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Romance Scam

A romance scam builds a fake online relationship to extract money or information — and increasingly reaches employees through workplace-adjacent platforms.

A romance scam is long-con social engineering in which the attacker builds a fake romantic relationship — usually entirely online — and converts the victim's emotional investment into money, gifts, cryptocurrency "investments," or sensitive information. Where phishing steals a click in seconds, a romance scam cultivates trust for weeks or months before asking for anything, which is exactly why it works and why losses per victim are among the highest of any fraud category in the FBI's IC3 reporting.

How it works

The scammer opens with an attractive, fabricated persona on a dating app, social platform, or even LinkedIn, often claiming a job that explains constant unavailability — military deployment, an oil rig, international consulting. Video calls are dodged or, increasingly, faked with deepfake tools. After a scripted courtship ("love bombing," fast intimacy, plans for a future together), the pretext lands: a medical emergency, a customs fee, a can't-miss crypto opportunity. Modern operations blend the romance narrative into pig butchering investment fraud, walking the victim through real-looking trading platforms that show fake profits until the withdrawal request is refused. Payments are demanded in wires, gift cards, or crypto — channels that are hard to claw back.

Why it's a workplace risk

Employers are not bystanders. Victims under financial and emotional manipulation are prime targets for follow-on requests — reshipping "packages," moving money through their accounts (unwitting money muling), or sharing workplace details, the honey trap pattern intelligence services have always used. An employee being coached daily by a manipulator is a live human-risk signal no email filter will ever see.

How to defend against it

  • Teach the pattern, not just the platform: never send money, crypto, or gift cards to someone you have not met in person, no matter how long the relationship has run.
  • Normalize reporting without shame — early disclosure is what stops the loss, so awareness programs should treat victims as targets of professional criminals, not fools.
  • Include long-con pretexts in awareness training so employees recognize slow trust-building as a technique, not a coincidence.

Related terms

Pig Butchering ScamPig butchering is a long-con investment scam where fraudsters build trust over weeks, then lure victims into fake crypto platforms and drain their funds.Honey TrapA honey trap is a social engineering attack that builds a fake romantic or personal relationship to extract credentials, secrets, or access from a target.Social EngineeringSocial engineering is the practice of manipulating people into giving up confidential information, access, or taking actions that compromise security.PretextingPretexting is a social engineering technique where the attacker creates a fabricated scenario to gain the victim's trust and extract information or access.
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