And it’s on the rise: according to Action Fraud, there were 8,863 cases of romance fraud reported between November 2020 and October 2021, up from 6,968 reports in the 2020 calendar year.

Now, with Valentine’s Day fast approaching, Action Fraud is renewing its warning to online daters to stay alert to potential scammers using apps and websites to find new victims.

While these types of scams happen all year round, daters who strike-up relationships between Christmas Day and Valentine’s Day tend to be most susceptible to romance fraud.

In fact, just last year there was a spike in the number of cases following 14 February, with 901 reports of romance fraud recorded by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) in March 2021, and losses of £14.6 million reported in May.

Romance fraud: cases are on the rise in the UK – especially in the lead-up to Valentine’s Day