UK Romance Fraud Losses Hit £102M as Reports Surge
City of London Police said romance fraudsters stole £102 million from UK victims in 2025 across 10,784 reports filed through the Report Fraud service, a 29 percent increase year over year. Average losses were about £9,500 per victim, with some cases reaching £1 million, as offenders built emotional trust over time before requesting money for fabricated travel, medical, or other urgent expenses.
Older adults were hit hardest financially, with nearly half of total losses borne by people aged 55 to 74. Men submitted the highest number of reports, while women suffered the greatest monetary losses. Authorities warned that romance fraud causes both financial and emotional harm and noted that, while the crime remains smaller in the UK than categories such as banking, investment, and online shopping fraud, comparable losses in the United States were far higher, with the FBI IC3 estimating $929.4 million lost to romance scams in 2025.
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6 events from the earliest known activity through the most recent confirmed update.
UK romance fraud losses reach £102 million in 2025
City of London Police said romance fraudsters stole £102 million from UK victims during 2025, based on 10,784 reports submitted through the Report Fraud service. The force said reports were up 29 percent year over year, with older victims disproportionately affected.
ShinyHunters claims attack on Cushman & Wakefield
ShinyHunters told The Register it attacked Cushman & Wakefield on May 1 and claimed to have stolen more than 500,000 Salesforce records containing personally identifiable information and internal corporate data. The claim was presented as part of a broader campaign linked to Salesforce-focused intrusions.
Qilin lists Cushman & Wakefield on its leak site
The Qilin ransomware group added Cushman & Wakefield to its leak site on May 4, claiming responsibility for an attack but not describing its intrusion method. Reporting noted there was no known link proving coordination with ShinyHunters.
Cushman & Wakefield confirms vishing-related security incident
Cushman & Wakefield confirmed a limited data security incident caused by vishing and said it had activated incident response protocols, contained unauthorized activity, and engaged third-party experts. The company said systems and operations continued to run normally while the investigation proceeded.
City of London Police publishes 2025 romance fraud figures
City of London Police publicly reported that romance fraud cost UK victims £102 million in 2025 and highlighted the emotional and financial harm caused by offenders who build trust before requesting money. The announcement also noted average losses of about £9,500 per victim, with some cases reaching £1 million.
ShinyHunters sets May 6 deadline for Cushman & Wakefield contact
ShinyHunters set a May 6 deadline for Cushman & Wakefield to make contact in order to prevent publication of the allegedly stolen data. The ultimatum followed the group's claim that it had exfiltrated more than 500,000 Salesforce records.
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Romance fraud costs UK victims £102 million in a year as reports surge by nearly a third | City of London Police
cityoflondon.police.uk
Open sourceCushman & Wakefield confirms vishing cyberattack
theregister.com
Open sourceCushman & Wakefield confirms vishing cyberattack • The Register
go.theregister.com
Open sourceRomance fraudsters fleeced UK victims of £102M in 2025 • The Register
go.theregister.com
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FBI says cyber fraud losses hit $17.6 billion as crypto scams topped $11 billion
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported more than **1,008,597** cybercrime complaints in 2025, with cyber-enabled fraud driving **$17.6 billion** in losses and accounting for **85%** of all reported losses. **Investment fraud** caused the most damage at **$8.6 billion**, followed by **business email compromise** at more than **$3 billion** and **tech support fraud** at **$2.1 billion**. Older adults were hit especially hard, with people aged 60 and above filing **201,266** complaints tied to about **$7.7 billion** in losses, while California, Texas, and Florida recorded the highest complaint volumes. Cryptocurrency-related crime was a major driver of the surge, with Americans reporting **$11.4 billion** in crypto scam losses across **181,565** complaints, up **22%** from the prior year. The FBI said many cryptocurrency investment scams are sophisticated, long-running schemes linked to organized criminal enterprises in Southeast Asia that use trafficked people as forced labor. The bureau also warned that ransomware remained a persistent threat, investigating more than **200** ransomware variants, actors, and enablers after identifying **63** new variants; ransomware complaints rose to **3,611** with more than **$32 million** in losses, and attacks affected **14 of 16** U.S. critical infrastructure sectors.
Apr 27, 2026
AI-Enabled Romance Scams Using Deepfakes and Fake Cryptocurrency Lures
A surge in **romance scams** is leveraging **AI-enabled impersonation** to make fraud harder to detect, combining manufactured intimacy with financial theft. Australian police warned more than 5,000 people they may have been targeted in a large-scale operation linked to overseas syndicates, where scammers used mainstream dating apps to initiate relationships and then steered victims into purchasing **fake cryptocurrency**. The playbook described includes rapidly escalating emotional commitment, isolating targets, and pushing conversations off-platform to apps like *WhatsApp* or *Telegram*, reducing victims’ access to in-app safety controls and reporting mechanisms. The fraud techniques increasingly rely on **deepfakes** and automated “AI personas,” undermining traditional verification methods such as requesting custom photos or relying on video calls as proof of identity. Reported tactics include real-time face-swapping and AI voice synthesis during video calls, long-running bot-driven conversations that build trust over months, and “celebrity” impersonation to intensify emotional leverage and extract larger payments. Despite the technology shift, the core mechanism remains psychological manipulation—using scripted narratives and social engineering to move victims from online rapport to off-platform communication and ultimately to financial transfers.
Mar 21, 2026
Governments Expand Anti-Scam Measures and Shift Responsibility to Industry
The UK government unveiled a new national fraud strategy aimed at reducing the country’s most common crime by shifting more responsibility for scam prevention onto **telecom providers, technology platforms, and financial firms**. The plan follows criticism that fraud—estimated at roughly **40% of recorded crime** in England and Wales, with a majority **cyber-enabled**—has not received a commensurate law-enforcement response. UK authorities are also restructuring fraud intake and analysis through *Report Fraud*, a new national reporting system intended to replace *Action Fraud* and improve pattern detection and alerting, with stakeholders warning that outcomes will depend on the quality and reliability of submitted data. In parallel, other governments are rolling out more aggressive anti-scam initiatives. Dutch national police launched the **“Game Over?!”** campaign, threatening to publicly identify 100 scam suspects unless they surrender, as part of a broader effort to curb impersonation fraud such as **fake police officer** and **fake bank employee** scams that have surged in recent years. In the US, an executive order directed multiple agencies to produce a 120-day action plan to **prevent, disrupt, investigate, and dismantle** transnational cybercrime organizations (including scam-center operators) and proposed a **Victim Restoration Program** to return seized or forfeited funds to victims of cyber-enabled fraud, supported by a new operational unit to improve interagency coordination and information sharing, with private-sector threat intelligence used “when appropriate.”
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