WALL STREET JOURNAL – The number of romance-related frauds reported to the FTC rose ~70% in 2021, and the total amount lost jumped to $547M. The pandemic may have fueled the continued growth of romance scams as the coronavirus has provided a convenient excuse for scammers to say they aren't able to meet in person. Last year also saw scammers increasingly using romance as a hook to lure people into bogus investments, particularly those involving cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency was the top method that victims used to make payments in 2021, at ~$139M. That is nearly five times the cryptocurrency amount reported in 2020 and more than 25 times that in 2019, the FTC said. In comparison, ~ $121M was lost through bank transfers or payments and another $93M through wire transfers in 2021, FTC data shows.
by Mengqi Sun
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