The "Love Scammers" have already caused millions of euros to be lost

In 2024 and 2025, the victim of a fake Brad Pitt made the front page  of the international press. Scammed out of an amount of 830,000 euros betweenFebruary 2023 and June 2024, by a scammer pretending in turn to be the actor's mother, his doctor or Brad Pitt himself, she found herself ruined... 

A similar scam took place at the end of last year with a Quebecer who was the victim of a fake Lara Fabian. He ended up selling his house and lost about 245,000 euros...

Recently, it was a Belgian woman in her seventies who lost several thousand euros following contacts with a scammer posing as the singer Pierre Garnier.

The Sentiment Scam

This Valentine's Day season, we wanted to warn you once again about romance fraud, whether scammers are hiding on social media or dating apps.

Although sentiment scams are difficult to quantify, the FPS Economy already valued them in 2021 at more than 9 million euros! An amount that must not have decreased, given the omnipresence of digital technology and in particular social networks in our lives. The case of the "grazers" remains very well known. 

According to data from the anti-virus company Avast, countries in Central Europe and North America are the most affected by scams of this kind. One in 20 people would be confronted with it and Belgium is among the first countries concerned, along with many other European nations. 

What are the signs of romance scams?

• The profile is too good to be true;
• The person lives far away;
• The relationship evolves very quickly;
• The person asks you for money (often via special means such as pre-paid cards, etc.);
• The messages are badly written;
• The person makes excuses not to meet you.

Any tips to avoid "scammers"?

• We can't tell you enough: limit the amount of personal information you share on social media and dating apps. For example, use a different username and  be especially wary of what you make public (photos, personal information, ...)
• Take your time and ask questions if you're talking to someone you don't know.
• Research the person by looking at their profiles or doing a reverse image search (on images.google.com, for example) to see if the photo and profile have been used on other sites.
• Arrange a video chat with the person, while being wary of artificial intelligence. A piece of advice: make the person say or write something to show that it is really them.
• Be alert to spelling and grammatical mistakes, inconsistencies in speech, and false excuses, such as a camera that doesn't work.
• Don't share personal photos, videos, or other compromising material in the discussions. Scammers could use them later to blackmail you.
• If you consent to a one-on-one meeting, let your family and friends know where you are going.
• Whatever the reason given, do not follow up on a request for money or a similar procedure.  Scammers can be very inventive and play on the emotions of the victims.
• Never send money or give out your credit card or bank account information. Also, do not send copies of personal documents.
• Avoid dealing with a stranger asking you for an advance payment via a payment order, bank transfer, international funds transfer, prepaid card, or cryptocurrency. It is rare to see the colour of the money sent in this way.
• Do not transfer money to a third party: money laundering is a crime.
• Never hesitate to enable two-factor authentication to protect your account and report suspicious behavior to suspect@safeonweb.be.

Victim of fraud?

If you have been a victim of fraud, above all, don't be ashamed, this form of scam is more common than you think.

• Keep all communications and evidence that can identify the scammer: screenshots of messages, transactions;
• File a complaint with the Local Police after establishing a chronology of the facts and identifying the damage;
• Inform the people responsible for the site or application that allowed the scammer to approach you. Give them the scammer's profile name and other details that could help them prevent others from falling victim.
• If you have passed on your bank details to a fraudster, have the card blocked via Card Stop (078 170 170) and contact your bank immediately. The telephone numbers of the banking institutions are included in this document made available by Febelfin.
• If you have been a victim for the first time, beware of scammers who could pretend to be an organization wishing to help you recover your money, a scam called "Recovery Room".