Emergence of AI-Driven Romance Scams and Crypto Phishing Threats
New research has revealed that romance scams are increasingly being automated through the use of large language models (LLMs), allowing cybercriminals to scale their operations and make scam interactions more convincing. These scams typically follow a three-stage process: initial contact, relationship building, and financial extraction, with LLMs now handling much of the repetitive conversation and persona management. Insiders from scam operations report daily use of AI tools to draft and translate messages, making it easier to maintain multiple simultaneous conversations and deceive victims into fraudulent cryptocurrency investments.
In parallel, the threat landscape for cryptocurrency users has intensified, with phishing attacks targeting digital wallets and decentralized applications (dApps) on the rise. According to a 2025 Kaspersky report, crypto-related phishing detections surged by over 80% compared to 2023, with social engineering scams accounting for the largest share of incidents. Attackers employ tactics such as fake wallet sites, approval phishing, and payload-based transaction phishing, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. These developments underscore the growing sophistication and automation of social engineering attacks in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, driven by advances in AI and the expanding use of digital assets.
Timeline
Dec 29, 2025
Kaspersky reports sharp increase in crypto phishing detections
Kaspersky reported that crypto phishing detections in 2025 were 83.4% higher than in 2023, reflecting a significant global surge in such attacks. The reporting also noted that social engineering scams made up about 40.8% of crypto-related incidents, compared with 33.7% for technical hacks.
Dec 29, 2025
Research finds LLMs are automating romance scam conversations
Recent research showed scam operators are using large language models to handle repetitive trust-building conversations in romance scams, reserving human involvement for final financial extraction. In controlled testing, participants trusted and complied with automated agents more than with humans, and existing moderation tools struggled to detect early-stage scam chats.
Jan 1, 2024
Study documents major rise in crypto phishing detections
A 2024 study found more than 130,000 phishing transactions caused over $341.9 million in losses, while address poisoning scams accounted for at least $83.8 million. The findings highlighted the scale of crypto phishing and weaknesses in wallet safety checks.
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