Romance scams have accounted for $1.3 billion in losses over the previous five years alone, topping any other FTC fraud category.
The verb “catfish,” or to lure (someone) into a relationship by adopting a fictional online persona, was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2014. Oxford credited emergence of the term to the 2010 documentary “Catfish.” MTV’s unscripted TV show of the same name, investigating relationships predicated upon assuming a fallacious identity online, helped bring the word into the mainstream.
Romance scams: Are you at risk?
Twelve years later, catfishing is a common part of our English vernacular. Commonplace, too, are the various applications of catfishing used to take advantage of people looking for human connection.
Unsuspecting victims believe they are developing a genuine romantic relationship with a person online who slowly gains their trust, eventually asking for money. While romance scams have been happening for more than a decade now (see the aforementioned documentary), catfishing has leapt into the national spotlight thanks to “The Tindler Swindler” documentary on Netflix.
But recent public awareness may be too little too late for the many victims of 2021. The Federal Trade Commission reports that a whopping $547 million was lost to romance scammers last year, up 80% from 2020.
Which states are most vulnerable?
Social Catfish, an investigative research website dedicated to preventing identity fraud in dating apps, presents…
