For many, Valentine’s Day is a day to open their hearts — and their dating apps — hoping to find connection, companionship and love. But every year, we see how fraudsters exploit those same hopes to take advantage of others.
Romance scams are uniquely painful. In these schemes, a scammer creates a fake online identity, gains a victim’s trust and affection, and then exploits the illusion of a romantic relationship to pressure them into sending money. The harm goes far beyond financial loss. These scams prey on vulnerability, emotion and human connection.
Same scams, new tactics
At Visa, we work every day to protect people from this kind of harm and make payments safe, secure and worthy of people’s trust. Recently, our Visa Scam Disruption team uncovered a romance scheme that reveals just how industrialized online fraud has become. This wasn’t a lone scammer behind a fake profile; it was an entire network of dating sites engineered to mimic affection and funnel unsuspecting people into recurring billing traps. Victims were greeted by bot profiles that seemed warm, attentive and eager to connect. These automated personas could spark conversations within seconds of signing up, creating the illusion of genuine chemistry.
But that warmth faded quickly. As soon as victims showed interest, the chats were closed. Countdowns appeared. Trial offers popped up with friendly price points that converted into expensive subscription plans. Many paid simply because they believed they were taking a step toward a real relationship. Instead, they were being drawn deeper into a system designed to keep charging them long after they tried to leave.
What made this scam especially troubling was its scale. After the first payment, victims’ payment details were stolen, people began seeing charges from unfamiliar merchants, and when they tried to cancel, they hit dead ends — disconnected phone numbers, unanswered emails, and confirmation pages that appeared to work but never stopped the charges.
How to spot a romance scam
- Urgent asks for money, with threats the conversation will end: Legitimate platforms are looking to help drive connections. Short windows demanding payment with threats to close matches should be considered red flags.
- Too good to be true profiles: Scammers often use model‑like, AI-generated or stolen photos paired with glamorous but vague backstories. Using reverse image search is one way to check if an image has been stolen, but remember: this won’t help spot AI-generated images.
- Love bombing or rushing intimacy: Rapid declarations of affection or pressure to escalate the relationship quickly are classic manipulation tactics.
- Avoiding video or in‑person meetings: Consistent excuses to dodge face‑to‑face interactions signal they may be hiding their real identity.
- Requests to move platforms or share personal/financial info: Pushing to leave the dating app, asking for sensitive details, or nudging you toward payments, crypto, or gift cards are major red flags that you might be flirting with a fraudster.
How Visa Scam Disruption works to thwart fraudsters
This scheme is exactly the kind of operation Visa Scam Disruption was built to stop. Using our network level intelligence, advanced AI modeling, dark web monitoring, and deep investigative expertise, the VSD team mapped the infrastructure behind this operation, linked its merchant activity to fraudulent processing patterns, and worked with acquirers to dismantle it. We’ve uncovered more than 25,000 scam merchants since the practice began, and we’ve identified more than $1.6 billion in attempted fraud across the ecosystem as part of this work.
But scams like this remind us that the fight is far from over. As technology evolves, so do the scammers’ tactics — and that’s why we’ve made it a priority to share what we’re learning with our partners. Today, in honor of that commitment, we’re releasing the Visa Scam Disruption white paper, which outlines how we detect, investigate, and disrupt emerging scam operations. It provides a comprehensive look at the tools, intelligence, and collaboration needed across the ecosystem to stay ahead of evolving threats, including romance scams like the one we uncovered.
To scammers, from Visa
Valentine’s Day should be about genuine connection — not emotional manipulation, hidden fees, or fraudulent subscriptions. As people look for love this season, Visa will continue working to ensure that trust remains at the center of every digital interaction.
And while scammers may use the language of love to deceive, we’ll continue using the full strength of our network, our technology, and our partnerships to protect everyone in the digital economy. Find out more about how to spot romance scams, check out these tips here.