AwarenessScams & deception
Romance & investment scams
A long confidence trick that builds trust, then takes your savings.
Understand it
Sometimes called “pig-butchering”. A stranger befriends or courts you over weeks, then introduces an investment that cannot lose. The platform is false; the early “profits” are bait before the real request.
How to spot it
A fast-moving online relationship that never meets in person, then turns towards investing or lending money.
Close the gap
- Never send money, or “invest”, on the word of someone met only online.
- Reverse-image-search their photographs - stolen pictures are common.
- Tell a friend early; isolation is part of the method.
- If you have paid, contact your bank and Action Fraud at once.
What to do about it
You don't fix a scam, you spot one. Run anything suspicious through our phishing checker, and let your plan harden the accounts and money they're really after. When money's involved, the fix is a habit, not a setting: confirm every payment or change of bank details by phone, on a number you already have.