Every year as Valentine’s Day approaches, online scammers ramp up their tactics to exploit the emotions and financial trust of unsuspecting victims. Fraudsters exploit emotions to lure victims in fraudulent cryptocurrency investments. This is the insidious form of crypto fraud, known as crypto baiting - where victims who believe to be in meaningful romantic relationships, have their crypto wallets drained and their hearts broken.
As a crypto compliance company, we at Nominis specialise in helping businesses and institutions stay ahead of emerging threats. With Valentine's Day in our calendars, it is critical to recognise patterns of behaviour emerging from the scammers, and prevent them before they wreak havoc.
How Do Romance Baiting Scams Unfold?
Based on our case studies and the broader patterns we identify in romance-baiting scams, they typically unfold in these steps:
Building Trust
Scammers will first create fake profiles on dating platforms, usually using stolen photos. These fake profiles can be of regular users, or may pose as celebrities or successful crypto professionals, to add a layer of credibility or excitement.
The scammers quickly attempt to establish emotional connections and express interest in a serious long term relationship, to build trust with the victim.
Investment Opportunities
Typically, the scammer will introduce an investment opportunity, offering to help the victim invest, encouraging the benefits of crypto trading. In an alternative example, like Case Study B, the victim was told the money was necessary for the ‘security’ of the celebrity they were talking to.
Fake platforms
The scammer will attempt to direct victims to fake or manipulated trading platforms that appear legitimate, often with login systems or 2FA to increase apparent reliability. The platform will show fake returns, which encourages the victim to invest more.
Fund Extraction
Scammers will then try to persuade the victim to transfer crypto or fiat money to their investment accounts. Some scammers may even appear to lend money to victims, to continue building trust and prevent doubt in the victim’s mind.
The Vanishing Act
At this point, victims eventually realise that either they are unable to access their own wallet, or that their wallet has been drained. The scammers usually block the victims on the dating app or platform they were previously communicating on, never to be heard from again.
Case Studies: Real Life Examples
Case study A:
One story consists of a victim losing $31,000 in a crypto romance baiting scam after being deceived by a fraudster on the dating app Tinder, with the profile name ‘Crystal’. The scam involved a fake transaction platform called Qinpinsqy, available on the Google Play Store. The victim was manipulated into transferring funds from their bank to crypto.com, then to their Atomic Wallet, and then finally to Qinpinsqy - believing to be betting on transactions and getting high returns.
Upon trying to withdraw funds, the Ethereum disappeared, and the Atomic Wallet support team informed the victim that they had been purchasing fake coins.
Further investigation of the malicious wallet on Nominis Vue, demonstrates that this wallet is still active as of mid February 2025, and also indicates interactions between this wallet and another wallet marked as ‘critical risk’. This indicates that the scam is ongoing, and the presence of another high-risk wallet suggests potential connections to a larger, broader fraud network beyond this one instance of romance baiting.
Amount lost: $31,000
Case study B:
A scammer posing as American actor Ryan Eggold - known for New Amsterdam and 90210 - approached unsuspecting victims on dating apps and initiated conversations, using stolen images to make victims believe they were in conversation with the real actor.
As the relationship developed the scammer insisted that they were interested in a serious relationship, but his ‘management’ required $5,000 for ‘security reasons’, so the pair could meet. Once the victim sent the money to the given wallet, according to the usual pattern of romance baiting, the scammer disappeared.
Research from the Nominis Vue platform indicates that this wallet remains active as of mid-February, warranting additional caution based on patterns of romance baiting, among other data sources, this wallet was likely involved in fraudulent behaviour.
Amount lost: $5,000
Case study C:
A scammer posing as ‘Gugu’ on Hinge claimed to be a Binance data analyst, gaining the victim’s trust by discussing crypto investments. After moving the conversation to Whatsapp from Hinge, he guided the victim through setting up an investment account, later revealed to be fake. ‘Gugu’ manipulated the victim into sending Ethereum by pretending to deposit $1,200 into their account, insisting he would repay the victim. When the victim realised the withdrawals were blocked and confronted him, ‘Gugu’ became aggressive and tried to gaslight the victim.
Nominis Vue determines that this wallet remains active upon time of publication, signaling the need for heightened vigilance.
Amount lost: $900
Case study D :
After the victim matched with a scammer on TInder named Emma, Emma connected the victim with her apparent brother in law, Artur, who convinced the victim to invest in crypto for day trading, to ‘earn some passive income’. The victim did this through some seemingly legitimate platforms with personal log-ins and 2FA. Within a month, their account was blocked and the crypto wallet was drained without authorisation. Emma and Artur then vanished from any social media platform the victim was using to communicate with them, and the victim lost a total of $137,000.
Case Study D, with the largest asset loss, is especially tragic, highlighting the potentially detrimental consequences of romance-baiting. Nominis Vue identified the poor KYC (Know Your Customer) standards of the exchange used for both incoming and outgoing transactions of this wallet. This underscores fraudsters’ efforts to exploit poorly regulated exchanges, knowing they can operate with minimal risk of detection.
Amount lost $137,000
The Critical Role of Compliance Teams in Preventing Romance-Baiting and other Fraudulent Transactions
As evidenced in the screenshots of the Nominis Vue platform, where suspicious addresses can be investigated for further information, the algorithms accurately detected the scamming activity of each of these wallets, based on patterns recognised surrounding typical romance baiting activity. All wallets were already flagged with a critical risk score due to pattern observance, ensuring clients are alerts if the scam perpetrators were to interact with them.
Compliance teams are essential in identifying any type of fraudulent activity early, through continuous monitoring of transactions.
By implementing advanced tracking tools and using crypto-specific threat intelligence, compliance teams of companies can spot suspicious activity, learn patterns consistent with that of crypto romance bating ,and take action swiftly to block or investigate them.
Early detection can significantly reduce financial losses for the individual victims and protect the reputation of companies accepting crypto payments by Knowing Your Customer - a critical framework of crypto compliance.
Compliance platforms such as Nominis, and the compliance teams that we assist, are the frontline defence in preventing any type of fraudulent crypto transactions, including that of romance baiting. By providing real-time monitoring, risk analysis and automated alerts, we empower compliance teams to quickly detect and respond to suspicious activity. By proactively detecting these fraudulent schemes, we protect individuals and businesses from falling victim to crypto romance baiting, ensuring both regulatory compliance and the security of digital assets.
Crypto Romance-baiting FAQs:
Q: I think I have been romance baited, what should I do now?
If you think you are being romance baited, you should immediately stop sending money. Make a note of the wallet address they have asked you to send money too. Save or screenshot any conversations you have had, which can be used as evidence.
Report to the police, who can assist you in further steps.
If you wish, report to scam awareness communities such as ChainAbuse. Your contribution can be anonymous and can assist the compliance community with flagging wallets of scammers and prevent future scams.
Q: What are some common romance-baiting red flags?
While we strive for accuracy in our content, we acknowledge that errors may occur. If you find any mistakes, please reach out to us at contact@nominis.io Your feedback is appreciated!