AI-scaled romance and investment scams

These scams build trust over weeks or months, as a romance, a friendship or a mentor relationship, then turn that trust into 'investments' on a fake trading platform that shows invented profits.¹ INTERPOL calls the romance-plus-crypto version romance baiting; you may also see the slang name 'pig butchering' in news and government notices.²³

Many run from scam compounds in Southeast Asia, where trafficked workers are often forced to do the typing.¹⁴ In October 2025 the Justice Department charged the alleged head of one Cambodian network and moved to seize about 127,271 bitcoin, then worth about $15 billion;⁵ in January 2026 Cambodia arrested him and sent him to China to face charges there.⁶

AI doesn't change the playbook. It lets each operator handle more conversations in fluent language, with translation, scripted replies and fake profiles on tap.⁷⁸

• $8.6 billion¹

  Investment fraud losses reported to the FBI in 2025, the largest of any crime type, from 72,984 complaints.

  FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), p.7 (complaint counts) and p.8 (losses)

• $7.2 billion¹

  The cryptocurrency share of those losses. The FBI says crypto investment fraud is largely run by Southeast Asian crime groups using trafficked people as forced labor.

  FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), p.11 and p.53

• $929 million¹

  Romance and confidence fraud losses reported to the FBI in 2025, from 23,159 complaints.

  FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), p.7 and p.8

• $632 million¹

  Investment fraud losses in 2025 complaints that mentioned AI. Total investment losses reached $8.6 billion, and the FBI notes that many victims don't realize how much AI was involved.

  FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), p.40 and p.42

• At least $10 billion³

  A US government estimate of what Americans lost to Southeast Asia-based scam operations in 2024, up 66% from the year before.

  U.S. Department of the Treasury, Press release, section 'Over $16 billion lost to online scams'

• Nearly 60%⁹

  Share of people who reported losing money to a romance scam to the FTC in 2025 who said it started on social media.

  Federal Trade Commission, Footnote 5

• 78%¹

  Share of the 3,780 crypto investment fraud victims the FBI contacted in 2025 who didn't know they were being scammed.

  FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), p.20, Operation Level Up

• $1.4 billion¹

  Losses in 10,516 complaints about 'recovery' scams that target people who already lost money; the total can include the earlier loss.

  FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), p.53

• A cold start that looks harmless: a wrong-number text, a social media message, a dating match or an ad, followed quickly by a move to a private messaging app.¹
• Social media above all: in 2025, $2.1 billion in losses reported to the FTC began on social media, more than any other way scammers made contact.⁹
• AI translation and scripts: scam centers use large language models to translate and write messages, and chatbots to screen and groom targets at volume.⁴⁸²
• Machines that can win trust: in one small week-long study (22 volunteers), participants trusted an AI chat partner more than human ones, and 46% followed its harmless request versus 18% for the humans.¹³
• Fake faces and proof: AI-generated profile photos, plus short videos or video calls that seem to prove a real person is there.¹⁴
• Borrowed authority: AI-generated videos of celebrities, chief executives or other trusted figures promoting investment clubs.¹
• A fake platform: a professional-looking app or website that shows growing profits, offers loans to invest more, and demands fees before any withdrawal.¹
• A second wave: 'recovery' firms and fake officials who contact people who already lost money.¹²¹⁵

• Keep one rule: no money for people you've only met online

  Don't send money, gift cards or crypto to anyone you know only from the internet or the phone, however long you've been talking. That is the FBI's own advice for AI-enabled scams.¹⁴

• Talk it through with someone you trust

  Before acting on any investment idea that came from an online contact, describe it out loud to a friend, a relative or your bank. Scammers push secrecy because a second opinion breaks the spell, and asking is a strength, not an admission.

  • Guide: Help an older relative stay ahead of AI phone scams

• Check the person and the platform yourself

  Search the app's or firm's name with the word 'scam', and look up any broker or adviser on BrokerCheck, the free lookup run by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), or with your state securities regulator. Run a reverse image search on profile photos. If the only way to reach a platform is a link from your new contact, treat it as fake.

• Treat 'pay to withdraw' as the end of the story

  A real investment doesn't make you pay taxes or fees upfront to get your own money out. The FBI describes that demand as the scammers' last attempt to take more before they disappear.¹

• Name a trusted contact on financial accounts

  Brokerage firms ask for a trusted contact they may call if they can't reach you or suspect financial exploitation. That person can't trade or see your balance, so it adds a safety net without giving up control.¹⁶

  • Guide: Help an older relative stay ahead of AI phone scams

• Assume a voice or a face can be faked

  A video call or voice note no longer proves a person is who they say.¹⁴ Agree on a family safe word and call back on numbers you already have.

  • Guide: The family safe word and callback rule

• Help a parent with curiosity, not blame

  If you're worried about a parent's new online friend, ask open questions about how they met and whether money or investing has come up. Offer to look at the 'platform' together, and keep the door open so they keep talking to you.

  • Guide: Help an older relative stay ahead of AI phone scams

• ThreatHomeBusiness

  Voice cloning and deepfake scams

  Criminals can copy a voice from a short clip and fake faces on a video call, then use them to ask for money in a hurry. In 2025 the FBI logged 22,364 complaints that mentioned AI, with losses near $893 million, most of it in investment scams; voice-cloned 'distress' calls alone cost victims more than $5 million. The defense is low-tech: pause, hang up, and confirm through a number or channel you already trust.

  Read
• ThreatHomeBusiness

  AI-powered phishing and business email compromise

  Criminals now use AI to write fluent, personalized phishing emails and payment requests, in any language and at volume. Business email compromise (BEC), where a scammer poses as a boss, vendor or title company to redirect a payment, drew $3.05 billion in reported losses to the FBI in 2025. Typos are no longer the tell; a request to move money or change bank details is. Confirm every one on a second channel you already trust.

  Read
• GuideHome

  Help an older relative stay ahead of AI phone scams

  Older adults report losing money to fraud less often than younger adults, but when a scam works it tends to cost them more, especially when it starts with a phone call. People 60 and older reported $7.7 billion in losses to the FBI in 2025, including $352 million in complaints that mentioned AI. This guide helps you set up call screening, bank alerts, and a trusted contact together, as partners, and plan what to do if something gets through.

  Read
• GuideHome

  The family safe word and callback rule

  Pick a private word your family uses only to prove who's really calling, and agree that any urgent request for money gets a hang-up and a callback to a number you already have. The FBI recommends the secret word, and the FTC and FCC recommend the callback. Setting it up takes one family conversation.

  Read
• GuideHome

  Digital hygiene at home: the household baseline

  A safe household runs on a few habits: one password manager, passkeys or multi-factor authentication (MFA) on the accounts that matter, automatic updates, and backups you've actually tested. AI adds one more: a family safe word and a callback rule, so a panicked call that sounds like family gets checked before anyone pays. People 60 and older reported $7.7 billion in losses to the FBI in 2025, so bring older relatives into the plan.

  Read