Romance and Investment Scams That Start on Social Media

Why a sweetheart or a sure-thing investment that begins on social media is so often a scam.

You meet someone special online, maybe through a dating app, or they message you out of nowhere on Facebook or Instagram. They are charming and attentive, and always just out of reach, working overseas, in the military, or on an oil rig. After weeks of messages, they ask for money: a plane ticket, a medical bill, a fee to "release" a large sum they want to share with you.

This is a romance scam. The rule from consumer protection officials is simple: never send money or gifts to someone you have never met in person, no matter how long you have talked.

A similar scam starts with an old friend's account suddenly posting about getting rich from investing, often in cryptocurrency, with screenshots of huge profits. The account may actually be hacked, run by a scammer using your friend's name. Investment scams like this are now the costliest scam type for older adults: people 60 and over reported losing over $1 billion to investment scams in 2025, and scammers often reach them first through social media, the FTC reports.

If an investment sounds guaranteed and easy, it is a scam.

Rule to remember: never send money to someone you have not met in person, and treat any investing tip from social media as a likely scam until you check it another way.