Romance scams skyrocket. Gift cards, crypto popular with con artists.

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Romance scams — when con artists pretend to be a love but interests instead swindle money from unsuspecting people — were up nearly 80% last year, according to new data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Romance scammers typically create fake profiles on dating sites and on social media with photos they’ve stolen online. They gain the trust of their victims, often saying they can’t meet in person because they work for the military, on an oil rig or even out of the country. As the relationship develops, they tell stories of hardship involving sick family members or overdue bills, or say they’re need cash to buy a plane ticket. That’s when they ask for money.

The scammers are getting even more creative in their methods, increasingly conning victims into buying fake cryptocurrency, the agency said.

The FTC said the phony crypto investments cost consumers $139 million in 2021, with a median loss of nearly $10,000 per person.

While the crypto romance scams are on the rise, consumers most often reported sending money to romance scammers using gift cards, with about a quarter of 2021′s complaints citing gift cards as the method.

“Never send money or gifts to a sweetheart you haven’t met in person,” the FTC says on its website.

In all, consumers lost $547 million to the scams in 2021, up from $304 million in 2020, the agency said. Over the past five years, $1.3 billion was reported lost to romance scams, it said.

If you suspect a romance scam, the FTC says to stop communicating with the person immediately and tell someone you trust about the relationship.

Drop the person’s profile photos into Google’s reverse image search to see if they’re associated with someone else.

Notify the app or website where you put the scammer, and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

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Karin Price Mueller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @KPMueller.

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