Lloyds Banking Group (LON: LLOY) has recorded a 24% jump in romance scam reports over the past year, with younger adults driving a sharp rise in case numbers.
The figures compare scams reported by Lloyds customers between September 1, 2025, and August 31, 2026, against those recorded in the previous 12-month period.
Reports involving victims aged 18 to 24 surged by 59%, marking the steepest increase of any age group tracked in the analysis.
Victims aged 25 to 34 also saw a significant rise, with reports climbing by 39% over the same period, pointing to a broad generational shift in targeting.
Despite younger adults reporting scams in greater numbers, older victims continued to suffer the heaviest financial losses by a considerable margin.
More than half of all money lost to romance scams, specifically 55%, came from victims aged over 65 during the most recent 12 months analysed.
Victims aged 75 to 84 lost an average of £9,051, the highest average loss of any age group and 19% more than the previous year.
The average loss across all romance scam victims fell by 20% to reach £4,078, though the overall financial damage inflicted remains substantial.
Dating apps and social media platforms were frequently cited as the places where younger victims encountered scammers, while over-50s more commonly met criminals 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 victims are often left dealing with more than just financial loss, saying “the distress of learning that the relationship and future they had imagined were never real” compounds the damage significantly.
She also challenged a widely held assumption about younger internet users, stating that “being digitally savvy does not make someone immune to fraud” despite common perceptions to the contrary.
Her direct advice to consumers was clear: “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 impact of fraud on victims, noting that “the financial implications can be life-changing” and that romance scams “particularly can leave an emotional scar.”
Hurley encouraged consumers who are unhappy with their financial provider’s response to a complaint to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service directly for further assistance.
Lloyds outlined several warning signs for consumers to watch for, including intense early declarations of love, requests for banking details or identity documents, and online profiles that appear newly created or too polished.
The bank also advised that a reverse image search can reveal whether a photo is being used across multiple profiles, a common tactic among romance fraudsters operating at scale.
Ziegler emphasized the importance of resisting manufactured urgency, noting that fraudsters frequently use “pressure, emergencies or emotional ultimatums to encourage quick payments” as a way to bypass rational thinking.
Sharing news of a new online relationship with a trusted friend or family member before sending any money remains one of the most practical defenses against falling victim to this type of fraud.
