The evidence
How big it is, and who it harms
Australia · 2025
Romance scams are the third-largest scam loss
Australia pools reports from five sources (Scamwatch, ReportCyber, IDCARE, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange and ASIC) and removes overlaps. That gives the fullest national picture available.
A$139.9m
lost to romance scams in 2025
Third-largest scam category by loss, behind investment scams (A$837.7m) and payment redirection (A$166.8m). Down 10.8% from A$156.8m in 2024, when it ranked second.
Note: Combined, de-duplicated figure from five reporting sources. Reported losses are a floor, not the true total.
A$2.18bn
lost to all scams in 2025
From 274,577 reports that included a financial loss, out of 481,523 reports in total. Losses rose 7.8%, and reports with a loss rose 11.2%.
A$28.6m+
reported to Scamwatch alone
Losses experienced by 1,330 Australians, a 21.8% increase on the year before. More than 80% of losses followed online contact: social media, dating platforms and online forums.
Note: Scamwatch sees only part of the harm. The National Anti-Scam Centre's own table lists A$28.7m for the same series.
A$7.1m
lost to romance scams by people aged 55 to 64
Reported to Scamwatch, 7.8% higher than in 2024. For older age groups, investment and romance scams led to the highest losses, and many have retirement savings within reach.
About 30%
of people who experienced a scam did not report it
From the Australian Bureau of Statistics survey for 2024 to 2025, as cited by the National Anti-Scam Centre. The Centre also notes that some people are reluctant to report romance scams because of stigma or shame.
Note: This does not mean actual losses are 30% higher: many unreported scams involve small or no loss.
Who is affected
The harm is more than money
Retirement savings
The National Anti-Scam Centre notes that many Australians have their retirement savings or superannuation stolen through investment and romance scams. For people aged 55 to 64, romance scams cost A$7.1 million in Scamwatch reports alone.
Psychological harm
The ACCC calls romance scams one of the most financially and psychologically damaging financial crimes. Research with victims (Whitty and Buchanan, 2016) examines the psychological impact, including the loss of the relationship itself.
Silence
The Centre notes that some people are reluctant to report romance scams because of stigma or shame. That is why prevention that carries no blame matters as much as detection.
What coordinated action achieved
When organisations connect, money can still be saved
1,004
suspected scam transactions referred for investigation
By the Romance Scam Fusion Cell, July to December 2025, which brought together dating and social platforms, police, banks, victim services, crypto exchanges, academics and survivors.
Source: Scamwatch, 2026
168
suspect crypto wallet addresses referred for blocking
The same taskforce also referred 377 websites, messaging accounts, emails and social profiles for removal.
Source: Scamwatch, 2026
5,000+
potential victims warned before more money was sent
After a raid on a Manila-based call centre running a romance-baiting scam, the AFP identified Australian targets and the National Anti-Scam Centre notified them.
United Kingdom · 2025
A record year, and a pattern built from small payments
The UK has two official counts, and they measure different things. Banks (through UK Finance) count bank-transfer fraud they have confirmed. The police (through Report Fraud) count what victims report across every payment method.
£39.2m
lost to romance scams by bank transfer in 2025
The highest ever recorded. Losses rose 23%, and cases rose 22% to 6,335, the fifth year in a row that cases have increased.
Note: UK Finance counts bank-transfer fraud confirmed by its members. It does not count every payment method, so it is lower than the police figure below.
Source: UK Finance, June 2026
9.7
payments on average per romance scam
The highest of all eight scam types UK Finance tracks. It shows how trust is built: criminals usually target smaller amounts first and return again and again.
Source: UK Finance, June 2026
67%
of romance scam losses were returned to the victim
£26.2m of the £39.2m, up 32% on the year before. Reimbursement helps, but it does not repair the harm of the relationship or the shame.
Source: UK Finance, June 2026
£102m+
reported to the police in 2025
From 10,784 reports to Report Fraud, up 29% on 2024, with an average loss of about £9,500. People aged 55 to 74 accounted for almost half of the losses.
Note: Victim reports across all payment methods, so higher than UK Finance's bank-transfer count. Reported by news outlets citing the police.
Source: FStech, 8 May 2026
Why this matters for detection: an average of 9.7 payments per scam means there is usually a window of weeks in which a bank, or the person, could notice the pattern. That window is what the stage model and the console are built to use.
India · 2025
Cases are rising fast, and investment fraud dominates
India reports cyber-financial fraud through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and the 1930 helpline. Romance baiting steers people toward the investment fraud that makes up most of the losses.
₹22,495 crore
reported cyber-fraud losses in 2025
Against ₹22,845 crore in 2024. Losses were roughly level while the number of cases grew sharply.
Note: Reported by ThePrint from Ministry of Home Affairs data. Check the primary release before citing formally.
Source: ThePrint, 21 February 2026
28.15 lakh
cyber-fraud cases recorded in 2025
Up from 22.68 lakh in 2024, about a 24% rise.
Source: ThePrint, 21 February 2026
76%
of 2025 losses were investment fraud
Ponzi schemes, fake stock-trading platforms and cryptocurrency scams. This is the same endpoint that romance baiting steers people toward.
Source: ThePrint, 21 February 2026
19% of cases
were sextortion, but only 4% of losses
Sextortion is common and often involves small, repeated demands, so its harm is not only financial.
Source: ThePrint, 21 February 2026
Honey-trap frauds: a warning from Hyderabad police
In March 2026, Hyderabad’s Police Commissioner warned of rising honey-trap cyber frauds, using fake dating and video-calling apps promoted with AI-generated videos. Telangana Police repeated the warning pattern in October 2026. These are police warnings, not counts: no national total for honey-trap cases is published in the sources we checked.
Sources: Telangana Today, 17 March 2026; The420.in, 5 October 2026
Read these carefully
What the numbers cannot tell us
- Every figure is what people reported. Shame and stigma keep some victims silent, especially in romance scams, so reported losses are a floor.
- Different reporting systems see different parts of the same harm. Australia's combined figure removes overlaps between five sources; Scamwatch alone sees far less.
- Australian, Indian and UK figures use different currencies, categories and methods. This site never adds them together or ranks one country against another.
- The UK has two official counts that look contradictory but are not: UK Finance's £39.2m counts bank-transfer fraud confirmed by its members, and the police's £102m counts victim reports across all payment methods. Always say which one you mean.
- In the sources checked, India publishes no romance-specific national loss figure. Romance fraud there is visible mainly through investment fraud and sextortion categories and police case reports.
- These sources record who reports a crime and how much was lost, not who commits it. Nothing here supports a conclusion about the gender, nationality or background of offenders, and the site avoids implying one.
- A pattern in a bank's data is a reason to look, not proof of fraud. Genuine relationships, family support and personal investments can look similar.
Where each figure comes from
Pages read while the site was built, on 5 October 2026. Use the primary source for formal citation.
- Targeting scams: Report of the National Anti-Scam Centre on scams data and activity 2025National Anti-Scam Centre (ACCC), Australia, March 2026. Combines Scamwatch, ReportCyber, IDCARE, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange and ASIC data, with de-duplication.
- Understand how criminals exploit online relationships and inflict heartacheAustralian Competition and Consumer Commission, 5 February 2026
- National Anti-Scam Centre taskforce report highlights value of joint effort to tackle romance scamsScamwatch (National Anti-Scam Centre), 2026
- Annual Fraud Report 2026UK Finance, June 2026. Covers authorised push payment (bank transfer) fraud confirmed by UK Finance members. It excludes card payments and losses that members do not see.
- Romance fraud victims lost over £102m last year, finds City of London PoliceFStech, reporting City of London Police (Report Fraud) data, 8 May 2026. A news report of Report Fraud's 2025 figures, matched by a second outlet (The Register, 5 May 2026). The police release itself could not be opened when this site was built, so check it before formal citation.
- Cybercrime saw 24% spike in 2025: Indians lost Rs 22,495 crore, mainly in investment scamsThePrint, reporting Ministry of Home Affairs data, 21 February 2026. A news report of government figures. The Ministry's own table was not accessible when this site was built, so treat these as reported figures and check the primary release before citing them in formal work.
- The online dating romance scam: the psychological impact on victimsWhitty, M. T., & Buchanan, T. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 2016