"Romance fraud is particularly harmful because it targets trust and emotional connection," Detective Superintendent Oliver Little of the City of London Police said.
City of London Police figures for 2025
The City of London Police's Report Fraud service recorded 10,784 reports of romance scams in 2025, a 29 percent year‑on‑year increase, and estimated total losses at £102 million ($138 million). That works out to roughly £280,000 ($379,000) a day, the force said. The average victim lost around £9,500 ($12,866) per case, while some individual incidents reached £1 million ($1.35 million).
How the scams are engineered
The reporting lays out a familiar playbook. Fraudsters create fake profiles on social media, cultivate rapport with targets — often expressing strong feelings early — and then introduce financial requests. Commonly reported rationales include funding travel, covering medical expenses, or other invented needs. Investigators also highlighted sudden investment pitches as a frequent escalation.
- Criminals build fake profiles on social media and cultivate rapport.
- Offenders often express strong feelings early in order to establish trust.
- Requests for money follow, framed as travel costs, medical bills, or investments.
- Scammers may avoid video calls or in‑person meetings, offering excuses instead.
The City of London Police urged the public to watch for unsolicited affection from strangers online, excuses to avoid video calls or in‑person meetings, and sudden investment pitches — and recommended seeking a second opinion from a friend or family member.
Who is losing the most
The financial impact is concentrated in older age groups: almost half of 2025's total romance‑fraud losses came from people aged 55–74. The pattern of reporting and loss is uneven by gender: men submitted the highest number of reports, but women incurred the greatest financial losses. Underreporting is believed to be widespread, with many victims remaining silent out of shame.
How UK romance fraud fits into the wider fraud landscape
Despite the large headline number for romance fraud, it sits at the lower end of the UK's cybercrime spectrum. The City of London Police noted that advance fee fraud, banking fraud, investment fraud, and online shopping scams all generate far more reports. Across the UK, total fraud losses in 2025 reached £3.4 billion ($4.6 billion) across 388,895 reports, placing the £102 million toll from romance scams in stark perspective.
The problem is larger in the United States by the measure used in the cited source: the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) estimated total romance‑fraud losses in 2025 at $929.4 million, and ranked confidence/romance scams as the fifth most costly form of cybercrime there.
What this means for technologists, policymakers, and the public
- Technologists and security teams should prioritise detection signals that match the reported tactics: fake profiles on social platforms, rapid emotional escalation, avoidance of video contact, and unexpected investment solicitations.
- Policymakers and regulators will be watching reporting channels and support mechanisms: the City of London Police emphasised that victims' reports help "build intelligence, disrupt offenders, and protect others from harm."
- End users and the general public are urged to look for red flags described by investigators — unsolicited affection, excuses to avoid video calls, sudden investment pitches — and to consult a trusted friend or family member before sending money.
The headline figures are stark: roughly £280,000 lost each day to people using online relationships as a vector for financial exploitation. With tens of thousands of reports logged and investigators urging victims to come forward, the path from individual disclosures to actionable intelligence will determine whether those daily losses can be reduced.
