Day 4 of the free 7-Day Dating Glow-Up Challenge — one small upgrade a day.
The 4 most common romance-scam playbooks in 2026
1. Pig-butchering (crypto romance)
Starts as a friendly chat from a "wrong number" or a match. Builds rapport over weeks. Eventually mentions a trading platform they use. Walks you through small "wins" that go into a fake interface. Disappears with your money.
2. Military / oil rig
Claims to be deployed overseas. Can never video call due to "security". Eventually a crisis — medical leave, equipment fees, customs charges. Money is requested via wire or gift cards.
3. Inheritance / business deal
"I just need help moving funds." Or "I'm waiting on a large inheritance and just need a small amount to clear it." Pure 419 fraud, repackaged for dating apps.
4. Sextortion
Builds trust, escalates to intimate exchange, then threatens to send the content to your contacts unless you pay. The right response: stop replying, screenshot everything, report to the platform and to local police.
How the checker reads a conversation, and what to do with the result
The Romance Scam Checker looks for the patterns that recur across documented romance scams: a fast move to “I feel I have known you forever”, reasons a video call is never possible, a job that keeps them unreachable (oil rig, military deployment, overseas contract), a sudden crisis, and any mention of money, gift cards, crypto or “helping with a package”. It runs in your browser, stores nothing, and scores what you paste against those patterns. A high score means “this matches how scams usually go”, not “this person is definitely a scammer”; a low score means nothing was detected, not that you are safe.
Reading a result: an example
Someone pastes three weeks of messages. The checker flags: intense affection by day four; two cancelled video calls blamed on bad connection; a job on a ship with “restricted internet”; and, in the last few days, a story about a customs fee for a gift being held at the airport. Each item alone has an innocent explanation. Together they are the standard script, almost word for word. The right response is not to confront or investigate but to stop sending anything, especially money, and talk to one person you trust before you reply again.
Checks that take five minutes
- Reverse-search their photos. Stolen photos usually belong to someone with a different name and a public profile.
- Ask for a live video call at a specific time. Not “sometime”; a time. A real person who likes you will find one within a week.
- Search a distinctive sentence from their messages. Scripts are reused; a paragraph that appears on a scam-report forum settles the question.
- Notice what they ask about you. Scammers ask about your finances, your family’s proximity and your loneliness early; real people ask about your weekend.
If money has already moved
Contact your bank or the payment service immediately; some transfers can be stopped within hours. Report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and to the platform where you met. Keep the messages as evidence. Do not pay anyone who contacts you offering to recover the money; that is the second act of the same scam. And tell someone. Shame is the scammer’s main tool for keeping victims quiet, and it works only in private. Our guides on romance scam warning signs and spotting catfishing go deeper, and the Safety Checklist covers the move from online to in person.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is this checker?
It scans for over 30 patterns documented by the FTC, FBI IC3, and Action Fraud. Treat every match as something to verify further — not proof of a scam and not a clean bill of health. The checker can be wrong in both directions: use it as a starting point for your own judgment, not a verdict.
Is what I paste stored anywhere?
No. The analysis happens entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to our servers.
I think I'm being scammed — what should I do?
Stop sending money immediately. Don't tell the scammer you're suspicious — they may double down. Report to your local fraud authority (FTC ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the US, Action Fraud in the UK, ACCC Scamwatch in Australia). If you've sent crypto, report to FBI IC3. Tell someone you trust.
Can a romance scammer ever be a real person?
Most large-scale romance scams are run from organised compounds in Southeast Asia, often by trafficked workers who are themselves victims. The person you're talking to is real, but the persona is not — and the script is industrial.
What if my partner just refuses to video call because they're shy?
Shyness is real, but real shy people will eventually agree to a short, low-pressure call. A flat refusal for months, especially when paired with declarations of love early on, is a strong red flag.
Read our full scam-pattern guide
A long-form article on how modern romance scams work and how to report them.