If you happen to’re nonetheless underneath the phantasm that scammers solely goal illiterate simpletons and would by no means be inquisitive about you, assume once more. Fraud is a refined artwork, and even essentially the most tech-savvy particular person might fall for a well-crafted scheme. In 2025, scammers are leveraging synthetic intelligence, chatbots, and the worldwide pattern towards automation.
With Valentine’s Day developing, we reveal how scammers exploit the sentiments of each these in love and people in search of it.
“That is Brad Pitt. I’m significantly sick and I would like somebody such as you by my aspect”
In the beginning of 2025, a completely unbelievable story shook the web: a French girl thought she’d been relationship Brad Pitt for a year-and-a-half on-line — solely to find it was a rip-off. The scammer used the actor’s picture to swindle her out of about $850,000. He employed a traditional scheme: claiming to be sick, “Brad Pitt” wished to ship his beloved costly presents however couldn’t pay the customs charges from his personal accounts. So, he requested the lady to cowl the prices, which she did. To look extra convincing, the scammer maintained virtually day by day contact and despatched the sufferer poorly edited photographs. The lady even acquired messages from a faux “Brad Pitt’s mom”, who thanked the lady for supporting her “son” throughout troublesome occasions.
The faux Pitt confirmed the sufferer signed postcards along with her title and despatched unhappy photographs from his hospital mattress. Supply
If you happen to didn’t instantly query these hospital photographs of “Brad Pitt”, try our information on recognizing AI-generated fakes: Watch the (verified) birdie, or new methods to acknowledge fakes.
“Your accomplice is dishonest on you”… or are they?
That is just about traditional sextortion. Sextortion is available in quite a lot of colourful varieties, however most frequently scammers ship a message like this: “Hi there! We signify a significant safety firm and have gained entry to all the info in your partner’s private gadgets. He/she is dishonest on you, and we’ve got proof. Click on the hyperlink to see it”. Hopefully, common readers can have already guessed that there’s no “proof” behind that hyperlink, and the “safety firm” is simply one other entrance. The one actual factor right here is the malicious hyperlink itself, main you to lack of cash and information.
An up to date variation of this rip-off includes a teaser of a deepfake porn video that includes your vital different — and you may “buy the complete video” by way of the hyperlink. In one more situation, the scammers threaten to distribute AI-generated porn starring you to all your mates, colleagues, and contacts, except you pay up instantly. In fact, you need to completely by no means pay the criminals on this case — as Eugene Kaspersky defined intimately a number of years in the past. By the way in which, you possibly can find out about different well-liked sorts of sextortion in our devoted publish, Fifty shades of sextortion.
Sudden betrayal
Sadly, typically the largest privateness threats come from present or former companions. For instance, they could make your intimate photographs public with out your consent or data. A 2024 research by our consultants discovered that one-third of respondents retailer nudes on their gadgets, whereas one-in-four share intimate photographs with their companions with out contemplating the dangers.
However even those that by no means take nudes can land in hassle: “I by no means took photographs of myself bare, however someday, I began getting messages from strangers telling me how scorching and horny I regarded. Seems, my husband of ten years had been secretly photographing me whereas I slept and importing the photographs to varied boards”. For a video report on this and related instances, plus recommendations on defending your self from revenge porn and eradicating leaked nudes from the online, try our article, The Bare Reality.
“I’m one thing of a detective myself”
Some overly jealous people go so far as spying on their companions. And no, today, you don’t want to rent a non-public detective — jealous lovers often resort to spyware and adware (stalkerware/spouseware) or Bluetooth monitoring gadgets.
Software program surveillance. Final 12 months, a narrative went viral on social media a few girl who acquired a high-end smartphone as a present from her boyfriend. Months later, she was shocked to find that he knew slightly an excessive amount of about her whereabouts, conversations with buddies, and personal life usually. It turned out that earlier than giving her the telephone, her jealous accomplice had loaded it with all types of spyware and adware to trace her location and snoop on her conversations.
Industrial surveillance apps are broadly out there. They’re usually disguised as “parental management” apps, however as soon as put in, they usually stay utterly invisible on the system. They might additionally disguise themselves as one thing innocuous — a messaging app, a sport, or a photo-gallery app. These apps are significantly simple to put in and conceal on Android gadgets.
Nonetheless, putting in them often requires bodily entry to the system. That’s why step one to guard your self is to set a robust display screen lock password and by no means share it with anybody.
Wi-fi monitoring. A tiny Bluetooth tracker may be slipped right into a sufferer’s bag, automobile, or private belongings — transmitting their location and actions to the stalker. It’s price noting that even among the newest wi-fi earbuds (TWS headphones) can be used as monitoring gadgets.
Happily, each software program and {hardware} trackers may be detected and neutralized utilizing the Who’s spying on me function in Kaspersky for Android.
Find out how to defend your self from scams focusing on lovers or the lovelorn
Irrespective of how refined a rip-off is, you possibly can virtually all the time defend your self — particularly with regards to romance-related schemes. Right here’s an inventory of tricks to make your non-public life slightly safer:
- Use on-line relationship apps safely. Create a non-public profile, share minimal confidential data, and be particularly cautious when interacting with new folks.
- Safe your gadgets with dependable safety to safeguard your self from jealous companions or stalking exes.
- Be taught to inform actual photographs from deepfakes. All the time double-check suspicious photos.
- Don’t interact with scammers who demand cash or private information in alternate for not releasing deepfake porn or nudes. It’s a bluff.
