Romance scam reports at Lloyds Banking Group have jumped 24% over the past year, with younger adults driving a significant portion of that increase.
The bank compared scams reported by customers between September 1, 2025 and August 31, 2026 with those recorded in the previous 12-month period.
Reports involving victims aged 18 to 24 surged by 59%, while those involving victims aged 25 to 34 climbed by 39% over the same period.
Despite younger adults filing more reports, older victims continued to suffer the steepest financial losses across all age groups studied.
More than half of all money lost to romance scams, 55%, came from victims aged over 65 during the most recent 12-month period analyzed.
Victims aged 75 to 84 lost an average of £9,051, the highest of any age group and 19% more than the prior year.
The average loss across all romance scam victims fell by 20% to reach £4,078, according to Lloyds.
Younger victims most often encountered scammers through dating apps and social media platforms, while those over 50 were more frequently targeted through traditional dating websites and social media.
Liz Ziegler, fraud prevention director at Lloyds, said “Romance scammers don’t care how old someone is. They look for opportunities to build trust, create an emotional connection, then turn that relationship into a request for money.”
Ziegler added that the bank speaks “to customers every day who believed they had found a genuine relationship, only to discover that the person they trusted was only interested in money.”
She noted that victims face dual consequences, stating that they “can be left dealing not only with a financial loss, but also the distress of learning that the relationship and future they had imagined were never real.”
Ziegler pushed back against assumptions about younger users being naturally immune, saying “being digitally savvy does not make someone immune to fraud.”
Her advice was direct: “If someone you’ve recently met starts asking for money, take a step back and speak to someone you trust. A genuine relationship should never depend on money.”
Patrick Hurley, ombudsman director at the Financial Ombudsman Service, described the broader consequences of scams, saying they can be “deeply distressing” and that “for many people the financial implications can be life-changing.”
Hurley specifically flagged romance fraud as particularly harmful, stating that “romance scams particularly can leave an emotional scar and the impact on victims is often significant.”
He encouraged consumers to first raise complaints directly with their financial provider before escalating to the Financial Ombudsman Service for further assistance.
Lloyds outlined several warning signs for consumers to watch for, including scammers using intense messages and early declarations of love to build emotional connection before requesting money.
The bank also warned against sharing banking details, passwords, identity documents, or intimate material with anyone met recently online, regardless of how genuine they may appear.
Additional red flags include newly created profiles, limited personal information, and inconsistencies in a person’s stated circumstances or explanations that do not hold up under scrutiny.
Lloyds advised that a reverse image search can reveal whether a photo is being used across multiple profiles or belongs to a different person entirely.
Fraudsters frequently apply emotional pressure or manufacture urgency to push victims into making quick payments, a tactic the bank says should prompt an immediate pause and consultation with a trusted friend or family member.
