Feb. 11, 2025 – Valentine’s Day is a time to share love and enjoy romance. However,
romance scams are a staple technique used by scammers to siphon money out of unsuspecting
victims.
A common scam involves a bad actor creating a profile on a social media or dating site and then attempting to endear themselves to their victim, before ultimately asking for money. This category of scam has become more convincing in recent years due to emerging AI technologies such as deep fakes and voice generation.
Here are some red flags to look out for and keep yourself safe:
- The person requests money for something urgent such as medical expenses.
- The person requests hard to track forms of payment such as cryptocurrency or gift cards
- The person is pushing an investment opportunity
- The person claims to live far away, often in a foreign country
- The person wants to push the conversation from the dating app to other messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram
If you or a loved one are the victim of a romance scam, be sure to report it to the FTC at .
For more information, contact CSUCI's Information Security Team at infosec@csuci.edu or visit the ITS Information Security website.