What to do if a dating match suggests crypto
If someone you met online encourages you to invest in cryptocurrency, stop sending funds and break off contact immediately. These schemes use manufactured personal relationships to guide victims onto fraudulent platforms where deposited funds cannot be recovered.
- This fraud typically begins on dating applications or social networks, where an individual builds personal rapport over weeks before steering conversations towards lucrative cryptocurrency investments or private trading portals.
- Warning signs include persistent refusal to meet in person or speak on video, claims of insider market access, and pressure to deposit increasingly large sums on unfamiliar platforms.
- Stop sending funds immediately, refuse any demands to pay extra clearance fees to release your balance, and preserve access to your remaining accounts without alerting the individual.
- Preserve all unedited chat logs, contact details, profile photographs, deposit addresses, exchange transaction receipts, and relevant transaction hashes associated with your outbound cryptocurrency payments.
- Report the crime directly to Action Fraud or Police Scotland, and notify your UK bank promptly if you transferred domestic currency to facilitate any of the cryptocurrency purchases.
- An onchain forensic trace can track the movement of your assets towards specific destination exchanges, but it cannot reverse transactions or guarantee the eventual return of your stolen funds.
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Written by the Wallsec investigations team. General information only, not legal or financial advice.
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