Romance scams blossom in these 10 states

July 15, 2022 11:45 AM

When the pandemic limited the chance to find love in person, online dating became an even more attractive option. But as the popularity of connecting through apps and websites blossomed, so did the chance for people to fall victim to romance scams.

Over the past five years, romance frauds have grown more common — and more costly. The Federal Trade Commission found that Americans lost a record $547 million to tricksters posing as lovers in 2021, an increase of almost 80% from 2020. Victims lost on average tens of thousands of dollars.

Using data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, Forbes Advisor determined which American states had the most romance scam victims from 2017 to 2021. Overall, 86,422 Americans fell victim to fake love schemes over the last five years, with a total financial loss of more than $2.3 billion. And that's just the cases that were reported.

Kashif Ahmed, the founder and president of American Private Wealth, said that a common indicator of a romance swindle is requests for money as scammers play on victims’ emotions. Conversations between fraudsters and their victims are “almost always about money,” he said.

What advisors can do
Ahmed believes that financial advisors should get involved if it appears that their clients’ romantic interests are being taken advantage of.

“There’s advisors, and then there’s an advisor who’s totally on your side,” Ahmed said. “I think your job as their advisor is to be intimately involved, and they should come to you, especially [since] it concerns finances if it’s a romance scam.”

For people getting involved in an online romance who are wary of romance scammers, Ahmed suggests talking over the situation with a “disinterested third party” like a friend to get an outside opinion from. And while the pandemic led to a surge in online dating, Ahmed says that romance scams will remain even after a return to normal.

“Don’t think that this is just gonna stop because the pandemic is over,” Ahmed said. “This is gonna be forever. People will continue to be made suckers because we are prone to that.”

Scroll down to see the 10 states that dealt with the most overall romance scams from 2017 to 2021, and the 10 with the most victims per capita.

1. California - 12,205 victims

The Golden Gate Bridge spans San Francisco Bay in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Monday, Nov. 16, 2009. Since Oct. 2, California has sold $4 billion in Build America Bonds and non-subsidized taxable issues and $5.3 billion of tax-exempt securities to raise infrastructure funds or refinance debt. Photographer: Chip Chipman/Bloomberg

Chip Chipman/Bloomberg

Collective financial loss: $516.2 million
Average financial loss per victim: $42,298.44

2. Florida - 6,980 victims

Collective financial loss: nearly $187.9 million
Average financial loss per victim: $26,918.24

3. Texas - 6,968 victims

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Collective financial loss: $184 million
Average financial loss per victim: $26,419.48

4. New York - 4,658 victims

Collective financial loss: nearly $130.4 million
Average financial loss per victim: $27,987.02

5. Pennsylvania - 3,154 victims

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Collective financial loss: $72.1 million
Average financial loss per victim: $22,877.92

6. Washington - 2,683 victims

Mike Kane/Bloomberg

Collective financial loss: $81 million
Average financial loss per victim: $30,215.01

7. Illinois - 2,622 victims

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Collective financial loss: nearly $55.7 million
Average financial loss per victim: $21,241.30

8. Virginia - 2,476 victims

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Collective financial loss: nearly $61.7 million
Average financial loss per victim: $24,916.43

9. Michigan - 2,400 victims

Collective financial loss: $67,850,342
Average financial loss per victim: $28,270.98

10. Arizona - 2,387 victims

Collective financial loss: nearly $51.3 million
Average financial loss per victim: $21,475.47

Some states in the list are no surprise, given that California, Texas, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania are the most populous in the country. Still, Ahmed pointed out that “a lot of people flock to those states who are retired, and perhaps they have more money that they’ve accumulated by that point,” making them clear targets for fraud dressed up as romance.

As far as sunny Arizona goes, Ahmed said there may be “a lot of retirees and older people” who could be “just looking for companionship” — a desire that might lead them to fall victim to a scheme.

When looking at the number of romance scam victims per 100,000 people, the list for the top 10 changes. Though some of these states are among the less populated states in the U.S., Ahmed says it makes sense that these states would see a higher rate of romance scams per capita because they are “lonely.”

Keep scrolling to see which 10 states had the most romance scam victims per capita from 2017 to 2021.

1. Alaska - 49.36 victims per 100,0000

Collective financial loss: nearly $7.3 million
Average financial loss per victim: $20,144.83

2. Nevada - 47.93 victims per 100,000

Collective financial loss: $34.7 million
Average financial loss per victim: $23,324.46

For a state like Nevada, where “there’s really nothing to do other than Vegas,” Ahmed said the potential to be love-swindled could also come from someone who might win some money and be “foolish enough to post it on social media.” In that situation, a scammer could “do some social engineering and say, ‘Oh, let me see if I can hit them up for a scam.’”