{"id":10984,"date":"2023-10-06T11:46:39","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T18:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/blog\/?p=10984"},"modified":"2026-01-22T11:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:11:17","slug":"304-million-dollars-lost-to-romance-scams-during-covid-19-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/304-million-dollars-lost-to-romance-scams-during-covid-19-in-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"$304 Million Dollars Lost to Romance Scams During COVID-19 in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During the year of the <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/coronavirus-scams\/\">coronavirus pandemic<\/a>, many people were forced to isolate themselves at home due to the fear of getting sick. Because of this, many people became bored and lonely as they tried to find ways to cope with being forced to stay at home. One way that people have tried to cure their loneliness is by creating <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/dating-site-reviews\/\">online dating accounts<\/a>, hoping to find their future significant other. However, scammers flood these dating apps and pretend to be someone they aren&#8217;t in order to lure their victims in. This has caused an <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/nigerian-romance-scams-have-spiked-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-2020\/\">increase in romance scams<\/a>, with a record-breaking $304 million dollars due to these scams lost during the pandemic.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Record-Breaking $304 Million Dollars Lost to Romance Scams in 2020<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/graphs\/CSI-2944\/\" width=\"100%\" height=\"650px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>According to the above chart created by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/blogs\/data-spotlight\/2021\/02\/romance-scams-take-record-dollars-2020\">FTC<\/a>, back in 2016, only $75 million were lost due to romance scams with 11,235 cases reported. As we get into the year 2017, 16,902 cases were reported with $87 million lost. Then in 2018, it increased 22,264 cases with $145 million lost. In 2019, 25,113 cases were reported with $202 million lost. Finally last year in 2020, the record of the most cases and money lost due to romance scams broke with a whopping $304 million lost and 32,792 cases reported.<\/p>\n<p>Within just a four-year span, <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/romance-scam-millions-of-dollars-made-from-stolen-pictures-of-tristan-king\/\">romance scam cases increased by 21,557 cases and $229 million more dollars<\/a> were lost. This just goes to show how <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/nigerian-romance-scams\/\">romance scams<\/a> keep rapidly increasing due to the uptick in users on dating apps and social media platforms. Last year, the record-breaking numbers occurred due to the coronavirus pandemic keeping us all indoors, forcing people to rely on dating <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/identifying-unauthorized-apps-on-your-phone\/\">apps<\/a> and social media platforms so they wouldn&#8217;t feel as lonely. However, this made them more susceptible to romance scammers.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">What Has Caused the Rise of Romance Scams in 2020?<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/graphs\/CSI-2944-2\/\" width=\"100%\" height=\"950px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Many <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/tinder-bumble-lawsuit\/\">dating apps and social media platforms have become increasingly more popular<\/a> from 2016 to now. For example, in a chart provided by Blackstone, IAC, Statista, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessofapps.com\/data\/dating-app-market\/\">Business of Apps<\/a>, shows that the global revenue for dating apps has increased from 2015 to 2020. This shows just how these <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/dating-apps-avoid-catfishers\/\">dating apps<\/a> have grown in popularity and how much people rely on them to find the person they are supposed to be with.<\/p>\n<p>Along with this, many people were forced to stay at home when <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/online-love\/\">COVID-19<\/a> first occurred. Non-essential businesses closed, restaurants could only serve take-out only, and people were encouraged to only mingle in-person with those living in their homes. Therefore, many people had to rely on technology to have a conversation with friends or to make new friends that they could talk to.<\/p>\n<p>This has given <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/romance-scammers-the-history-money-and-statistics-behind-romance-scams\/\">romance scammers<\/a> the chance to use the <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/coronavirus-scams-how-covid-19-stimulus-check-scams-shopping-scams-have-evolved-since-march-2020\/\">coronavirus pandemic<\/a> as an excuse as to why they couldn&#8217;t meet their victims in person. They have been claiming that they didn&#8217;t want to spread the virus and therefore couldn&#8217;t travel. They have also used it as an excuse as to why they couldn&#8217;t video chat with someone, claiming that they couldn&#8217;t afford the Internet due to a lack of jobs during the pandemic. This also became the reason why they <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/military-man-who-needs-money-for-leave-or-romance-scammer\/\">need money<\/a> from the victim since they are broke due to losing their job and need money to live.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Victim Was Duped Out of $22k from Three Romance Scammers During the Coronavirus<\/h2>\n[aesop_video  src=&#8221;youtube&#8221; id=&#8221;wVIJXk9wb8k&#8221; width=&#8221;100%&#8221; align=&#8221;center&#8221; disable_for_mobile=&#8221;off&#8221; loop=&#8221;off&#8221; controls=&#8221;on&#8221; mute=&#8221;off&#8221; autoplay=&#8221;off&#8221; viewstart=&#8221;off&#8221; viewend=&#8221;off&#8221; show_subtitles=&#8221;off&#8221; revealfx=&#8221;off&#8221; overlay_revealfx=&#8221;off&#8221;]\n<p>At Social <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/what-does-a-catfish-really-want\/\">Catfish<\/a>, we have a YouTube series called Scamfish. In this episode, we interviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/three-romance-scammers-steal-22000-from-victim\/\">Jody from Missouri<\/a>\u00a0who has had experiences talking to three different romance scammers online. She formed romantic relationships with each one. Two of the <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/nigerian-romance-scams\/\">romance scammers<\/a> named Harrison Thomas and Edward Gilles claimed to live in Missouri, while one named Calvin Hugo claimed to live in Texas. She met Harrison and Edward on <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/can-you-look-someone-up-on-match-com\/\">Match.com<\/a> and met Calvin on Instagram. <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/romance-scams-data-hub\/\">These romance scammers<\/a> duped her out of $22,000 using other men\u2019s photos.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/divorced-or-widowed\/\">Her husband passed away<\/a> after working on a Tuesday and Wednesday. He woke up from a nap around 3 PM and felt like something was wrong with him, but <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/romance-scammer-faked-childs-injury-to-scam-victim-out-of-25000\/\">didn\u2019t go to the doctor<\/a>. Jody went to go run errands then came home to find him gone.\u00a0After being widowed in November of 2019, she decided to try <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/dating-site-reviews\/\">online dating<\/a> in June 2020 after healing from her grief.<\/p>\n<p>She met her first <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/nigerian-romance-scams-have-spiked-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-2020\/\">romance scammer<\/a>, Harrison, in June, and he immediately made her fall for him with his non-stop conversations via emailing and text messaging. He would even <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/how-to-tell-if-a-phone-number-is-real\/\">talk on the phone with her<\/a>, which made her like him faster than she wanted to.<\/p>\n<p>However, after six <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/top-10-most-catfished-photos-for-the-month-of-the-week\/\">weeks<\/a> of communicating with him, he started discussing an investment plan that he wanted to do with Jody.\u00a0He asked her if he could borrow $135,000 from her, then asked to see her <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/how-to-tell-if-a-romance-scammer-sent-you-a-photoshopped-drivers-license\/\">drivers\u2019 license<\/a> and passport. When Jody told him he wasn\u2019t going to get any money or <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/identity-theft-report\/\">information from her<\/a>, he stopped communicating with her.<\/p>\n<p>Calvin was kind of subtle when he asked Jody for money, even though he asked for it within two <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/top-10-catfish-photos-of-the-week-2\/\">weeks<\/a> of their relationship. He needed $400 for a drill and $1,500 for his coworkers who ended up in a supposed accident and needed to be sent home. Then, he would ask for more and more money throughout the relationship. She ended up <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/money-laundering-tactics-romance-scammers-send-money-to-victims\/\">sending them the money<\/a>, thinking it wasn\u2019t that much.<\/p>\n<p>Edward never asked her for money up-front. He would <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/scammer-messages-what-are-some-messages-that-scammers-have-sent-their-victims\/\">send her flirty messages and poems<\/a>, which made him sweep Jody off her feet. The last day she spoke to him was on Thanksgiving Day in 2020. He claimed that he lost his job and needed $30,000 for an oil drill. When Jody told Edward she will not help cover the costs of the drill, he ghosted her and never talked to her again.<\/p>\n<p>Jody is still online dating in hopes that she can find that guy who will sweep her off her feet. She knows that not every guy is a romance <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/oil-rig-scammers-photos-how-to-tell-if-the-person-youre-talking-to-is-a-scammer\/\">scammer that she meets online<\/a>, and knows that one day the right one will come along.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">10-Year-Old Son Busts Romance Scammer After Mom Tries Online Dating During the Coronavirus<\/h2>\n[aesop_video  src=&#8221;youtube&#8221; id=&#8221;JCntUIHTTq8&#8243; width=&#8221;100%&#8221; align=&#8221;center&#8221; disable_for_mobile=&#8221;off&#8221; loop=&#8221;off&#8221; controls=&#8221;on&#8221; mute=&#8221;off&#8221; autoplay=&#8221;off&#8221; viewstart=&#8221;off&#8221; viewend=&#8221;off&#8221; show_subtitles=&#8221;off&#8221; revealfx=&#8221;off&#8221; overlay_revealfx=&#8221;off&#8221;]\n<p>At Social Catfish, we have a YouTube series called Scamfish. In this episode, we interviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/womans-10-year-old-son-knew-she-was-talking-to-a-romance-scammer\/\">Cynthia from Vancouver, Canada<\/a>\u00a0who was married for 10 years and had two kids with <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/divorced-or-widowed\/\">her ex-husband<\/a>. One day, her husband\u2019s anxiety got to be too much for him and he walked out of the picture. She decided that she needed to move on and find companionship with someone else.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/coronavirus-scams-how-covid-19-stimulus-check-scams-shopping-scams-have-evolved-since-march-2020\/\">Due to COVID-19<\/a>, she thought the best way to get back in the dating world was to go on Tinder and try it out. Back in the day, she felt that she was skinnier and had no kids which led to her having barely any insecurities. When she first started <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/5-online-dating-tips-to-follow-this-valentines-day-stay-safe-from-romance-scammers\/\">online dating<\/a>, she felt more insecure about herself and felt like there was a lot of competition out there.<\/p>\n<p>After a while, she met Garry Trueman who claimed that he was from the UK and had an engineering background. He claimed that he was initially living in the same area as Cynthia in Vancouver, Canada. She thought that it would make it easier to meet up with him one day. They also started <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/hijacked-phone-number\/\">talking on the phone<\/a> every day, which made her fall even more for his accent every time he would flirt with her.<\/p>\n<p>She found out 5 months after forming a relationship with him that he could be a romance scammer.\u00a0He <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/how-to-recognize-suspicious-texts-and-calls\/\">texted<\/a> her saying he was in a tough position because the project he was on in the UK desperately needed money. He claimed he was stuck on an <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/oil-rig-scams\/\">oil rig<\/a> and that his credit card stopped working. He claimed that he needed money to get out of the trouble he was in and to get off the oil rig. This confirmed Cynthia\u2019s suspicions that he was indeed a romance scammer.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s when she was honest with her son and told him she made a really bad mistake. She told him that she fell in love with someone that wasn\u2019t real, and he responded claiming <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/13-best-ways-avoid-being-catfished\/\">he knew that she wasn\u2019t dating a real person<\/a>. She was shocked and asked her son how he knew that. He then proceeded to show his mom that the pictures of the house the scammer showed her were the same exact pictures shown on a YouTube video he was watching.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">How to Avoid Romance Scams During COVID-19<\/h2>\n[aesop_image  img=&#8221;https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Screen-Shot-2021-03-02-at-11.59.20-AM-scaled.jpg&#8221; panorama=&#8221;off&#8221; imgwidth=&#8221;100%&#8221; align=&#8221;center&#8221; lightbox=&#8221;off&#8221; captionsrc=&#8221;custom&#8221; captionposition=&#8221;center&#8221; revealfx=&#8221;off&#8221; overlay_revealfx=&#8221;off&#8221;]\n<ul>\n<li>Don\u2019t give money to someone on the <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/internet-privacy\/\">Internet<\/a> that you\u2019ve never met in person.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t give out your <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/the-risks-of-sharing-personal-information-online-what-you-need-to-know\/\">personal information to someone that you are talking to online<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>If someone is moving the relationship super fast, be cautious by slowing the relationship down.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t get too serious with someone without at least <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/fake-video-chat-how-to-tell-if-your-video-call-is-real\/\">video chatting<\/a> with them or meeting them in person first.<\/li>\n<li>If <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/oil-rig-scams\/\">they have a job overseas<\/a>, this is a huge red flag that they might be a romance scammer since they usually use this as an excuse to not see you or video chat with you.<\/li>\n<li>If someone is randomly contacting you out-of-the-blue on <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/facebook-scams-how-to-avoid-these-scams-while-scrolling-on-social-media\/\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/instagram-scams\/\">Instagram<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/twitter-scams-watch-out-for-scammers-tweets-and-direct-messages\/\">Twitter<\/a> this usually means they are a romance scammer.<\/li>\n<li>Report any scam that you\u2019ve been a part of to the <a href=\"https:\/\/reportfraud.ftc.gov\/#\/\">FTC,<\/a>\u00a0IC3, and FBI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Social Catfish is Here to Help You!<\/h2>\n[aesop_image  img=&#8221;https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/3283248F-3999-40D8-9482-3020F015F001.jpeg&#8221; panorama=&#8221;off&#8221; imgwidth=&#8221;100%&#8221; align=&#8221;center&#8221; lightbox=&#8221;off&#8221; captionsrc=&#8221;custom&#8221; captionposition=&#8221;center&#8221; revealfx=&#8221;off&#8221; overlay_revealfx=&#8221;off&#8221;]\n<p>If you think you\u2019re dealing with a romance scammer or have had your pictures stolen, <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\">Social Catfish<\/a> is here to help you!<\/p>\n<p>If you want to be a part of our next <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCns8cwhpu92cYJHAlEfWz_w\">YouTube video<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/\">blog post<\/a> and share your story, now is your chance. You can educate the audience about what you have gone through and make sure no one else goes through the same thing. All you need to do is email <a href=\"mailto:ShareMyStory@socialcatfish.com\">ShareMyStory@socialcatfish.com<\/a>, and we will get back to you with more details.<\/p>\n<p>You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/reverse-lookup\/\">reverse search<\/a> any information you have on the cargo scammer to see who it is you\u2019ve really been talking to. If you have their name, email address, phone number, <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/social-media-username-search-engine\/\">social media username<\/a>, or image you can search it up in our search bar to see if there is more information on the suspected romance scammer you are talking to.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><div class=\"search_mb_2020 scfb_mb_search scfb_full_search blog_content_search\"> <div class=\"search-form-2020\"  data-js-r=\"search.form\">\n    <div class=\"row tabs-content\">\n        <div class=\"scf-tooltip-badge-target\" data-badge-number=\"1\" data-badge-position=\"badge-bl\"><\/div>\n        <div class=\"col-sm-3\">\n\n            <div class=\"tabs\" data-pause=\"false\">\n                <div class=\"dropdown-overlay\"  data-js-r=\"search.form.dropdown_overlay\"><\/div>\n                <a data-item=\"0\" data-type=\"2\" href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/\" class=' active '><i class=\"si-user\"><\/i> <span>Name<\/span><\/a>\n                <a data-item=\"1\" data-type=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/reverse-email-address-search\/\" class=' '><i class=\"si-email\"><\/i> <span>Email<\/span><\/a>\n                <a data-item=\"2\" data-type=\"3\" href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/reverse-phone-lookup\/\" class=' '><i class=\"si-phone\"><\/i> <span>Phone<\/span><\/a>\n                <a data-item=\"3\" data-type=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/reverse-username-search\/\" class=' '><i class=\"si-username\"><\/i> <span>Username<\/span><\/a>\n                <a data-item=\"4\" data-type=\"5\" href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/reverse-address-check\/\" class=' address_search_menue '><i class=\"si-location\"><\/i> <span>Address<\/span><\/a>\n                <a data-item=\"5\" data-type=\"4\" href=\"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/reverse-image-search\/\" class=' '><i class=\"si-image\"><\/i> <span>Image<\/span><\/a>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"col-sm-7\"  data-js-r=\"search.input.all\">\n            <div class=\"row list  active name-list\">\n                <div class=\"col-sm-6 border-rt\">\n                    <input type=\"text\" placeholder=\"Enter name here\" aria-label=\"Enter name here\" value=\"\" maxlength=\"100\" name=\"full_name\" aria-required=\"true\">\n                    <label class=\"scf-tooltip-val\">Start Here<\/label>\n                <\/div>\n                                <div class=\"col-sm-6 si-triangle-down\">\n                    <select name=\"country\" ><option value=\"US\">United States<\/option><option value=\"CA\">Canada<\/option><option value=\"GB\">United Kingdom<\/option><option value=\"AF\">Afghanistan<\/option><option value=\"AX\">\u00c5land Islands<\/option><option value=\"AL\">Albania<\/option><option value=\"DZ\">Algeria<\/option><option value=\"AS\">American Samoa<\/option><option value=\"AD\">Andorra<\/option><option value=\"AO\">Angola<\/option><option value=\"AI\">Anguilla<\/option><option value=\"AQ\">Antarctica<\/option><option value=\"AG\">Antigua and Barbuda<\/option><option value=\"AR\">Argentina<\/option><option value=\"AM\">Armenia<\/option><option value=\"AW\">Aruba<\/option><option value=\"AU\">Australia<\/option><option value=\"AT\">Austria<\/option><option value=\"AZ\">Azerbaijan<\/option><option value=\"BS\">Bahamas<\/option><option value=\"BH\">Bahrain<\/option><option value=\"BD\">Bangladesh<\/option><option value=\"BB\">Barbados<\/option><option value=\"BE\">Belgium<\/option><option value=\"BZ\">Belize<\/option><option value=\"BJ\">Benin<\/option><option value=\"BM\">Bermuda<\/option><option value=\"BT\">Bhutan<\/option><option value=\"BO\">Bolivia<\/option><option value=\"BA\">Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/option><option value=\"BW\">Botswana<\/option><option value=\"BV\">Bouvet Island<\/option><option value=\"BR\">Brazil<\/option><option value=\"IO\">British Indian Ocean Territory<\/option><option value=\"BN\">Brunei Darussalam<\/option><option value=\"BG\">Bulgaria<\/option><option value=\"BF\">Burkina Faso<\/option><option value=\"BI\">Burundi<\/option><option value=\"KH\">Cambodia<\/option><option value=\"CM\">Cameroon<\/option><option value=\"CV\">Cape Verde<\/option><option value=\"KY\">Cayman Islands<\/option><option value=\"CF\">Central African Republic<\/option><option value=\"TD\">Chad<\/option><option value=\"CL\">Chile<\/option><option value=\"CN\">China<\/option><option value=\"CX\">Christmas Island<\/option><option value=\"CC\">Cocos (Keeling) Islands<\/option><option value=\"CO\">Colombia<\/option><option value=\"KM\">Comoros<\/option><option value=\"CK\">Cook Islands<\/option><option value=\"CR\">Costa Rica<\/option><option value=\"HR\">Croatia<\/option><option value=\"CY\">Cyprus<\/option><option value=\"CZ\">Czech Republic<\/option><option value=\"DK\">Denmark<\/option><option value=\"DJ\">Djibouti<\/option><option value=\"DM\">Dominica<\/option><option value=\"DO\">Dominican Republic<\/option><option value=\"EC\">Ecuador<\/option><option value=\"EG\">Egypt<\/option><option value=\"SV\">El Salvador<\/option><option value=\"GQ\">Equatorial Guinea<\/option><option value=\"ER\">Eritrea<\/option><option value=\"EE\">Estonia<\/option><option value=\"ET\">Ethiopia<\/option><option value=\"FK\">Falkland Islands (Malvinas)<\/option><option value=\"FO\">Faroe Islands<\/option><option value=\"FJ\">Fiji<\/option><option value=\"FI\">Finland<\/option><option value=\"FR\">France<\/option><option value=\"GF\">French Guiana<\/option><option value=\"PF\">French Polynesia<\/option><option value=\"TF\">French Southern Territories<\/option><option value=\"GA\">Gabon<\/option><option value=\"GM\">Gambia<\/option><option value=\"GE\">Georgia<\/option><option value=\"DE\">Germany<\/option><option value=\"GH\">Ghana<\/option><option value=\"GI\">Gibraltar<\/option><option value=\"GR\">Greece<\/option><option value=\"GL\">Greenland<\/option><option value=\"GD\">Grenada<\/option><option value=\"GP\">Guadeloupe<\/option><option value=\"GU\">Guam<\/option><option value=\"GT\">Guatemala<\/option><option value=\"GG\">Guernsey<\/option><option value=\"GN\">Guinea<\/option><option value=\"GW\">Guinea-bissau<\/option><option value=\"GY\">Guyana<\/option><option value=\"HT\">Haiti<\/option><option value=\"HM\">Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands<\/option><option value=\"VA\">Holy See (Vatican City State)<\/option><option value=\"HN\">Honduras<\/option><option value=\"HK\">Hong Kong<\/option><option value=\"HU\">Hungary<\/option><option value=\"IS\">Iceland<\/option><option value=\"IN\">India<\/option><option value=\"ID\">Indonesia<\/option><option value=\"IE\">Ireland<\/option><option value=\"IM\">Isle of Man<\/option><option value=\"IL\">Israel<\/option><option value=\"IT\">Italy<\/option><option value=\"JM\">Jamaica<\/option><option value=\"JP\">Japan<\/option><option value=\"JE\">Jersey<\/option><option value=\"JO\">Jordan<\/option><option value=\"KZ\">Kazakhstan<\/option><option value=\"KE\">Kenya<\/option><option value=\"KI\">Kiribati<\/option><option value=\"KW\">Kuwait<\/option><option value=\"KG\">Kyrgyzstan<\/option><option value=\"LA\">Lao People's Democratic Republic<\/option><option value=\"LV\">Latvia<\/option><option value=\"LS\">Lesotho<\/option><option value=\"LI\">Liechtenstein<\/option><option value=\"LT\">Lithuania<\/option><option value=\"LU\">Luxembourg<\/option><option value=\"MO\">Macao<\/option><option value=\"MK\">Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of<\/option><option value=\"MG\">Madagascar<\/option><option value=\"MW\">Malawi<\/option><option value=\"MY\">Malaysia<\/option><option value=\"MV\">Maldives<\/option><option value=\"ML\">Mali<\/option><option value=\"MT\">Malta<\/option><option value=\"MH\">Marshall Islands<\/option><option value=\"MQ\">Martinique<\/option><option value=\"MR\">Mauritania<\/option><option value=\"MU\">Mauritius<\/option><option value=\"YT\">Mayotte<\/option><option 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Because of this, many people became bored and lonely as they tried to find ways to cope with being forced to stay at home. One way that people have tried to cure [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":10996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,608],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dating","category-romance-scams"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Woman-in-quarantine-542116-scaled.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Ashley Mae Orcutt","author_link":"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/author\/ashthecrazy1\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>$304 Million Dollars Lost to Romance Scams During COVID-19 in 2020 | Social Catfish<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/304-million-dollars-lost-to-romance-scams-during-covid-19-in-2020\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"$304 Million Dollars Lost to Romance Scams During COVID-19 in 2020\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During the year of the coronavirus pandemic, many people were forced to isolate themselves at home due to the fear of getting sick. 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