As online romance scams rise, banks ask for help to save victims billions

cnbc.com:

The banking industry is seeking help from the federal government and the social media industry to stop an escalating crisis that's costing Americans billions of dollars every year: online romance scams.

These digital crimes have proliferated since the pandemic, as criminals pose as attractive partners and reach out to lonely Americans on social media.

«We really need help,» Paul Benda, the executive vice president for risk, fraud and cybersecurity at the American Bankers Association, said in an interview with CNBC. «We need the social media companies to shut down these people that are putting these out there. We need law enforcement engaged to try and prosecute some of these folks. Unless you put a bad guy behind bars, that guy is gonna keep doing what he's doing.»

Experts estimate that known instances of fraud amount to billions of dollars every year. Factoring in that many victims don't report their losses to anyone, the overall losses could be in the tens of billions of dollars annually, they say.

The romance scams are run by organized criminal gangs, often based in Southeast Asia, that set up phony social media avatars and use those to connect to potential American victims. Their targets are male and female, old and young, highly educated and not, according to experts.

The common theme is loneliness and a willingness to engage online. Once a victim responds to the message, avatar operators launch into a lengthy campaign — often hours of texting each day — designed to persuade the victim that they have fallen in love with a real person. The psychological power of the relationship can take hold surprisingly quickly.

«Some people get hooked in within a matter of weeks,» Benda said. «It's that really burning brightness