How Global Cybercrime Syndicates Are Stealing Hearts — And Billions

Major global cybercrime syndicates are turning their efforts to romance scams, where victims are lured in by the prospect of love before being squeezed for their personal data or finances.

The scams, which took off during the Covid-19 pandemic, oftencapitalize on people’s isolationand are heightened in the lead-up to Valentine’s Day, when scammers are more likely to be on the prowl for lonely hearts looking for connection. And artificial intelligence is only making these scams more prevalent and harder to detect.

According to the FBI, Americans lost more than $16 billion to cybercrime, including romance scams, in 2024. One in seven American adults has reported losing money to romance scammers, who often use a fake online identity to build a relationship with their victims.

“These scams rely on trust, affection and urgency, which are all amplified around holidays focused on relationships,” said Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at the National Cybersecurity Alliance.

While the Federal Trade Commission has previously published data warning that romance scammers target all demographics, FBI Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Michael Rod, who leads an Elder Justice Task Force focused on scams, said that older Americans are often most victimized by these schemes.

Scammers are using AI tools tocreate more realistic online identitieswith deepfake images and videos of real people, as well as voice cloning, where a real person’s voice is manipulated using AI. These deepfakes have gotten so good that in some cases, they are outsmarting previous methods used to detect them.

“Four or five years ago … you’d get messages with spelling errors or poor punctuation. That was kind of a hint that, ‘Hey, something’s wrong here,’” said Rod. “That stuff no longer exists as a way to tip you off.”

Steinhauer added that scammers are now trained to move conversations off dating platforms and into private messaging apps to better avoid detection.

While the scams may appear isolated, many are connected to cybercrime syndicates that operate massive scam centers overseas. Many of these scam centers are based in Southeast Asian countries, such as Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, creating jurisdictional barriers for law enforcement agencies to conduct investigations and collect evidence.

Last year, Interpol announced that authorities arrested more than 200 romance scammers across 14 African countries who had reportedly targeted more than 1,400 victims and stolen around $2.8 million.

“That scale and coordination make these scams incredibly damaging,” said Steinhauer.

To address those challenges, Rod said that the FBI is “taking some very creative approaches to combating” the scam centers, including new partnerships with international authorities and local law enforcement. Last fall, the U.S. and U.K. imposed joint sanctions on groups and individuals linked to the operations. In November, the Justice Department established the Scam Center Strike Force, which requires federal agencies, including the FBI and Secret Service, to work with the Treasury Department to crack down on these international syndicates with sanctions and criminal prosecution.

On Capitol Hill, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers in December introduced the National Strategy for Combating Scams Act, which would require closer coordination between federal agencies and local law enforcement to go after powerful figures involved in these scam networks.

But effectively turning off the spigot for scammers also requires greater vigilance from those seeking romantic relationships online.

“Romance scams follow patterns,” said Jordan Burris, vice president of public sector solutions at cyber firm Socure, adding that while deepfakes have made detecting these scams more challenging, an online relationship “escalating unusually fast” can be an indicator.

“The common thread is pressure,” he said. “If someone is accelerating intimacy while steering you toward secrecy or money, pause. The technology may be evolving, but manipulation still relies on urgency and isolation.”