It started after a teenage girl sent a panicked email about getting her period while at school. That desperate SOS—one every woman knows well—went from England to Pennsylvania, where Kate Kleinert, a widow who lived alone outside Philadelphia with her six hospice dogs, read it. Kleinert’s heart went out to the girl, who referred to...Read More
ORLANDO, Fla. (WGEM) – Worldwide, nearly one-in-four people say they’ve been scammed online. One of the fastest growing and most devastating type is the romance scam, where fraudsters pretend to fall in love, then ask for money. It’s now the third most common scam targeting adults 60 and older. Person after person after person have...Read More
Updated Feb. 24, 2026, 3:34 p.m. ET The median reported loss for romance scams was $2,218 in the third quarter of 2025. Romance scammers will frame their pitch one way for a 25-year-old woman and another for a 55-year-old divorced male, according to Richard Graham, director of financial crime solutions at Moody’s. Romance is a...Read More
TikTok isn’t a dating app. So why are romance scams thriving there? TikTok is one of the most popular apps in the world. Millions of people scroll, post videos, comment, and share details about their lives every day. People talk about breakups, dating struggles, loneliness, divorce, or moving to a new country. But when you...Read More
I was lonely, and believed her despite all the red flags waving in my face. What made it so believable was her tactic of telling me where she was and sending pictures along the way — the San Diego Zoo, Catalina Island. One Friday night, we cooked a meal together through texts and screenshots. I...Read More
A female model identified as Gemma Kingsley will be spending the next couple of years behind bars for defrauding several men. This was after the 50-year-old was handed a seven-year sentence and seven months in prison by the Swindon Crown Court on Wednesday, 25 March. According to Sky News, Kingsley cheated multiple men of money...Read More
March 24, 2026, 5:07 a.m. CT Elder fraud is a significant issue, with reported losses reaching nearly $5 billion in 2024. Scammers often build emotional connections through romance scams before making urgent requests for money. These scams have become industrialized, sometimes involving organized crime and exploited workers. Warning signs include urgent demands for money, requests...Read More
Internet romance scams are now pervasive online, and according to consumer protection authorities it can be extraordinarily difficult to convince people they have been duped. “I have seen it happen to people you would think are extremely intelligent and in control because these scammers are some of the best behavioural scientists in the world,” Trish...Read More
The Financial Ombudsman Service received more than 500 complaints between January 2025 and March 2026 from people who were victims of romance scams. Romance scams are where fraudsters convince often vulnerable people to send money to them, by gaining their trust and convincing them that they are in a relationship. The Fos reviewed 14,000 scam...Read More
