--- description: Looking for love online can lead to heartache and fraud title: People Seeking Love Are Leading Target of Internet Fraud, FBI Says image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # People Seeking Love Are Leading Target of Internet Fraud, FBI Says by [M. Alex Johnson/NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## M. Alex Johnson/NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 20, 2015 2:05 PM CUT by [M. Alex Johnson/NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## M. Alex Johnson/NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 20, 2015 2:05 PM CUT Social media scams and cruel cons that target lonely hearts to rob them blind were the leading drivers of Internet fraud in 2014, the FBI reported Tuesday in a survey of computer crime. In its annual online fraud report, the [Internet Crime Complaint Center](https://www.ic3.gov/ "undefined"), or IC3, said total financial losses to online fraud reported to the federal government last year topped $800 million. But that’s just a drop in the bucket of what’s presumed to be the real cost of online fraud, much of which doesn’t go reported. Citing industry data, the [National White Collar Crime Center](https://www.nw3c.org/ "undefined"), which coordinates IC3 with the… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/looking-love-online-often-wrong-place-fbi-says-n361561?cid=par-time-article%5F20141002 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3890535/fbi-online-love-internet-fraud/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3890535/fbi-online-love-internet-fraud/"},"headline":"People Seeking Love Are Leading Target of Internet Fraud, FBI Says","datePublished":"2015-05-20T14:05:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:05:24.779Z","description":"Looking for love online can lead to heartache and fraud","url":"https://time.com/3890535/fbi-online-love-internet-fraud/","keywords":["Tech","Social Media","Crime","online dating","Security","fraud"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"M. Alex Johnson/NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3890535/fbi-online-love-internet-fraud/","name":"People Seeking Love Are Leading Target of Internet Fraud, FBI Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Meet the World’s First Baby Born With an Assist from Stem Cells","description":"This newborn is the first baby in the world born using a breakthrough IVF treatment","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4WVfvHas/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-05-06T21:22:33.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4WVfvHas.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3890535/fbi-online-love-internet-fraud/","duration":"PT1M51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3890535/fbi-online-love-internet-fraud/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```