Romance scams cost victims more than a billion dollars a year in the US alone, and India's numbers are climbing fast. The good news: the playbook is remarkably consistent. If you know the seven tells, you'll recognize the script long before money comes up.
The seven tells
- 1. Off-platform, fast. Within a few messages they want WhatsApp, Telegram, or email — away from the app's detection systems.
- 2. Too perfect, too invested, too soon. Declarations of love within days, mirrored interests, constant attention ("love bombing").
- 3. Can never meet or video chat. Deployed military officer, offshore engineer, traveling surgeon — professions chosen to explain absence.
- 4. The small emergency. A first, modest ask — customs fee, phone credit — to test compliance.
- 5. The investment pivot. "I've been earning well with crypto — I can teach you." This is now the most common and most expensive variant.
- 6. Money must move strangely. Gift cards, crypto, wire transfers to third parties — channels that can't be reversed.
- 7. Isolation. "Don't tell your family yet — they won't understand us."
If you spot the script
Stop responding, report the profile in-app, and never send money — not once, not "just this time." If money already moved, contact your bank immediately and file with reportfraud.ftc.gov (US) or cybercrime.gov.in (India). There is no shame in being targeted by professionals; there is real power in reporting.
Milaps scans outgoing and incoming messages for scam patterns and warns you in the moment — one of the reasons we ask you to keep early conversations on-platform.