Romance

Two different dangers hide behind one screen: romance and investment scams now run by AI chatbots instead of people, and companion apps that monetize your attachment while logging everything you say. The FTC and state attorneys general opened formal inquiries in 2025. Here's how to tell what you're talking to — and the one rule no bot can beat.

Your online partner doesn't ask you for money — they ask to send money through you. Deposit this check, forward that transfer, receive a package. This is money-mule recruitment, and it can leave you laundering stolen funds and facing criminal charges, even if you never lose a cent. Here is how to recognize it and the rule that stops it.

For years the advice was simple — do a reverse image search and ask for a video call. Generative AI has quietly broken both checks. Here is what changed, and the one test that still works.

A caring partner who says they are a U.S. soldier deployed overseas — and who soon needs money for leave papers, a flight home, or a secure phone. It is one of the oldest online romance scams, and one fact unravels all of it: the real military pays for those things, not you.

When a friend or relative is caught in a romance scam, blunt confrontation backfires. Here are the warning signs, how to talk to them with empathy, and the concrete steps that actually help.

Someone you met online threatens to share intimate images unless you pay. It is called sextortion, it targets teens and adults alike, and the way out is clear: don't pay, don't panic, save the evidence, and tell someone. Here is how it works and what to do — step by step.

A romance scammer's whole game is a fake persona. Two free checks — a live video call and a reverse image search — expose most of them before any money is asked for. Here is what to look for.

Romance scammers build trust over weeks on dating apps and social media, then ask for money — or steer you into a fake investment. Here’s how it works, the tells, and the free move that defeats it.