As Valentine’s Day creeps up, scammers are using artificial intelligence to dress up fake relationships with stunningly realistic photos, videos and voice messages. In Southern California, one Orange County woman says she was pulled into an online romance that morphed into an investment pitch and ended with nearly $100,000 gone. Authorities are telling daters to slow down, verify and treat any money or crypto request like a five-alarm fire.
Fraudsters are leaning on AI-generated images, videos and voice messages sent over social media and email to build trust before they ask victims to buy crypto or send other payments, according to NBC Los Angeles. The report explains that the tactic is often paired with a long grooming phase known as "pig butchering," with scams unfolding over weeks or even months. "There are people who could be slightly more desperate or more open to believing someone if they fall in love," Eyal Elazar of Riskified told the outlet.
AI Scales The Scam
Blockchain researchers say AI is turning online scams into something that looks less like a lone wolf con and more like an industrial operation. Chainalysis estimates crypto scams brought in at least $14 billion on-chain in 2025 and projects the figure could top $17 billion as investigators identify more illicit addresses. Its data also shows AI-enabled operations pull in roughly 4.5 times more per operation than traditional scams. The numbers hint at how quickly romance and investment frauds can scale when bad actors combine deepfakes, phishing kits and laundering networks.
How 'Pig Butchering' Works
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin say the long-form "pig butchering" scheme has already cost victims tens of billions of dollars worldwide. One paper estimated roughly $75 billion in total losses and about $15 billion taken from Americans. UT Austin researchers describe how scammers shower targets with affection before steering them to fake trading platforms that block or stall withdrawals.
Analysts at BrokerChooser further break down the playbook, from the first "wrong number" text to the final lockout from the fake platform, a pattern laid out in reporting by Decrypt.
Warning Signs To Watch
There are some common tells that your online "soulmate" may actually be a scammer:
Watch for a match who moves too fast, dodges video calls or refuses to meet in person, insists on switching the conversation to encrypted apps like WhatsApp or Telegram, or constantly brags about easy trading wins and pushes you to invest. Fake dashboards that show big gains, sudden "tax" or "unlock" fees when you try to withdraw, and early requests for gift cards or cryptocurrency are all classic pig-butchering signals. These red flags were highlighted by analysts and in local reporting this week, including NBC Los Angeles.
How To Check And Respond
If you suspect a profile is fake, you can run a reverse image search on photos, insist on a live video call and independently vet any investment platform before moving a single dollar. Some victims and reporters have used AI tools as a second opinion to flag scam patterns, and experts suggest using search engines and public records to verify a person’s story, as noted in Forbes.
If you already sent money, the FBI advises that you contact your bank or financial institution immediately and file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) through its Los Angeles field office.
Legal And Enforcement Outlook
Law-enforcement agencies are ramping up investigations, but clawing money back after it has moved through crypto rails is notoriously tough. Chainalysis notes that authorities made record seizures last year, including a 61,000-bitcoin recovery and multibillion-dollar forfeitures tied to organized operations. Regulators from the CFTC to the DOJ are increasingly training their sights on these networks, yet prevention and fast reporting still offer the clearest path to limiting damage for individual victims.
With the National Retail Federation forecasting $29.1 billion in Valentine’s Day spending, the crush of online shopping and dating activity only raises the stakes for would-be victims, according to NRF. The takeaway for L.A. daters: slow down, verify identities carefully and report suspected frauds so investigators can connect the dots and go after the larger networks behind the romance.
