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Image of cupid and heartNot everyone using online dating sites is looking for love. Scammers create fake online profiles using photos of other people — even stolen pictures of real military personnel. They profess their love quickly. And they tug at your heartstrings with made-up stories about how they need money — for emergencies, hospital bills, or travel. Why all of the tricks? They’re looking to steal your money.

As if all that isn’t bad enough, romance scammers are now involving their victims in online bank fraud. Here’s how it works: The scammers set up dating profiles to meet potential victims. After they form a “relationship,” they come up with reasons to ask their love interest to set up a new bank account. The scammers transfer stolen money into the new account, and then tell their victims to wire the money out of the country. Victims think they’re just helping out their soulmate, never realizing they’re aiding and abetting a crime.  

Here are some warning signs that an online love interest might be a fake. They ask you to:

  • chat off of the dating site immediately, using personal email, text, or phone
  • wire money using Western Union or Money Gram
  • set up a new bank account

Did you know you can do an image search of your love interest’s photo in your favorite search engine? If you do an image search and the person’s photo appears under several different names, you’re probably dealing with a scammer. And if the person’s online profile disappears a few days after they meet you, that’s another tip-off.

Here’s the real deal: Don’t send money to someone you met online — for any reason. If your online sweetheart asks for money, you can expect it’s a scam.

Unfortunately, online dating scams are all too common. There may be tens of thousands of victims, and only a small fraction report it to the FTC. If this happens to you, please report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

A woman looking at a dating site on her computer.

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The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

Jess
May 27, 2019
Has anyone on here heard of a Thomas Grant? He is currently working overseas. Pirates apparently attacked his ship and now he wants to send all of his prized possessions to the US to send to Australia which is where he is currently headed. My mom is talking to this gentleman and I'm wondering if anyone else has dealt with him.
branalovely
May 27, 2019
Has anyone been scammed by a guy who says he is from CA & is in the precious stone(diamonds, etc) work, owns his own company.
No scammers
February 21, 2021

In reply to by branalovely

Also a guy named David Bohren - diamond seller, retired. Seemed like a scammer but I couldn’t tell for sure. Never let him get far enough to determine if he was actually a scanner. Said he was widower. Anyone know him? San Francisco area is where he had listed.
Anon
March 09, 2021

In reply to by No scammers

Same guy just started to communicate with me! Does seem “to good to be true”, but did speak with him. Heavy accent, hard to understand. Don’t know if scammer or not either...hasn’t asked for anything...yet. What did he do with you?
JH
May 27, 2019
I believe I have a family member who has fallen victim to this scam. But they will not listen to me that it is a scam. What can I do? Should I report it?
mary
May 30, 2019

In reply to by JH

I would definitely report it on her behalf. She may believe you if you can show her proof that it’s fake. Try google reverse images and looking up documents and pics online.
Mila
May 27, 2019
I have been scammed by a “French gold trader” named Jean-Baptiste, who recently moved to the States, 7-years-old daughter, got divorced 7 months ago. Very very model like pictures and pictures with his daughter. Used mostly WU transactions, always almost dying and hungry. Also, there is one who is trying to scam me David Colosimvc or David MCveigh, half Australian half American, mom has cancer, he is working for UN and do gold trading.
Dan should hav…
May 28, 2019
There is a scammer on the hangouts app claiming to be a young woman in the air force stationed in Abilene Texas, claiming her name is "Haynes Nancy Shaw." Who said she loved me and asked me to help her out by buying her supplies. I was actually kind of convinced until she sent me a picture in her uniform, and the name strip read "Haynes". Everyone knows that U.S. military uniforms display the last name, not the first. Anybody else ever run into this Haynes Shaw character?
cherrie
May 28, 2019
I’m heartbroken and thanks to this site I realized I have been scammed. This has been going on since August 5th, 2018. He was perfect, chatted day and night , even put a picture of me on his Instagram. He is from Oklahoma but is doing a government assignment in Lagos . His frustration is that his payroll hasn’t hit his account. I told him numerous times that’s if he works for the United States they would never leave you hanging out there, he always had a lame response. I’m very hurt and lost about $3000. We talked about everything, he knew my friends names he seemed so interested in everything and was everything you want in a man. Oddest thing to me was that’s he knew a lot of the South, so I am perplexed as to where is scam comes from, I really believe he is a Caucasian American and I am not saying Because of his pictures. His name on Instagram is Jordan Mc_Nair, widow and father to a 5 yr old boy.
Help
May 28, 2019
I need help has any one come across a us undercover army officer based in Nigeria who is currently injured by the name of Michael benedict
Josie
May 28, 2019
Has anyone come across a man called michael benedict he says he is a undercover officer serving in nigeria
Gullible
May 28, 2019
I've been in a 'relationship' with this guy calling himself Jamie Smith and he's a 53 yr old senior engineer on a ship out of Belgium but he no longer feels safe. He said he wants to quit his contract and take early retirement, except it would cost him a lot of money. Shortly after that, there was a fire on the ship and he was even more scared, begged me to pay for a replacement engineer so he could leave. (I told him he's a coward) His company asked for 10k but I refused. So they asked for 5k and I was dumb enough to send it. Well, they ordered a helicopter to get him out without telling me I'd have to pay 15k for it. Again, I refused but finally they allowed me to pay 5k and the company would pay the rest. When the helicopter arrived they refused to take Jamie because there wasn't enough money, and they supposedly left without him, though he begged me continuously for 2 days to pay it. So he begged me to pay another 5k and he could leave by boat. I felt bad about the helicopter leaving without him so I paid it. Even though I didn't believe there had even been a helicopter. He really wants to come to Canada to marry me and make a new home and family for him, his daughter who is in boarding school in Poland, and my kids. His wife died 10 years ago of cancer and he hasn't had sex since. The boat was supposed to come today to take him away, and he promised to be in Canada tomorrow. I can't wait to meet him.
Christel Clark
May 28, 2019
I met a guy on Facebook his name is John Williams. But he got hacked so he asked me to go to hangout. I'm trying to find out if he's a scammer because he says he works in the gulf of Mexico as engineering offshore oil well. And ask if I would get 100 dollar Google play cards and he would pay me back. So I'm trying to find out about him. Which I haven't sent nothing
Bb87
May 30, 2019

In reply to by Christel Clark

I have a guy who asked me to go on hangout. His name was tyler miller williams. He told me his superior had told him to get rid of his facebook as he was talking to me on it. So he nade a new one inder the name of eric dan (miller) but your story sounds similar to mine . Have you spoke with him on the phone he calls me daily .
Andrea
June 27, 2019

In reply to by Christel Clark

I'd say scammer... I've been chatting the last couple of days with a guy named Frank Olsen. This guy has no online foot print. Low and behold he's an engineer just arrived on an oil rig today. No cell service so he can't call his girls, single dad, etc. I refused to buy him any iTunes cards...
Josie
May 28, 2019
Has anyone come across a man called michael benedict he says he is a undercover officer serving in nigeria
Shovels
May 29, 2019
Had so called Solider on POF and he wanted money to get home from Syria his name was Kenneth Begley. Beware, luckily I didn't fall for it, so I deleted and blocked him on Gmail.
buckeyegirl1354
May 29, 2019
I've been talking to someone that goes by name of Daniel Dylan for last few months. He sent me a friend request on Facebook and we chatted there for awhile then on WhatsUp. His account is gone on Facebook- red flag there. He says he is in Syria and part of UN peacekeeping. His parents are deceased and his wife as well. says has 4 year old daughter in boarding school in Washington as no family. Again red flag. He has not asked me for money yet and I told him in the beginning I would not send him a nickle ever. He says he is Afghan American and raised by his fathers brother. He has an accent and sounds Afghan. We have talked on phone usually a few times a day and message alot. I just don't believe anything he says. Anyone else out there getting messages, etc from someone like this?
Krysmys713
May 29, 2019
I forgot to add the name earlier. It was Dr. Luke porter out of San Francisco but stationed in Syria for a peacekeeping mission for the UK. Supposed age 50, widowed and has a son this is the one on word chums. The second guy just named Mike D was a widowed army officer with a16 year old daughter named caroline and he was also stationed in Syria. The third guy was on words with friends and It's been a while since i blocked him so i can't remember his user name, but he was widowed with 3 kids down in Florida and was desperately seeking a mom for them. I'm really glad i came across this site..i was thinking.. what are the odds??
Candy
May 29, 2019
I had a date scammer off of Instagram. He said his name was Jason Williams. He was 53. Wife died of cervical cancer 2 yrs ago has a 12 yr old daughter Stephanie in boarding school. He lives in LA California he claimed hes a Jehovahs witness is an engineer on oil rig in Switzerland. His rig exploded and leg was dislocated. Wanted to send me 500k i said no and he hasn't contacted me since. He had me go to hangouts app. He gave me pictures of him. Some were photo shopped. He talked to me on the phone on hangouts app. He said he was Ukrainian
Lynn
June 01, 2019

In reply to by Candy

Can you please tell me more about jason Williams?..what is his user name on Instagram? And what you looked like?
Lynn
June 02, 2019

In reply to by Candy

CANDY!!... please tell me more about this guy! When did he get in touch with you? Please describe what he looks like? And did he have a strong ascent? Thank you
K__3 that soun…
May 30, 2019
I learned my lesson about scamming. Someone scammed me last year and they almost got $2000. I had to pay back half of it. But my insurance got the rest. PayPal and some of their hanger-ones stilll.wont let me alone
Luna
May 30, 2019
My friend has been chatting online to a guy on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico for 2 months, promising of rescuing her from her boring life, spoiling her, love etc. Suddenly asking for money, when she couldn’t help he started threatening suicide and then started getting nasty . I would love to able to let the poor guy whose ID has been used know so he could try and do something about it
Real thing?
May 30, 2019
After reading a lot of comments I was sure that I was being scammed. Works on offshore oil rig, uses hangouts, wants money and iTunes cards, etc. A couple differences though, we talk nearly every day through hangouts. He sends a lot of pictures. We have been communicating over 2 months. I sent money a couple times through 3rd parties. When asking for money again, I insisted on seeing him and he finally did a video chat on hangouts. I was shocked to see he really was the man in the pictures! So is this one for real?
mary
May 30, 2019

In reply to by Real thing?

Apparently they have the ability to edit stolen videos. Chances are, after that they’ll tell you their camera is broken or unfunctional. If you do another video chat tell them to wink and do other things that are impossible for them to edit and copy.
Real thing?
May 31, 2019

In reply to by mary

But when you're doing video chat it is a live feed. How could they post a video to that?
Don't Fall 4 It
May 30, 2019

In reply to by Real thing?

The fact that these scammers keep asking for the same thing is a huge flag. No man should ever ask a woman for money. It doesn't matter how good looking they are. Nip it in the bud.
Real thing?
June 14, 2019

In reply to by Real thing?

Here is an update on this guy. He convinces me to leave my husband. I travel from one coast to the other, expecting to arrive at his house a few days before he returns from the oil rig. Well, surprise! He had some remodeling done on his house and he says the contractor will not turn over the keys unless paid in full. So he wants me to send them more money to pay off the renovation. He won't tell me the house address. On top of that, he says the company is insisting on additional work to be done on his contract which will need more money and he will be another week to return.
Toria2020
August 03, 2020

In reply to by Real thing?

I know you nay not see this as been a while but this sounds exactly like a guy my mam has been talking to same job everything was his name micheal ludwig or something grey hair late 50s and a tash
Senior 70
May 30, 2019
I just read the blog from I believed Mayna, Apr 7th, meetings a guy on Instgram from Texas, working on oil rig in Turkey, sounds just like my scammer who got me for $3300.00 . Blue eyes, salt and pepper hair, unless his old profile is either a red shirt with balloons in the background or a suit jacket, blue paisley tie, white shirt, Brown hair with specks of gray . He's sweet, caring, and attentive and I believed him, so sick , not sleeping at night. Yes I did file a police report. Needed the money to take a chopper to Australia for his contract money, promised to pay me back with interest. Never happened, kept constantly asking for small amts of money , a good cook, raised by his uncle , needed a I phone , which he never got . Pulled a stunt that he had fallen at the airport in Aust. Needed brain surgery, on his way to see me . I had spoken via FB that Sun before as he was packing up, yet I'm contacted by a Dr. Saying that my 'husband' has been in a coma for over 2 wks . Something right out of Dr.Phil. I needed to verify who I was because he needed brain surgery which was going to cost over , get this $15000. Never sent any info. All of a sudden he's out of the hosp. Dr pd for his surgery. Very slick, wanted me to go in with bitcoins, wanted my bank infor, never got , still asking me for money. It all came to a head in Jan when I told him I knew he scammed me , how dare I talk to him in that manner. Yes he sent me 2 pics of his so called contract money in Nov, back in his co. Then Jan , the so called money was at a co. Closing up , wanted to send it to me . He forgot about Nov's picture. Yes I'm very hurt, I'm a widow, fixed income with a mortgage, that money came out of my retirement acct. Yes embarrassed , but Karma is waiting in the wings for this loser .I'm so glad I found this site, because I see him trying to scammed other women with his stories . While romancing me, last year, doing the same senniro to another woman including becoming engaged. Same props , she asked how did he get his supplies off of the oil rig, yes he was on a oil rig, a chopper comes in every other wk, guess where from Australia . So ladies take it from this senior who should have known better. Oh he's not stopping . I see all these stories. Oh and in the beginning he wanted me to send a pic of my breasts , never happened. I learned, probably the hard way. As far as the nude pic, I told him not the internet, what goes on between a man and woman, goes on behind closed doors. Thank you for listening to me, he's going to get his.
Faking it
May 30, 2019
Anyone know Michael Walker Erickson... has son aged 13 both parents dies in car crash on 911 and wife died of cancer got married to only find out she was bi... working in Spain on a "3 month contract" money is stuck in customs
ToSmartToFallF…
June 10, 2019
I met a charming scammer by the name of James Nguyen . At first we were connected via social media Facebook but he wanted to get off Facebook and use Hangouts to chat. This was very strange and I figured it was a scam . He told me he works as a surgeon With United Nations in Afghanistan. He’s quite the charmer he wants to spend the rest of his life with me . He has a son who is in boarding school in Saint Marcus Texas . He told me his wife was deceased. He wanted to do good work to help good people . And I said that’s a good thing God is Going to bless you. He said it’s real bad out here and he wanted to leave . So I told him to leave . He asked for pictures of me I sent him a few pictures while at work I had church and of course he sent me pictures of him which I don’t know if it’s him or not . He wants to come and take a vacation to see his son Alex here in Texas but there’s a catch I sent the letter to an email address,UN101 09111@ Any middle ER received a reply back stating what I needed to do in order for James to have a vacation time to spend with his family his son. I was told I had to send $1970 and that’s only for two weeks of vacation for him and it’s like a life insurance fee for him to leave them and have a replacement surgeon to take his place for two weeks . I don’t had a kind of money to pay for nobody I don’t know and I’m not paying it He begged and pleaded but I said no. Yeah he professed his love for me site unseen but I’m not falling for it because I knew it was a scam. He didn’t tells me he doesn’t have access to his bank account . I thought military people have access to their bank accounts. He keeps begging and pleading in the name of God to help him have a vacation . But I told him I’m not paying for nobody to come see me . You bank with Bank of America I’ll go and get your money and pay for you out of your bank account not out of mine . I am signing out of Hangouts in and won’t be talking to him anymore
Jean
June 01, 2019
Omg I wish I came across your article before I was scammed out of thousands of dollars. How do I get myself to face my family and friends for what I did. I saw the Red flag but I ignored it because the scammers was so convincing that it will be worth it and I will have a life I have been dreaming. The next thing I know I was being scammed for the third time and you would think I learned my lesson after the first time because I wanted to be with my Prince Charming I kept catching the worst one in the sea. Thank you for sharing your story with others victims like myself.
Dirglow
June 01, 2019
I've been talking to Mark Robert who contacted me on Instagram Mark Roberts 616666 for about a month.. I had my suspicions so I played the game with him and two days ago he asked me if I would send them a card and I was like what kind of card and he was like an Amazon card I need it for my phone I don't know what kind of phone... I knew it was a scam but boy is he good at what he does therefore I said to him guess what you blankety-blank I've been playing your game this whole time I have every single post that you made I'm going to file a report with the police department for high tech crimes and I blocked him beware he's very smooth ... the picture of him and of his daughter is very enticing
Baby
June 03, 2019

In reply to by Dirglow

Would love to see a photo of him. He send me one and he has scammed me out of 10 grand. Said he bought some gifts for me and send it to Sa by courier. Then they supposedly had to release it at customs for delivery but found R30 k in te package. He claimed he wanted to send me money too as a surprise Problem is I had to pay R30 000 he said for customs to release it. I went along to see how this would unfold.
omghb
May 16, 2020

In reply to by Dirglow

Hi i met this same guy and found out he is using photos of a popular danish guy. Did he say he is oil rig contractor, widow & kids at boarding school? I was talking to him for about 3 months.
Tanya
June 02, 2019
Hello to everyone. Please help me with this one. Who can tell me where I should report about a man, a scammer who is taking money from women? I want the US police to solve this problem and stop this person to manipulate and use the women feelings and taking from them money.
Smartgirl
June 02, 2019
Hi! Does anybody know a person with the name Tommy Klein? An engineer, 59, independent contractor (TK Energy) is working offshore on an ExxonMobil oil rig in the Black Sea, widower, no kids. Met him at Tinder Apr,23rd, 2019. He lives in Berlin / Germany. We wrote in Hangouts. After a lot oft love letters, one videocall, daily calls, he had a huge oil spill and received a huge fine. He paid most of it. Then he wanted me to lend him 20000$. He had sent me a copy of his Bank account (Gleisse Capital?). This Bank I could not find! - On the internet I found a page with article 419 fraud banks! I told him that I do not have the money. Then it was 1200$ for his attorney. Otherwise she would drop his case. Which I did not have either. Finally I told him to go to the Embassy in Turkey to get any help. On his US-Passport he said his birthday would be wrong. Does anybody know this person, has more information. I have a lot of photos. I would appreciate any answer.
Surely
June 04, 2019

In reply to by Smartgirl

Interesting. I am having similar story and am waiting for the talk about money. He knows I’m broke but still is in touch with me. He miss me and wants to spend the rest of his life with me. Many stories here are similar, based on the same oil topic...
My Scammer's D…
June 02, 2019
If anyone has been contacted by the guy that I am describing , please reply to this post. This guy approached me on Tinder and goes by the name of Donald. He has several pictures in a white lab coat, claims to be an Orthopedic surgeon in Syria, 30's, dark hair, curly on top, brown eyes, very handsome, little facial hair, Spanish. Says his ex wife cheated on him. He always wants to chat on Hangouts, but will never show his face. Also, he's created an account on messenger without a photo. He's sent photos of himself in a steam room or a shower with a towel wrapped around, white Dr. Coat or lab coat in a clinic, nice suit with a bowtie and an earring in one ear standing in front of a swimming pool (the background is fake), sitting on a stairwell holding a dog w/a Santa hat, in an elevator wearing sunglasses holding his phone. Supposedly he's from CA. He constantly asks for iTunes Steam, Amazon, Sephora cards. He likes to send love songs from You Tube and wants to sing songs to you. I'm certain that he's a scammer and want to warn anyone that has come in contact with him that he's full of crap. I'm sure he's not using the same name for his scams.
Gay stun
June 02, 2019
I had an attempted scammer goes by the name of Smith , Robert claims to be US soldier sent very flattering messages and hot picture which I realise now are obviously not him. Apparently the scammers use hangout as location is non traceable. He asked for iTunes card with number scrapped and send picture I got wise to it and when confronted him became off! Also questioned how a serving soldier seemed to be available 24/7 . I think they use multiple people as when I told him some things. He would ask same next day. So Smith, Robert a scammer beware
Hope
June 02, 2019
I am chatting with this man claiming he is working with Citadel Investment but lately he mentioned about Kames Investment and when I researched it I learned about the scam and noticed that he just copy pasted some letters used by other scammers. What is odd is he refused using the webcam claiming his laptop is not compatible with the camera. OMG I almost believed him. Will play along until he asks for money and will send him this thread.
BigJ
June 03, 2019
I started chatting with a lady name annabel from Liverpool few days back, she want a serious relationship and looking for a partner. But suddenly she said that she send me a gift consist of shoes, clothes, laptop, iPhone, gold neck lace and some money with the address I gave her. But I feel as she is a scammer as no one in this world would send you those valuable things just after chatting for 3/4 days. She gave me a tracking number about the parcel with elitelogisticexpress. And today I received a call from a lady asking me to pay for custom duty of some 35000 rupees. I told her to shut up as I knew they are going to rob me. So guys beware, even if you are looking for a serious relation.
Susan d
June 03, 2019
I'm looking to see if a Dr name Bernard Henry Ludwig is a scammer he says he lives in Washington
Kat
June 03, 2019
Has anyone dealt with a George Scrven who went to Dubai on a business trip in February and now claims to have run out of money and can't get home says he needs money to finish his project and money for plane ticket home
Surely
June 04, 2019

In reply to by Kat

Man named Charles. He didn’t ask me for money yet but he was in Dubai recently. I wish it was true but still don’t know what it’s all about.