PHOENIX — Arizona ranked number five in the nation for the number of victims being taken advantage of through online romance scams, according to online investigation service Social Catfish. Those are scams where a criminal creates a fake online identity to gain a victim’s trust and affection.
New data suggested more than 800 Arizona victims have lost more than $22 million. That placed the state at number five on a nationwide list, even though Arizona is down 26 percent from 2022.
The average Arizona victim lost more than $27,000 to romance scams in 2023.
Social Catfish helps users avoid internet fraud and compiled this recent data to see how much damage the scams create. The service analyzed FBI and FTC data released in 2024, combined with 10 million reverse search users on its website. The FTC said the average American lost about $2,000 to these scams, which is less than the average Arizonan. That’s the highest reported loss for any form of imposter scam.
The FTC added that when romance scammers have hooked a victim, the financial consequences can be devastating.
The top three romance scams to avoid in 2024 involve deepfake video calls, crypto and celebrity deepfakes. Artificial intelligence is making it a lot easier for scammers to drain bank accounts.
Deepfake Video Calls
The first scam to watch for are real-time face swapping deepfake video calls. Social Catfish said a Nigerian crime group called the “Yahoo Boys” are using face swapping technology to have video calls in real-time while looking like the person in the fake online profile.
To avoid this, look for unnatural blinking, inconsistent skin tone, words not matching mouth movements and more.
Crypto/Romance Scams
Once trust is established, Social Catfish said the scammer presents a crypto investment guaranteeing big returns. A fake crypto exchange puts the money in the criminal’s crypto wallet.
The scammer could also create an emergency, asking to be paid in crypto. To avoid this one, perform a reverse image search to verify identity. Also, don’t ever send crypto to someone you don’t know.
Fake Celebrity Romance
More deepfake technology is being used to make online victims fall in love with what they think are celebrities. One woman, Social Catfish said, lost $50,000 after falling for a deepfake version of Elon Musk.
To avoid this one, always know a famous person needing money from a stranger online is a scam. Fake celebrity social media accounts also have few followers and no blue check marks.
Social Catfish is a company that verifies online identities using reverse search technology.
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