By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
FINCEN, the AML unit of the U.S. Treasury, has issued a formal warning urging financial institutions to stay vigilant against romance scam fraud.
The body said the warning supports the U.S. multiagency #DatingOrDefrauding campaign, which raises awareness of fraud targeting victims through dating apps, social media, and text messages.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission launched the campaign to highlight the rising threat of relationship investment scams. “Losses from romance and confidence scams reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation exceeded $650 million in 2023,” FinCEN said.
FinCEN romance scam advice
To help financial institutions detect and report these romance scam fraud, FinCEN highlighted four alerts it has previously issued:
- September 2023 Alert on “Pig Butchering” Scams – This alert describes a scam where criminal groups create fake identities and weave elaborate stories to gain victims’ trust. Eventually, they defraud them through virtual currency or foreign exchange schemes. Many of these scams are run by organized crime networks that exploit labor trafficking victims.
- June 2022 Advisory on Elder Financial Exploitation – Here, FinCEN highlights how romance scams frequently target older adults. Fraudsters first build trust, then steal assets, often leaving victims financially devastated.
- April 2024 Financial Trend Analysis – FinCEN’s research shows that romance fraud often “evolve into investment scams”. Many reports of elder financial exploitation link back to these schemes.
- September 2024 Financial Trend Analysis on Mail Theft-Related Check Fraud – Scammers sometimes persuade romance scam victims to cash stolen checks and transfer funds, “using the victims as money mules to move stolen funds”.
“FinCEN reminds financial institutions to use the specific Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) filing instructions and key terms noted in its alerts and advisory products,” the organization said. It added that these filings are often crucial in helping law enforcement to take down romance scams cases.
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