Inside a Romance Scam: How Emotional Exploitation Fuels Financial Fraud

Disclaimer: This article does not endorse or promote scams in any way. We believe that the best way to prevent scams is to understand how they work so freelancers can protect themselves.

Romance scams aren’t new; they’ve existed for a long time. Historically, such tactics were used for espionage—gaining sensitive information—before they became a common tool for fraudulent activity, primarily for financial gain. Because romance scams have been around for a while, many people are aware of them.

Still, if you’re involved in one of these operations—regardless of whether you’re male or female—manipulating someone’s emotions for profit can be seen as worse than any other form of sex work. However, let’s focus on the business side of this scam:

Step 1: Build a Team

• Create a group of multiple people, and hire a few employees—mostly women—to serve as the “faces” of the operation.

Step 2: Set Up a Fake Investment Website

• Develop a site that appears legitimate and promises high returns over time.

Step 3: Target a Vulnerable Victim

• Find someone online who is likely to trust easily or who appears emotionally vulnerable.

Step 4: Establish an Online Relationship

1. One of your female employees contacts the victim and begins a pseudo-relationship.
2. She shares daily routines, engages in romantic talk, does video calls, and pretends to be wealthy.
3. This facade makes the victim believe she isn’t in it for the money.
4. She mentions how she invests in cryptocurrency through a specific website and boasts about significant returns.

• After the victim shows interest, encourage them to invest on the same platform.
• To build trust, allow small payouts initially so they believe the system works.
• The victim becomes greedy for bigger profits and invests more.
• When they try to withdraw their funds, claim you have nothing to do with the website and that they can withdraw anytime.
• If they attempt to withdraw, fabricate a technical crash or demand additional “tax” payments. Extract as much money as possible.
• Eventually, shut down the victim’s account or the site with any excuse.

Through it all, the perpetrator pretends to be just as shocked, claiming they “lost” money too—maintaining the victim’s trust because, superficially, they also appear to be a victim of the website.