By Elaine Viets
Romance scams are the cruelest fraud. Scammers steal your savings, self-respect, sanity, even your life. These scams are mainstay of Victorian novels – but now they have a modern twist, thanks to AI, dating apps, WhatsApp, and fake social media.
Consider Anne, a fifty-something French woman duped out of $855,000 by a Brad Pitt impersonator. Anne got a message from someone claiming to be Brad’s mother. Then “Brad” himself contacted her and they were online friends for more than a year. The fake Brad said he needed money for cancer treatment because his accounts were frozen, thanks to his split from Angelina Jolie. Anne also received photos of Brad in the hospital — AI-generated, of course.
The game was up when Anne saw real photos of Brad with his new love, Ines de Ramon. Ines, who belongs to a rich Swiss family, had more than enough bucks to take care of Brad.
What did Anne get for her kindness? When her story broke, she was ridiculed until she was hospitalized for mental health problems.
Stranger still was the senior citizen who fell in love with a fake Elon Musk. You read that right. The dark-haired, dashing Elon Musk.
The fake Elon sent her cheesy texts asking, “Hey baby, how are you? What are you doing tonight, baby?” The scammer used – what else? – AI for Elon’s voice, and stole $600,000. Why the richest man in the world needed what amounted to pocket change for him wasn’t clear, but he left that woman cold, stony broke.
Men are victims, too. A Las Vegas woman scammed at least four elderly men, drugged them, and helped herself to their savings and Social Security. At least one man disappeared.
Naturally, I had to add a romance scam to my new mystery, BEACH BLONDE BETRAYAL. In my second Florida Beach Mystery, someone is strangling young blonde women in the sun-splashed town of Peerless Point. One of the eccentric residents of Norah McCarthy’s apartment house, the Florodora, finds a body on the beach. The fear grows when a local restaurant owner is found stabbed on Norah’s doorstep. Norah has to unravel fatal secrets and deadly plots.
Including a romance scam that leads to murder.
Romance scammers have a real talent for figuring out who is vulnerable. These are ways to spot them.
Romance scammers can’t meet you in person. No matter how much Elon Musk hungers for your touch, he’ll never stop by your home. Ditto for love sick Brad Pitt. The scammer will have some reason they can’t visit. They work on an oil rig in the North Sea, a research station in Antarctica or they’re in the military and deployed to Iran. Some romance scammers travel constantly for business, but never to your hometown.
Romance scammers are extremely shy. They’ll never make a video call. If they send you a photo, they will be good-looking. Too good looking to be true. Check out their photo in one of the reverse image search engines, such as Tineye, and you’ll discover the photo belongs to a model or a free photo service.
Scammers are extremely attentive. Their emails overflow with love and flattery. They’ll confess, “I’ve never felt this way before” or “I can’t live without you.” Romance scammers will say you are kind, beautiful and most of all, generous.
Especially generous . . . Soon the scammers will have a little money problem. Nothing serious, mind you, but could they borrow 50 bucks until their paycheck arrives? And would you send it by Zelle? Smart scammers will pay back that money right away. A short time later, they’ll have a real emergency: their sweet old mother is dying. Or the scammer has been diagnosed with a terrible illness. They need your money. Of course, you send it. And keep sending it. Maybe you even sell your house.
If you question why they need so much money, romance scammers will ask: “Don’t you trust me? How can you say that when I love you so much?”
If these scammers don’t have a serious illness or a sick old mother, they often have beautiful dreams for a future together. They’ll send photos of a vacation house in Hawaii, Key Largo, or Costa Rica where the two of you can marry and live happily ever after. If you’ll just wire the six-figure down payment. And the money for airfare.
Some scammers want to make you rich. They have a hot investment opportunity. Usually in cryptocurrency. All you have to do is wire them the money.
Money is the key to romance scammers. In 2025 it’s estimated they’ve duped Americans out of $1.5 billion dollars. That’s billion with a B. As in be careful.
“With elegance and wit, Viets weaves each of these colorful subplots into an appealing tapestry. The result is a genial cozy that’s ideal for summer reading.” – Publishers Weekly on Beach Blonde Betrayal. Preorder your copy here: https://tinyurl.com/bdhx3k66
AI has made “love scams” ridiculously easy. For those who do not know, my wife died 18 months ago. I am now “on the apps”. I am also an IT security professional. I see several bad AI images a day. Most don’t even try. Expect at least one body part to be waaaay off. It seems every single woman over 40 wants to go to Italy or Greece. Amazing how many use the same words.
My dating “highlights”:
In St. Louis for work. Staying in a neighborhood without hotels or rental units. Sent picture from her room. I never knew St. Louis had palm trees in March.
Needed a new laptop after her work laptop was stolen. She did not appreciate it when I gave her the FBI’s phone number.
Text scored between 70 and 100% AI generation on an AI checker. One thing about AI. It wants to say yes to every question. I invented a restaurant and suggested a meet. AI said yes. Scammer should of asked Mr. Google, no such place. Currently trading texts with a 36 year old Angel Investor with two kids who she doesn’t see. She hasn’t asked for money yet, but I am sure it is coming.
If only other people were as smart as you, Alan. Hope you find someone you deserve.
A co-worker got scammed for about $10,000. He refused to believe us when we told him; $1500 will not cover the licensing fees on his cyber girlfriend’s new oil tanker. Also, all of the fees get rolled into the purchase price. (No the only thing that stopped him was no one would give him $5000.) Jails do not take Best Buy gift cards for bail. And, they take your cell phone. She can’t text you from jail. He assured us she was real and needed his help. He met her on Christian Mingle. Christian girls don’t lie.
Some people give Christians bad names.
I don’t trust anyone outside of my family, and some of them are suspect. 😉
But what saddens me about this whole thing is how many lonely, isolated people are out there with no support, no loved ones to protect them if they’re targeted. My MIL is 93, and has fallen for so many scams, her banker (small town) suggested her kids put some safeguards in place to prevent her losing their home. She is not isolated, still has the man she married at 18, and has friends and extended family all around her. And yet she continually trusted scammers. Now she has blocks on her computer, no home phone, and strict orders to not give her new cell phone number to anyone except close family. She hates all of this, but the alternative was that eventually she would have lost their savings, and likely their home, which might have happened if she’d been alone. I can imagine a lot of scenarios where a person of any age who is starving for affection, who feels invisible, could be duped like this. That’s a sad commentary on our society, especially since 2020 when we were forced to isolate. If I wrote a book about this, I would punish those scammers so bad…
Scammers are soulless, and in my book they get the punishment they deserve.
Elaine, looking forward to seeing scammers punished in your new book!
As an (ahem) older woman, every time I cash a check at the bank nowadays, a supervisor comes over to ask me if anyone is pressuring me to give them money. We always joke about my Nigerian prince boyfriend but I wonder how many people try to withdraw money who aren’t joking.
Scammers know more about psychology than Freud and Jung. They can manipulate otherwise intelligent, sensible people into incredible frauds. Unfortunately when victims realize they’ve been scammed, they’re often too embarrassed to tell anyone.
Good grief. That’s above and beyond for customer care.
I usually pay people, such as my cover designers and narrators, via Zelle, but my bank is cracking down on how much I can send, and there’s a big warning when you want to open a transaction to beware of scammers.
Since I don’t live near a branch of my bank (but one’s opening in the next town after about 10+ years of promises), I use my phone to deposit checks. Not many people use those anymore, so it’s not a frequent occurrence.
I can’t use Zelle without wading through a bunch of warnings, each one telling me the money can’t be recovered.
A healthy dose of skepticism and even a little paranoia can help protect you, a bit, but scammers are clever. A while ago I read an article by a journalist who covers such scams who herself was the target of a scam which indirectly threatened her family—ID theft which supposedly endangered her with criminal charges. An alleged FBI agent contacted her and would help clear her name, and it involved a large amount of cash being physically delivered.
Romance scams are equally insidious, preying on people’s loneliness and desire for human connection. Now, with AI it’s become even more insidious, as you point out.
The pig-butchering is another romance or romance adjacent scam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_butchering_scam
Congrats on the upcoming release! I’m looking forward to it!
Pig butchering. What a name for a cryptoscam.
Several years ago I received a call from my mother’s financial advisor, telling me she was concerned about Mom’s spending habits. She’d gone through about 80,000$ in 6 months.
I had no idea. Apparently, she fell for every bogus TV ad, calling “the number on the screen” and buying or subscribing for stuff stuff & more stuff she didn’t need.
I took over her finances immediately, and I’ve always been grateful for that banker. She apologized for “intruding” on Mom’s privacy, but I thanked her for it.
So glad that banker called. TV spending sprees are an addiction.
I watched a docu-series on love scams. It baffled me. Why these women fell for it is beyond me. Any suspicious person, like me, could see early red flags. Still, it’s sad. Hate when scammers prey upon the most vulnerable.
I think some people really want to believe they have a chance for love.
This is so sad. I have a friend who was convinced Johnny Depp was messaging her. When I asked if she really believed an actor was sending her messages, her answer was, why not? At least she didn’t have any money to send him.
I’m like Sue. I simply don’t understand how anyone couldn’t see the red flags…
I’m glad she didn’t send Johnny any money. He isn’t the only pirate.
One thing worth mentioning, especially with so many people getting targeted these days, is that there are a few simple tools that can make a huge difference in protecting yourself or someone vulnerable from online scammers:
Call‑blocking apps (Nomorobo, Hiya, RoboKiller) stop most scam calls before they ever reach the person.
Modern browsers already warn you about dangerous links and fake websites — a lot of people don’t realize how much protection they’re getting automatically.
Password managers + two‑factor authentication shut down most account‑takeover attempts.
Banks now offer “trusted contact” alerts, which notify a designated person if unusual withdrawals or wire transfers are attempted — extremely helpful for older adults.
And honestly, basic scam awareness is still the strongest defense. Once someone knows the patterns, they’re much harder to fool.
None of these require technical skill, and they can prevent a lot of heartbreak — both in real life and in the stories we write.
All good tips, Marshall. My phone service also labels some calls as “Scam.” They never leave a message and I never answer those.
Stay safe everyone.