Romance scam: how to tell, what to do.
Attention first, a crisis later, and a reason you can never meet in person.
Try it
Here is what Check says about one.
Example message
My love, the customs office is holding my equipment in Dubai and I cannot access my account from here. If you can send $3,500 by wire or Bitcoin today I will pay you back the moment I land. I hate asking you.
These are examples. To check a message you received, create a free account: five checks a day, only the text you paste is sent.
Check my own message, freeMoney request from an online contact who cannot meet or access their own funds
Why we think so
- Wire or crypto, today, from someone you have never met in person
- A story that keeps them abroad and their money out of reach
- The ask arrives after weeks of attention, the standard sequence
The short answer
Updated 23 October 2026 · Reviewed by the Sigrel team, Texas
Someone met online who cannot meet, moves fast, and eventually needs money or an investment. The pattern, the signs, how to check, and what to do if money was sent.
- A profile that is attractive, far away and quickly devoted; a job offshore, in the military or on a rig.
- A move off the dating site to WhatsApp or Telegram within days.
- Video calls that never happen or always fail.
- A crisis (customs, a hospital, a frozen account) or an “investment opportunity” in crypto they will teach you.
What to do
In this order.
- 01Search the photosA reverse image search often finds the real person whose photos were taken. Do it before any money is discussed.
- 02Never send money, crypto or gift cards to someone you have not met in personNo exceptions for emergencies, and no “investments” on a platform they introduce.
- 03Tell one person you trustScammers isolate. A friend who hears the story out loud will see what is hard to see from inside it.
- 04If money was sent, call the bank or the exchange nowTransfers can sometimes be recalled within hours. Report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and, if it happened online, at ic3.gov. Expect “recovery” offers afterwards; those are scams too.
Behind every scan
What is checked, how often, and what you get back. The details, in plain words.
Sources
3 breach-intelligence partners and public leak lists
Each one named in Help with what it covers.
What we watch
6 kinds of identifier
Email, phone, username, gaming handle, email alias and your own domain. Hashed on your device first.
Schedule
Rechecked on a schedule you can see
Every result shows when it last ran. Daily on Pro.
What you get
A fix for every finding
The minutes it takes and the points it gets back. Broker removal across 200+ sites on Pro.
How Sigrel helps
A verdict in the moment, the fix after.
Check the message you received
Paste it; the verdict says why in two lines. Five free checks a day; the text is not kept.
See it reported in your county
The Wire lists the scams reported near you this week, dated and sourced.
If it already happened
The recovery playbooks: who to call first, what to say, what to report.
Questions
Plain answers.
We have talked every day for months. Could it still be a scam?
Yes. Months of daily contact is the investment that makes the later ask work. The test is simple: have you met in person, and has money or crypto ever come up?
They never asked for money, only showed me how to invest. Is that different?
That is the most common form now. The “exchange” is theirs; deposits go to them and the balance on screen is not real. Withdrawals require a “tax” that never ends.
Got one of these right now?
Paste it into Check. Five free checks a day; the text you paste is not kept.