After our Valentine Day shenanigans, it is interesting to think about the other side of love. The dark side. The fake love. The reason I mention this is that I keep reading about romance fraud, and wondering how people can be suckered into such scams. For example, there was a recent headline about a French woman who gave over $1m to someone pretending to be Brad Pitt …
WTF?
Interestingly, when you read these stories, the immediate reaction is: are you that dumb? The answer is no, but what can you do about it?
After visiting the Stockholm Fintech Forum last week, I picked up the Nordic Fintech Magazine and discovered a company called Lovesaid (lovesaid.org) created by two victims of romance scams: Cecilie Fjellhøy and Anna Rowe, who are doing something about it.
Their stories are interesting and similar, as reported by The Guardian. Fjellhøy, who featured in the 2022 Netflix true crime documentary The Tinder Swindler, was conned by a man who went by the name of Simon Leviev and parted with $250,000 after his repeated requests for help. Anna was a victim of catfishing by a lawyer in the UK, leading a double life with a fake identity. She thought he loved her as much as she loved him. When she found out the truth she reported him to the police, who were completely dismissive to start with. It took two years for them to take on the case.
According to data released by Lloyds Bank in February, romance scams increased by 30% last year with men making up 53% of cases and the 65 to 74 age group most likely to be targeted.
So, what to do about it? Cecilie and Anna have tried to come up with an answer: Lovesaid. What is Lovesaid? It’s a company determined to turn around victimisation into victory.
“Fraud is one of the few crimes where victims are openly mocked and told they’re at fault”, say Cecilie. Lovesaid wants to turn that around and change how fraud victims are treated. Setting up Lovesaid with Anna, the fintech startup is a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting victims of romance fraud and financial abuse.
It goes further than that as the company believes that no one should have to recover from the loss of their love and their money alone. They offer emotional support, practical guidance and other vital resources to help survivors rebuild their lives after fraud.
But then they go further than that. Supporting the victims is half of the issue. The other half is getting change with financial institutions and technology companies. Therefore, Lovesaid is trying to get systemic change in the businesses that enable romance fraud.
I loved this line from Cecilie:
Our purpose is clear: empower survivors, break the stigma and fight for real change in how fraud is prevented and addressed.
I like a business with clear purpose.
If you want to know more, watch this interview with Chris Crespo who runs the Fintech Forum:
Or download the Nordic Fintech Magazine https://issuu.com/nordicfintechmagazine/docs/nordic_fintech_magazine_winter_2025
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...