October 20th, 2025 – Romance scams on social media are taking a troubling turn in Canada, with cybercrime experts warning of an emerging trend: fraudulent Facebook fundraisers used as financial gateways to exploit emotionally entangled victims.
Scammers who often impersonate foreign military soldiers, doctors or engineers start to establish a personal connection through Facebook Dating, Messenger or friends' recommendations. After getting the trust, con artists lead their victims to “urgent” fundraising campaigns — that is covering hospital bills, customs clearance or emergency travel.
These fundraisers appear legitimate, sometimes involving multiple fake donors, heartfelt updates and even images pulled from real medical campaigns. But the money doesn’t go to charity — it lands in private accounts controlled by the scammers.
The 58-year-old resident of Vancouver, Sandra Colburn, remarked, "I believed I was assisting someone I cared for in returning from deployment. He claimed his accounts were frozen, and the fundraiser displayed contributions from others, which made me feel confident sending additional funds”.
Sandra contributed over CAD $18,000 across seven fake campaigns in four months before her daughter recognized the pattern and intervened.
Emotional Engineering Meets Sophisticated Presentation
Modern love frauds, as opposed to the past ones, do not require direct transfers of money but rather use the combination of emotions alongside highly sophisticated tech companies. Facebook charities of that nature usually rely on countdowns, geo-location and made-up donor actions to give their operation an appearance of being legitimate.
Scammers even offer fake tax receipts or suggest donating through recognizable payment gateways. This evolution has made detection more difficult, especially for victims emotionally involved with the fraudster.
Generally, a scammer may maintain several fabricated identities across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, thus strengthening the storyline from multiple angles.
Victims are often ashamed or met with disbelief, thus delaying the reporting and increasing the financial loss. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) has seen romance scam reports involving fundraisers rise by over 30% in the first half of 2025.
Traditional Reports Often Yield Delayed or Limited Results
Once the fraud is discovered, many victims turn to local authorities or platform reporting tools. However, jurisdictional issues, platform delays and cross-border operations hinder response time.
“I filed a report with facebook and the RCMP,” Sandra shared. “The fundraiser pages disappeared within days, but the people behind them were already gone.”
Feeling trapped, Sandra searched for private support and found Swift Options Recovery, a firm specializing in social engineering and cyber-enabled financial fraud cases.
Swift Options Recovery’s Specialized Case Handling Approach
- 1. Emotional Fraud Consultation & Case Onboarding
Sandra was assigned a recovery consultant who helped in highlighting red flags, mapping out a timeline, and gathering all communication and transaction records.
- 2. Campaign Tracing & Platform Intelligence
The team undertook a digital audit of the fraudulent fundraisers-audit that exposed the reuse of images, cloning of campaign setups and interlinking of wallets. By applying advanced blockchain analytics, they followed the trail of funds to develop a well-structured, evidence-backed recovery plan.
- 3. Financial Routing Analysis & Recovery Action
Through the acquisition of payment-related data and metadata tracing, Swift Options Recovery has identified processor accounts linked with Sandra's funds, freezing them and instituting identity monitoring measures against them for further fraud attempts.
Protective Steps for Facebook Users in Romantic Interactions
Users engaging in online relationships — especially through social platforms — are advised to exercise added caution if:
- Fundraisers are introduced early in conversations
- Stories involve military deployment, stranded travelers or sick relatives
- You’re urged to contribute quickly “before a goal is missed”
Always confirm the legitimacy of a fundraiser through personal channels before making a donation. It is inappropriate to send money to campaigns that are announced via DMs. Make use of reverse image searches and the internet verification to double check the personal data given.
"Swift Options Recovery was my savior," Sandra said. "They not only considered the fundraiser but also did a thorough investigation, locked my accounts and educated me on how to avoid similar situations in the future.”
The new romantic scams are now pouring wonders into a widespread and very scattered multi-platform manipulation and thus raising the demand for increased awareness and skilled assistance. What seems to be an utterly legitimate and very urgent online request may turn out to be a big financial loss in the end.
