Romance scam and fake profile

What you need to understand

• For the online relationship, first check the requested action, the channel used and what may already have happened if you clicked, paid or shared a code.
• Use an official channel for the online relationship that you open yourself. A received link, QR code or phone number is not a reliable starting point.

The scenario, step by step

• The relationship is built up gradually before any financial request. The photos, job and personal story may be borrowed from someone else.
• Repeated obstacles to meeting and checking things keep the relationship purely online.
• A medical emergency, a trip, a parcel or an investment eventually justifies successive and often secret payments.

What the fraudster is trying to get

• Repeated and increasing payments.
• Intimate documents or images that can be used for identity theft or blackmail.

Common variants

• Fake soldier, doctor or entrepreneur abroad.
• A relationship steered towards an investment platform.
• Travel, customs or healthcare costs.

Warning signs in your case

• The person keeps avoiding in-person meetings or verifiable video calls
• A medical emergency, a trip, a parcel or a financial block suddenly justifies a payment
• Payments go through several accounts, prepaid cards or crypto-assets
• The victim is pushed to keep the relationship or the transfers secret from relatives or friends

What a legitimate service would do

• A real relationship can stand up to independent checking and the advice of relatives or friends.
• It does not rely on secret, urgent or impossible-to-check payments.

Belgian context and fraud chain

• Romance fraud is not just about a suspicious first message. Its strength lies in the time invested, the intimacy created and the gradual isolation of the victim before the first request for money.
• Payments may go through bank transfer, gift card, international transfer or crypto. A change of payment method does not change the need to check the identity and the story outside the relationship.

Decision points to check

• Look for independent checks: consistency of the photos, professional presence, video calls not controlled by the other person, and a real possibility of meeting.
• Stop any payment when the emergencies keep coming back or when the person insists on secrecy from relatives and the bank.
• Do not fund a trip, customs fees, treatment or an investment based only on a relationship that has never been checked offline.

How to check without taking a risk

• Do not reply to the message and do not use the link, QR code or number it contains.
• Open the official app or website yourself, then check whether the same request appears in your personal area.
• If in doubt, contact the organisation using a number found on its official website, a reliable invoice or your bank card.

What to do immediately

• Do not pay anything else and do not pay any fee to recover money already sent.
• Talk to someone you trust and check the photos or identity outside the channel used.
• Contact your bank quickly if a recent transfer may still be blocked.

If you have already clicked, paid or replied

• Stop the exchange and do not try to negotiate with the sender.
• Change the access details shared through the official service. Contact the bank immediately if a payment, card, IBAN or validation is involved.
• Keep the exchanges, payment references and observed addresses for reporting, without publicly sharing personal data.

Responding after an incident

• Speak quickly to someone you trust without shame. Emotional distance helps to rebuild the timeline and the payments.
• Contact the payment providers and the bank for each transfer that may still be disputed, then keep the profiles, conversations and references.
• Secure any intimate documents and images that were shared. In case of threat or blackmail, do not pay to buy silence and ask the authorities for help.

Limits and level of proof

• A discreet profile, geographical distance or an imperfect video call are not enough to prove fraud.
• The analysis looks at the consistency of the behaviour and the requests; it cannot confirm the identity of a person met online.

Analysis grid for the online relationship

• To examine a the online relationship case, separate four questions: who made contact, through which channel, what action is being requested, and what independent element can confirm it. One reassuring answer does not make up for the other inconsistencies.
• The priority signals in this case are: the person keeps avoiding in-person meetings or verifiable video calls; a medical emergency, a trip, a parcel or a financial block suddenly justifies a payment; payments go through several accounts, prepaid cards or crypto-assets; the victim is pushed to hide the relationship or the transfers from relatives or friends. Their combination matters more than the isolated presence of a word, a logo or a spelling mistake.
• Always compare the message with the real status of the service. For the online relationship, a request that is missing from the app, account or official contact must remain unexecuted until confirmed.

When to ask for immediate help

• In a the online relationship case, contact the service concerned without delay if a code, validation, payment, card, identity document or remote access has already been shared. Describe the exact action rather than just saying you have been hacked.
• If no sensitive action has been taken, keep the useful evidence, block the contact and use the detector to document the signals. This distinction avoids confusing prevention, a confirmed incident and a simple unsolicited message.

What to do now

• If you have not acted, do not click further and open the named service's official channel yourself.
• If you clicked, close the page, enter nothing else and note what information was shown or requested.
• If you shared a code, card, password or payment, contact your bank or the relevant official service immediately.
• Keep the message, time, link used and any useful screenshots. Share them only with an official reporting channel or a trusted helper.

Limits of this page

• This page does not prove that a message is safe and does not replace your bank, the police, Safeonweb, a platform or a public service.
• A scam may be new, very well written or described with too little context. Use the result as decision support, not as absolute certainty.
• Before taking a final action, checking through the official channel matters more than the appearance of the received message.

Check through an official channel

• Type the service address yourself or open the official app. Do not use a phone number, link or QR code from the suspicious message to verify the situation.
• When money, card details, a code or account access are involved, the safety action comes first. The analysis can then help organise the evidence.

How to read the result

• A low number of signals does not mean that everything is safe. It only means that this page or analysis did not find decisive evidence with the information available.
• Focus on the requested action: paying, sharing a code, installing an app, approving a bank action or leaving an official platform. That action matters more than a logo, sender name or polished wording.
• If the situation feels urgent, step away from the received message first. Then check calmly through a channel you already trusted before the message arrived.

Belgian reading of this situation

• For the online relationship, focus on the relevant Belgian next step: open the official channel yourself, contact the bank, use Safeonweb or preserve evidence.
• The right decision for the online relationship depends on what has already happened. Reading a message is not the same as clicking, paying, sharing a code or granting remote access.

Frequently asked questions

Useful official sources

• Febelfin - Fraude à l'amitié - link checked on 2026-09-17
• SPF Économie - Comment reconnaître une arnaque ou un arnaqueur ? - link checked on 2026-09-17
• SPF Économie - Victime d'une arnaque ? Que faire ? - link checked on 2026-09-17
• Safeonweb - Soyez vigilant face aux appels et SMS suspects - link checked on 2026-09-17