Love may be in the air as the world marks Valentine’s Day, and so are the increasing numbers of romance scams, warns a local bank.

ANZ warned customers to be wary of romance and dating scams over the Valentine’s season.

According to ANZ, romance and dating scams are becoming increasingly common.

ANZ Regional Executive Pacific, Sarah Stubbings said scammers work hard to build trust, and it may be some time before they reveal who they really are.

“In a romance scam, cybercriminals will try to build relationships online to gain trust and exploit that trust for money. This usually starts in the form of an unexpected message or friend request on social media or via a dating app,” she said.

“Regardless of your age or background, anyone can fall victim to these sophisticated scams, so it’s important not to feel embarrassed and to contact ANZ immediately if you think you’ve been scammed.

“The more aware our customers are of potential scams, the better placed they’ll be to spot the red flags to protect themselves and their loved ones.”

Meanwhile, Facebook’s parent company Meta shared some new reminders about romance scams, along with safety tips to help users of its apps avoid falling victim to scammers in the most romantic time of the year.

As explained by Meta: “Romance scams are a common scheme in which scammers target people in a variety of ways – malicious texts or emails, dating apps, social media posts, discussion forums and more – under romantic pretences.

“In these cases, scammers would typically pose as attractive, single and successful individuals, often with a military or business background. They would send cold messages to many targets at once – in a typical spray-and-pray scheme – to initiate contact.

“If a target were to respond, the scammer would try to build trust over a while, ultimately asking for money or suggesting a fraudulent investment opportunity.”

And such cases are rising. According to the FTC, Americans lost US$1.14 billion to romance scammers in 2023.

ANZ has put together some tips to help customers protect their hearts against scams.

Roses are red, so are red flags

Scammers can provide endless excuses for not showing themselves on camera or meeting in person. They will also be keen to keep relationships private and will perhaps suggest moving conversations off the dating site or social platform to an alternative private messenger.

Keep your heart close, and your wallet closer

Money is the goal of romance scammers. Once they have gained trust, they are likely to ask for money. This can be done in a direct way or more subtly, such as asking for money to visit their victim.

Sharing isn’t always caring

Be conscious of sharing personal information. Never share passwords, one-time codes, card numbers or PIN codes with a potential partner. Additionally, never allow anyone remote access to your devices and systems. If it is meant to be, they should never be concerned about the funds in your bank account.

Trust your gut, not your heart

Does everything they say match up? Keep an eye out for any discrepancies in conversation and with the information listed about them online. It can be easy to ignore red flags over the Valentine’s season, but always keep in mind the relationship may be too good to be true.