Valentine’s Day is today. The realities of the online dating scene means being aware of the growing amounts of romance scams and not letting your quest for love lead to heartbreaks or financial losses.
A viral story from early 2025 detailed a woman who lost over C$1 million to a scammer who used AI generated photos of celebrity Brad Pitt to fake a romantic relationship.
Another report shared to the BBB Scam Tracker in November 2024 detailed how a scammer impersonated Elon Musk to steal $700 in gift cards from a person in Vancouver who believed they had romantically matched online with Musk.
The Better Business Bureau reminds Valentine’s Day romantics to be smart when sharing personal information online.
Romance scams often begin with fake profiles on dating sites, using stolen or doctored photos that seem too good to be true. Scammers frequently claim to be working overseas to justify their absence while building trust.
As the relationship deepens, they fabricate emergencies that prevent in-person meetings—always leading to the same outcome: a request for money. Once the money is sent, they disappear, shared Neesha Hothi, director of marketing, Better Business Bureau serving Mainland BC.
Read up on the red flags of romance scams:
- Too good to be true? Probably is.
- Scammers offer up good-looking photos or tales of financial success. If they seem “too perfect,” your alarm bells should ring. Be aware of AI generated photos and cryptocurrency and investment opportunities, if they say they can get you rich quick, it's likely they are setting you up for a scam.
- In a hurry to get off the site.
- Catfishers will try very quickly to get you to move to communicate through email, messenger, or phone.
- Moving fast.
- A catfisher will begin speaking of a future together and tell you they love you quickly. They often say they’ve never felt this way before.
- Talk about trust.
- Scammers will start manipulating you with talk about trust and its importance. This will often be the first step to asking you for money.
- Hard luck stories and tall tales.
- Before moving on to asking you for money, the scammer may hint at financial troubles, a stolen car, a sick relative, or a death in their family. They say all they need is some financial help first, then they can come meet you.
BBB tips to protect yourself from romance scams:
- Never send money or personal information.
- Sensitive info can be used for identity theft. Never give someone your credit card information to book a ticket to visit you. Cut off contact if someone starts asking you for information like credit card, bank, or government ID numbers.
- Ask specific questions about details given in a profile.
- A scammer may stumble over remembering details or making a story fit.
- Do your research.
- Many scammers steal photos from the web to use in their profiles. You can do a reverse image lookup using a website like tineye.com or Google to see if the photos on a profile are stolen from somewhere else.
Report scams to the BBB Scam Tracker, Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and police whenever possible.
