In the last 10 months, just over £866,000 has been lost in Northern Ireland as a result of romance fraud, according to Police Service of Northern Ireland figures.

Ahead of Valentine’s Day this weekend, The Police Service wants to raise awareness of this type of cruel and very personal fraud committed by criminals looking to swindle people looking for love.

Chief Inspector Boyd, from the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Economic Crime Branch said: “Between April 2025 and the start of February this year, there were 100 reports of romance scams made to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The total loss of £866,700 includes life-changing sums of money."

In one report, over £40,000 was lost when a victim met a fraudster online. The relationship then grew over time, before they were persuaded into transferring money, which happened on multiple occasions, either sending money directly or purchasing gift cards to send codes on to the scammer.

In another report, the victim is believed to have met the fraudster online on a dating site and the relationship developed over a couple of months, before the scammer convinced the them to transfer money to him, which they did on three separate occasions, totalling around £15,000.

Chief Inspector Boyd continued: "Fraudsters will seek to build a relationship quickly with the victim, to chat or text away from the dating site or app you first met them on. To do this the criminals use some common tactics, invent stories in order to pull on the heart strings of the recipient.

“The following steps can help protect you against romance fraudsters:

- Conduct your own research on the person you’re speaking to, checking their social media presence to see if it matches what’s on the dating site. Looking at key details such as name, location and family members can help identify inconsistencies in what you have been told.

- Profile pictures can be deceiving and be taken from anywhere on the internet. You can use various websites to check photos using a reverse image search to prove if the photo is legitimate.

- Never EVER send money to someone you haven’t met in person. If you’re looking for friendship, companionship or love online it should never start with being asked for money and if it does, it’s not a relationship worth having.

"Fraudsters don't care about gender, sexuality, age or race. Fraudsters target everyone, our message is, do not feel ashamed. If it has happened to you report it to us, help and support will always be available."

If you have been a victim of a scam, report it to police on 101, to your bank immediately, and online at www.actionfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040. Information and advice is also available at http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/scamwiseni or the ScamwiseNI Facebook page @scamwiseni.