Stay-at-home and social distancing may have played a major role in romance scams reaching record levels in 2020.
Total losses were estimated at over 300 million euro. The total losses have increased more than fourfold since 2016.
Targets of these scams send money to scammers thinking they are helping out someone they care about, with one high profile case recently involving a US-based woman who thought she was in a relationship with & sending money to music star Bruno Mars.
Many romance scams start on social media networks and use gift cards for money transfers.
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All age groups were targeted last year, but victims aged 40 to 69 were targeted the most.
Victims aged above 70 reported the highest average losses.
