More than 9,000 victims lost a total of £90.9million from romance scams in the first 10 months of 2025, according to the UK’s national cybercrime squad Report Fraud
Romance scams cost Brits nearly £100million last year, shock figures show.
It comes less than a week before Valentine’s Day, when con artists go all out to prey on lonely singletons. Some 9,305 victims lost £90.9million in the first 10 months of 2025, according to the UK’s national cybercrime squad Report Fraud.
DS Oliver Little of City of London Police, which runs the service, warned: “Romance fraud isn’t just a financial crime – it’s a deeply personal betrayal that can leave lasting emotional scars. If you’re in a relationship with someone you’ve only met online, any requests for money should ring an alarm bell. Take a step back, verify identities, and seek advice.”
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Pensioner Doreen Daniel was targeted after the death of her husband, Gordon. The 81-year-old, from Angmering, West Sussex, was pushed into downloading an app that allowed the fraudster to transfer cash from her account. Her devastated daughter Karen Daniel told the BBC: “To hit on someone who is that vulnerable when they have just lost their life partner, it makes me feel sick – how can somebody be so cruel to do that?”
Granddaughter Jasmine added: “He’d complimented her appearance, saying things like, ‘you can’t be 80’. Flattery would have got you anywhere with Nan quite frankly at that point, after Granddad passed away.”
It was a similar story for 77-year-old Nikki Macleod, who sent £17,000 to a woman she believed was in love with her. The university lecturer, from Edinburgh, received AI-deep fake videos of the woman, who claimed she was living on an oil rig and needed cash urgently. She said: “I am not a stupid person but she was able to convince me that she was a real person and we were going to spend our lives together.”
Cybersecurity and human-computer interaction expert Dr Lynsay Shepherd urges people to carefully examine images and videos they receive. “At first glance it looks legitimate, if you don’t know what to look for, but if you look at the eyes – the eye movements aren’t quite right,” she says.
“There are a number of apps out there, even something as simple as a face swap app or filters, that can do this. You can sometimes see when people are talking, when you look around the jawline, the filter kind of slips a bit.”
Last year, a group of scammers were jailed for a romance fraud worth £2.37million. Ringleader Kwabena Edusei, 37 and his minions created fake profiles on dating websites and used flirtatious language to manipulate users into sending them cash.
And a month earlier, serial fraudster Ben Millin was jailed for almost three years for stealing thousands of pounds in romance scams. Four women were defrauded out of an estimated £30,000-40,000, with a large amount of the money being used to fund the 32-year-old’s gambling habits.
