U.S. catfishing scams reported losses 2017-2021
In 2021, reported losses from online romance scams in the United States reached 547 million U.S. dollars. This is an increase of over 500 percent compared to 2017 when 87 million U.S. dollars in losses were recorded from catfishing scams. Catfishing is an online scam where victims are lured into a relationship by means of a fake online persona. On average, victims of catfishing face a loss of around 2.4 thousand U.S. dollars. Over one in ten U.S. adults said they have definitely interacted with a catfish online.
