Overview
- FBI, DHS, U.S. attorneys and Australia’s JPC3 issued pre‑holiday alerts citing a seasonal uptick and the use of AI‑generated photos, videos and voice messages.
- Scammers follow a familiar playbook of love‑bombing, pushing targets off dating apps to encrypted chats, isolating them, and avoiding genuine in‑person or verifiable video contact.
- Criminals increasingly funnel victims into irreversible payments and “pig‑butchering” schemes that route money to bogus crypto or investment platforms.
- Losses remain vast and underreported, with the FTC logging more than 65,000 cases and roughly $3 billion last year, alongside regional totals in the tens of millions.
- Security researchers report a jump in Valentine‑themed domains and cloned dating apps; officials urge reverse‑image searches, staying on‑platform, refusing money requests, and reporting to IC3 or local authorities.