). And artificial intelligence is getting involved: Europol expects romance scams to increase, accelerated by AI tools (voice cloning, deepfakes, scripts generated by language models, machine translation) (Europol, 2025).
The rule with no exception
Never send money to someone you met online and have never seen face to face (Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, 2026) — whatever the urgency claimed, the length of the relationship or the quality of the feelings involved. No legitimate reason requires a transfer to a stranger.
The warning signs
- The profile is too perfect, with few photos, often of professional quality. A reverse image search sometimes shows that they belong to someone else (Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, 2026).
- The person you are talking to systematically refuses a video call, or cuts it short with a technical excuse. Be careful: a video call no longer proves everything, because cloned voices and doctored faces exist (Europol, 2025).
- The messages talk a lot about feelings, sincerity and destiny, but rarely answer your concrete questions.
- They very quickly suggest leaving the platform for a private messaging app (FTC, 2022), where no moderation exists any more.
- A request, even a tiny one at first (a gift card, a "helping hand" of fifty euros), always ends up leading to others.
- You are told about an investment presented as risk-free, most often in cryptocurrency (Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, 2026).
- You are asked to receive money in your account and then pass it on: victims are sometimes manipulated into becoming "money mules" (Europol, 2025).
- You are offered an intimate moment on video: this may be the start of blackmail (see the section on sextortion) (Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, 2025).
Romance scams: the official figures
No single figure measures the scale of the phenomenon: each country counts in its own way, and many victims do not file a complaint. Here is what official bodies publish, with their scope.
| Country or area | Body and document | What is measured |
|---|---|---|
 United States | FBI, IC3 complaint center (annual report) | In 2025: 23,159 complaints in the "Confidence/Romance" category and $929,287,469 in reported losses (FBI IC3, 2026), compared with 17,910 complaints and $672,009,052 in 2024 (FBI IC3, 2025). The category also includes other scams based on trust, such as the fake relative in distress. |
| United States | Federal Trade Commission (FTC) | Nearly 60% of people who lost money to a romance scam in 2025 say it started on social media; those scams alone cost $298 million (FTC, 2026). |
 United Kingdom | UK Finance (annual fraud report) | In 2025: £39.2 million lost and 6,335 cases of authorised transfers for romance scams, compared with £31.8 million and 5,210 cases in 2024 (revised value) (UK Finance, 2026). |
 Canada | Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre | In 2025: C$63.3 million, 1,093 reports and 933 victims (a category now named "Relationship") (Centre antifraude du Canada, 2026); in 2024: C$58.4 million, 1,172 reports and 1,030 victims (Centre antifraude du Canada, 2025). |
 France | Ministry of the Interior (SSMSI) | No dedicated line for romance scams. In 2025, 448,300 victims of scams and payment-means fraud were recorded, compared with 417,300 in 2024 (SSMSI, 2026). |
| European Economic Area | European Central Bank and European Banking Authority | All payment fraud combined (no "romance scam" line): €4.2 billion in 2024, compared with €3.5 billion in 2023 (BCE et ABE, 2025). |
What these figures do not tell you
These are complaints and reported losses, not exhaustive measurements. In France, the Observatoire de la sécurité des moyens de paiement excludes romance scams from its scope: its €516 million of fraud by "manipulation" in 2025, or 41.6% of total fraud of €1.241 billion, is therefore not an amount for romance scams (Banque de France (OSMP), 2026). Depending on how each statistic classifies the facts, a romantic relationship that leads to a fake investment may also be counted elsewhere. Amounts from different countries do not cover the same year, the same currency or the same scope: they cannot be added together.
Reporting: the first six hours decide everything
A scam is handled like a haemorrhage: the order of the steps matters more than getting them perfect. Do them in this order, without waiting to be certain it really is a scam.
- Call your bank before anything else (Service-Public.fr, 2025). Not your adviser, but the fraud department, which can be reached around the clock. Explicitly ask for a funds recall for a transfer, a card block (opposition) for a card, an account freeze if your login details have been exposed. One more minute, and the money is withdrawn at the other end.
- Block the payment method. Many countries have a single number for blocking a card, valid for all banks and reachable at any hour. Look it up before you need it: the numbers for each country are in the table below.
- Keep the evidence, and only then block the other person (Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, 2026). Export the conversation, photograph the profile, note the exact username, the wallet address or account number, the transfer references, the phone numbers. A deleted profile is an empty case file.
- Report it on the platform (Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, 2026). Every serious site has a report button. That is what gets the account closed and protects the next person, who is already being contacted.
- Report to the competent national body. Most countries have a reporting desk for online scams, separate from the police, often accessible without going anywhere (Justice.fr). Some can have the funds frozen at the receiving bank if they are notified within the hour. The desks for each country are listed further down.
- File a police complaint. Even if the scammer is abroad, even if you think it will not help: the police report conditions the steps with your bank, your insurer and the tax authorities, and the same accounts come back from one victim to the next.
The payment method decides your chances
| Bank card | The best protection. An unauthorised transaction must generally be refunded (GOV.UK, 2015) (CMF, art. L133-18), and a dispute remains possible for several months depending on the card network's rules. |
|---|---|
| Bank transfer | Recoverable only in the very first hours, through a funds recall. After that, almost never. |
| Mobile money | A cancellation is sometimes possible through the operator as long as the recipient has not withdrawn the funds. It is a matter of minutes. |
| International cash transfer | Collected at a counter, so untraceable. Can be cancelled only before collection. |
| Gift cards | Contact the issuer immediately (FTC): if the code has not been used, blocking it is sometimes possible. |
| Cryptocurrency | Unrecoverable. That is precisely why you were asked for it. |
A transfer you approved: what the law provides
The law distinguishes two situations. An unauthorised transaction (for example a card used without your knowledge) must be refunded immediately, and at the latest by the end of the next business day (GOV.UK, 2015) (CMF, art. L133-18). Before the card is blocked, the loss from a lost or stolen card is capped at €50, unless the payer committed fraud or gross negligence (CMF, art. L133-19). In Germany, the civil code likewise provides for the immediate refund of an unauthorised payment (§ 675u BGB) (§ 675u BGB) and for liability limited to €50 in the case of a lost or stolen card (§ 675v BGB) (§ 675v BGB).
A transfer that you validated yourself, even under a scammer's influence, does not fall under this regime: the Banque de France explains that the bank is required to carry out transfer orders and is liable only in the event of an input error, a technical error or an unauthorised transaction (Banque de France). It can try to recover the funds, with no guarantee of success (Service-Public.fr, 2025). The case of the fake bank adviser is treated separately: the Banque de France indicates that the bank must then refund you, provided you notify it within 13 months (Banque de France).
Two recent developments are worth knowing. Since 9 October 2025, the bank must check that the beneficiary's name matches the IBAN before a transfer: take any alert seriously (Banque de France). And the political agreement reached at the end of 2025 on the future European regulation on payment services provides for a full refund when a scammer impersonates a bank employee and the customer files a complaint and then notifies their bank; it targets that impersonation, not romance scams (Parlement européen, 2025). In the United Kingdom, authorised transfers obtained by fraud have been reimbursable since 7 October 2024, up to £85,000 and in principle within 5 business days (Payment Systems Regulator (Royaume-Uni)).
The second round of the scam
In the weeks that follow, you will probably be contacted by a "fund recovery service", a fake lawyer or a fake investigator offering to recover your money for a fee (FTC, 2023). These are, almost without exception, the same networks coming back to the same victim. No legitimate authority asks for payment to return funds (FTC, 2023).
Blocking your bank card: the number to call, country by country
In France, the number for blocking a bank card is 0 892 705 705 (Service-Public.fr, 2025). It is the interbank stop-card server, open at all hours, every day, at the rate of a premium-rate number (Service-Public.fr, 2025). Some banks also have their own number, shown on the back of the card or in the app.
Block the card as soon as you have given a card number, a code, an app validation or your banking login details to someone you met online, or even if you only fear they are known. Note the time of the call. The table gives the number for several countries; where there is no central number, the block is requested from the bank or the card issuer.
| Country | Number | What is blocked, details |
|---|---|---|
| France | 0 892 705 705 | Interbank stop-card server, open at any hour; premium-rate number. Service-Public does not give a number from abroad: ask your bank before you travel. |
 Belgium | 078 170 170 (from abroad: +32 78 170 170) (Card Stop) | Card Stop, for cards issued by Belgian institutions. |
 Luxembourg | +352 49 10 10 (Spuerkeess) | Worldline blocking service, available at any hour according to Luxembourg banks. |
 Switzerland | Number of the bank or card issuer | It is on the back of the card and in the banking app; many cards can be blocked directly in the app. |
 Germany | 116 116 (from abroad: +49 116 116 or +49 30 4050 4050) (Sperr-Notruf) | Sperr-Notruf: girocard, credit cards and bank access of affiliated institutions, at any hour. Free from a German landline; charges may apply from a mobile or from abroad. |
 Austria | 0800 204 88 00 (from abroad: +43 1 204 88 00) (oesterreich.gv.at) | Debit cards (Bankomatkarte) of Austrian banks. For a credit card, contact its issuer. |
 Italy | 800 15 16 16 (from abroad: +39 02 3498 0020) (Nexi) | Nexi toll-free number, at any hour, for Nexi cards only. For other cards, call the issuing bank. |
 Portugal | 217 918 780 or 808 201 251 (SIBS (Multibanco)) | SIBS, the Multibanco network, at any hour. The 808 number is used from within Portugal, the 217 from abroad (+351 217 918 780). |
 Netherlands | 0800 03 13 (from abroad: +31 88 385 53 72) (bank.nl) | Bankpassen Meldcentrale, only for banks that do not have their own line; ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank have theirs. |
 Poland | 828 828 828 (from abroad: +48 828 828 828) (Zastrzegam.pl) | Zastrzegam.pl service, free and at any hour, which can block cards from several banks. |
 Spain | Number or app of the bank | The Banco de España says to ask the issuing institution for the block; it does not give a central number (Banco de España). |
| United Kingdom | Number on the back of the card; 159 to reach your bank | 159 connects you to the bank of more than 99% of current accounts, without blocking the card itself (Stop Scams UK). To block the card, call the bank. |
| Canada | Number of the financial institution | The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada says to contact your financial institution right away (ACFC, 2025). |
| United States | Number of the bank or issuer | The FTC says to report a lost or stolen card to the issuer without delay (FTC, 2022). |
For countries not in the table, notably Turkey, we found no official source giving a central number: call your bank's call centre, shown on the back of the card or in its app.
What blocking the card does not stop
- A transfer already carried out: also call the bank to ask for a funds recall, whose success is not guaranteed (Service-Public.fr, 2025). An instant transfer is credited in under 10 seconds (Banque de France).
- A payment by gift card, cryptocurrency, mobile money or cash transfer: contact the provider concerned straight away.
- Information already given: change your passwords and monitor your accounts; blocking only protects the card.
Where to report and file a complaint, country by country
Reporting and filing a complaint are two different steps: a report feeds a database and alerts the authorities, but it is not a complaint (Service-Public.fr, 2025). Do both.
In France
- THESEE: online complaint for an internet scam, reserved for adult victims. For a scam without blackmail, the relationship must have stayed virtual and a request for money must have been made, even if nothing was paid (Service-Public.fr, 2025). Otherwise, go to a police station or gendarmerie, or write to the public prosecutor (procureur de la République) (Service-Public.fr, 2025).
- Info Escroqueries: 0 805 805 817, toll-free, Monday to Friday from 9 to 18:30 (Service-Public.fr, 2025).
- Perceval: report of fraudulent use of your card, to be made after blocking it, while you still have the card in hand (Ma Sécurité, 2026).
- 17Cyber: a service offered jointly by the national police, the national gendarmerie and Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr (17Cyber).
- Pharos (internet-signalement.gouv.fr): report of illegal content on the internet (Service-Public.fr, 2025).
- SignalConso: for a problem with a company (a paid dating site, for example), not for an individual scammer (SignalConso).
- 33700 and Signal Spam: for fraudulent text messages (33700) and fraudulent emails (Signal Spam).
- 116 006: victim support number, free, every day from 9 to 20; the Service-Public page specifies that it does not cover offences against property on the internet (Service-Public.fr, 2025).
In other countries
| Country | Complaint and reporting | Victim support |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium | Complaint to the police. ConsumerConnect has replaced the consumer contact point; it does not replace a complaint (ConsumerConnect). | Local police. |
| Switzerland | Complaint to the local police, which the Federal Office for Cybersecurity recommends in case of financial loss (BACS (Suisse)). Its reporting form does not accept complaints (BACS (Suisse)). | Police: 117 (BACS (Suisse)). |
| Luxembourg | Complaint at a police station, or online in some cases (Police grand-ducale). | BEE SECURE Helpline: 8002 1234 (BEE SECURE). |
| Canada | Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre: 1-888-495-8501, Monday to Friday from 10 to 16:45 (Eastern time), or online (Centre antifraude du Canada). | Local police. |
| United Kingdom | Report Fraud (reportfraud.police.uk), which replaced Action Fraud on 4 December 2025; the number remains 0300 123 2040 (GOV.UK, 2025). | Your bank (see the reimbursement section above). |
| United States | Complaint to the FBI at ic3.gov (FBI IC3); report to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov (FTC, 2022). | Your bank. |
| Germany | Complaint through the Onlinewache of your Land (emergency: 110) (Onlinewache); police advice on romance scamming (polizei-beratung.de). | WEISSER RING, Opfer-Telefon 116 006, every day from 7 to 22, free and anonymous (WEISSER RING). |
| Austria | Complaint at any police station. The Bundeskriminalamt's Meldestelle (against-cybercrime@bmi.gv.at) receives reports, not complaints (Bundeskriminalamt (Autriche)); Watchlist Internet publishes online traps and receives reports (Watchlist Internet). | Opfer-Notruf 0800 112 112, free, at any hour (WEISSER RING (Autriche)). |
| Spain | INCIBE helpline: 017, free and confidential, from 8 to 23 every day (INCIBE). | Complaint to the Policía Nacional or the Guardia Civil. |
| Italy | Polizia Postale: report and complaint for a computer crime at commissariatodips.it (Polizia Postale). | Police. |
| Netherlands | Complaint (aangifte) to the police; Fraudehelpdesk: 088 786 7372 (days and hours on its website) (Fraudehelpdesk). | Police. |
| Poland | CERT Polska (incydent.cert.pl); suspicious text messages can be forwarded free of charge to 8080 from Poland (gov.pl). | Police. |
| Turkey | For a social media scam, the national police (EGM) refers you to a police station or the public prosecutor's office (Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü). | Emergency: 155, free (Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü). |
Portugal and the countries not in the table are not listed here for lack of a verified official source: the police or public prosecutor's office in your country receives the complaint.
Is a romance scam a crime? The penalties provided
In the countries below, the facts are prosecuted as fraud: the scammer deceives the victim to obtain money.
- France: fraud (escroquerie) is punishable by 5 years' imprisonment and a €375,000 fine (article 313-1 of the Criminal Code) (Code pénal, art. 313-1). Penalties rise to 7 years and €750,000 in aggravated cases, for example when the victim is particularly vulnerable or in a state of psychological subjection, and to 10 years and €1,000,000 for organised crime (article 313-2) (Code pénal, art. 313-2).
- Switzerland: fraud (article 146 of the Criminal Code) is punishable by up to 5 years in prison or a monetary penalty, and by 6 months to 10 years if the offender does it as a business (Code pénal suisse, art. 146).
- Germany: § 263 of the StGB provides for up to 5 years in prison or a fine, and 6 months to 10 years in particularly serious cases (§ 263 StGB).
- Austria: § 146 of the StGB provides for up to 6 months in prison or 360 daily rates; above €5,000 in damage, up to 3 years, and above €300,000, 1 to 10 years (§ 147) (§ 146 StGB (Autriche)) (§ 147 StGB (Autriche)) (§ 146 StGB (Autriche)) (§ 147 StGB (Autriche)).
Money mules: the little-known danger of romance scams
The danger is little known: after losing money, or even before losing any, a victim can be asked to pass funds through their own account. They are asked to receive a transfer and then send it back or on to a third party. The money received may come from other victims, and the manipulated person's account is used to blur its trail. Europol notes that victims are manipulated in this way into becoming "money mules" (Europol, 2025). In France, money laundering is punishable by 5 years' imprisonment and a €375,000 fine (article 324-1 of the Criminal Code) (Code pénal, art. 324-1); in Germany, money laundering through gross negligence is punishable by up to 2 years (§ 261, paragraph 6, of the StGB) (§ 261 StGB). Refuse, and talk to the police if you have already done it.
The person whose account was used is not only exposed to prosecution. Banks must examine unusual transactions or those with no apparent economic justification and report their suspicions to Tracfin, the French financial intelligence unit (CMF, art. L561-10-2, L561-15): an account that receives and then sends on sums may attract their attention. Prosecution is by no means automatic: the courts assess, case by case, what the person knew about the origin of the funds. It is better not to rely on that nuance, and to refuse.
If you have already received a transfer of this kind, do not withdraw or send anything back before you have called your bank's fraud department. Keep the messages and the references of the transactions, then file a complaint: the steps are the same as for any scam (see the section on reporting).
Sextortion
Another practice on the sharp rise: after a few exchanges, the person suggests an intimate moment on video, records the scene, then threatens to send it to your contacts if you do not pay (Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, 2025). The right response comes down to five steps: pay nothing — the blackmail never stops after a first payment — (Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, 2025), stop all contact, keep the evidence, lock down the privacy settings of your social networks to cut off access to your contact list (Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, 2025), and report it. Free services can prevent an intimate image from being shared again without it ever being sent to anyone. Service-Public points out that sextortion is punishable by 7 years' imprisonment and a €100,000 fine (Service-Public.fr, 2025).
Protecting your data
- Create a dedicated email address for your dating, separate from your main address.
- Do not share your address, workplace or phone number until trust is established.
- Never send a copy of an identity document, a bank account details slip or banking data, under any pretext.
- Be wary of links sent in private messages: they sometimes lead to fake sites designed to steal your login details (Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, 2026).
Do not slide into blanket distrust
Scammers are a noisy minority: the vast majority of people on a dating site are sincere. A few simple rules are enough to remove most of the risk without turning every conversation into an interrogation.
Frequently asked questions
What is the number for blocking a bank card in France?
It is 0 892 705 705 (Service-Public.fr, 2025), the interbank stop-card server, open at any hour, every day, at the rate of a premium-rate number. Some banks have their own number, on the back of the card or in the app.
Which number should I call in Belgium, Luxembourg or Germany?
In Belgium, Card Stop: 078 170 170 (Card Stop). In Luxembourg: +352 49 10 10 (Spuerkeess). In Germany, the Sperr-Notruf: 116 116 (Sperr-Notruf). The table above also gives Austria, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands and Poland.
Can you get your money back after a romance scam?
Rarely, and mostly if you act within the first hours. Call the bank straight away to ask for a funds recall, with no guarantee of success (Service-Public.fr, 2025). A transfer that you approved is not refunded automatically; an unauthorised transaction, on the other hand, must be. Never pay a "fund recovery service": it is often the second scam (FTC, 2023).
Where do I report a romance scam in France?
On THESEE to file a complaint online if the conditions are met (Service-Public.fr, 2025), or at a police station or gendarmerie. Info Escroqueries answers from 9 to 18:30, Monday to Friday, on 0 805 805 817 (Service-Public.fr, 2025). Also report the profile on the dating platform.
How many people are victims of romance scams?
No worldwide statistic exists. In the United States, the FBI received 23,159 complaints for 2025 and $929,287,469 in reported losses in the romance category (FBI IC3, 2026); in the United Kingdom, UK Finance counts 6,335 cases and £39.2 million for 2025 (UK Finance, 2026). France has no official figure specific to these scams.
Is a romance scam a crime?
Yes. In France, fraud is punishable by a maximum of 5 years' imprisonment and a €375,000 fine (Code pénal, art. 313-1). Neighbouring countries punish it too (see the section on penalties).
I gave my bank details to a stranger: what should I do?
Call your bank and block the card without delay, change your login details and monitor your accounts (Service-Public.fr, 2025).
Can you be prosecuted for receiving a transfer from an online "sweetheart"?
Receiving money from a stranger and then passing it on can amount to money laundering, a criminal offence whose penalties are given in the section on penalties. The courts assess, case by case, what the person knew about the origin of the funds. Do not send anything back before calling your bank, and file a complaint.
Also in this section
The law country by country
The legal framework, the procedure, the time limits and the costs differ from one country to another. Each country below has a detailed page: governing texts, key facts, the actual procedure, costs, where to go and the traps to avoid.
Select a country to open its detailed page.
