Artificial Intelligence is reshaping the online dating landscape, and tech experts warn, not for the better.
Dating apps and social media platforms are prime targets, luring unsuspecting victims into financial traps often involving cryptocurrency.
“With generative AI, this is where it gets really scary because they can look up your profile and start customizing the conversations based on your profile so it’s completely tailored,” said digital lifestyle expert Andy Baryer from Handy Andy Media.
“What’s so scary about it because the majority of people are meeting online right now, especially around Valentine’s Day, people are vulnerable. More and more people are using dating apps around this time and the scammers know that.”
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre is reporting an increase in both romance and investment fraud. Its latest numbers report Canadians lost $54,684,677.69 to romance scams between January and September 2025.
With romance scams, once fraudsters gain the victim’s trust, they often convince them to invest in fraudulent investment platforms, often known as ‘pig butchering’. In many cases, the victim is able to monitor their investments and withdraw funds, which is part of the scheme.
Get breaking National news
Once the victim realizes they’ve been duped, it’s often too late and their funds are gone forever. “It’s not something that happens overnight. They will scam this person over the course of days, weeks, and even months,” said Baryer.
Baryer says with AI, scammers are using deepfake technology to clone voices and swap faces. It’s why Baryer says it’s essential to take your online love connection and meet in person at a safe location.
“One of the biggest red flags is, they don’t want to meet in real life. They will always make some type of excuse: I’m working remotely, constantly traveling, or unable to meet, but they might be open to phone conversations. With AI, you can mask your voice and make it sound like someone else and again, they may do live video conversations because they can face swap,” Baryer told Consumer Matters.
Other romance scam red flags include an urgent request for money, a relationship that moves too quickly, or the victim is directed to an encrypted messaging platform like WhatsApp. Another tool Baryer recommends to avoid getting scammed is a reverse image search.
“In Google, you can upload a photo and it will show you where that photo came from. In the past, they (scammers) would steal someone else’s photo from social media and then create a fake profile on dating apps, but now with generative AI, they can create what looks like a normal human being,” said Baryer.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre is reminding people that, when it comes to romance scams, prevention is key. Don’t give out your personal information, don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know, and enable multi-factor authentication on your accounts.
If you have fallen victim to a romance scam or any scam, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
Comments