Data from The GDELT Project · Reviewed and interpreted by RSRC
Search the research collection
Find reporting by topic, place or language. Open a record to see why it was included and what the available evidence supports.
The chart uses every search filter above and all matching records, across every results page. The percentage denominator is all included URLs in the same dates, before theme, language, country or text filters.
Distinct included URLs matching these filters in each observation month. Select a point to explore its records. On small screens, scroll the chart horizontally.
A URL counts once per month and can appear in several months or themes. Themes describe the current record assessment; months show URL observations, not when events or each claim first appeared. Warnings, allegations and reported experiences are all included when coded. Partial months, collection gaps and changes in sources affect both measures. A higher share does not establish a higher risk to victims.
| Observation month | Matching URLs | All included URLs | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 264 | 591 | 44.7% |
| Feb 2025 | 554 | 1,629 | 34.0% |
| Mar 2025 | 141 | 561 | 25.1% |
| Apr 2025 | 116 | 390 | 29.7% |
| May 2025 | 193 | 398 | 48.5% |
| Jun 2025 | 53 | 209 | 25.4% |
| Jul 2025 | 151 | 522 | 28.9% |
| Aug 2025 | 129 | 447 | 28.9% |
| Sep 2025 | 164 | 613 | 26.8% |
| Oct 2025 | 201 | 483 | 41.6% |
| Nov 2025 | 164 | 392 | 41.8% |
| Dec 2025 | 124 | 333 | 37.2% |
| Jan 2026 | 67 | 530 | 12.6% |
| Feb 2026 | 224 | 1,106 | 20.3% |
| Mar 2026 | 90 | 360 | 25.0% |
| Apr 2026 | 145 | 491 | 29.5% |
| May 2026 | 200 | 785 | 25.5% |
| Jun 2026 | 121 | 842 | 14.4% |
| Jul 2026 | 191 | 1,143 | 16.7% |
| Aug 2026 | 224 | 640 | 35.0% |
| Sep 2026 | 139 | 638 | 21.8% |
| Oct 2026 | 6 | 30 | 20.0% |
Each record represents a source web page, not a verified incident. Different URLs can describe the same event. About these records.
Douyin warns specifically about online-romance pretexts requesting transfers or investment and reports platform enforcement. This is qualified general prevention, not a count of confirmed individual cases, a measured prevention effect or proof all listed investment fraud is romantic.
Prevention & supportZhunan police/store staff stopped a woman in her seventies paying TWD 90,000 customs fees for a purported retired US military officer’s gift parcel. Daily caring messages and a false gift establish the relational lure; claimed US identity and airport/customs pretext do not locate offenders or prove real parcel contents. Store difficulty triggered practical help and police warning.
Reported caseTottori police report a local man in his sixties losing JPY 2.09 million through SNS romance fraud, following SNS and messaging contact. The medical/bone-related tail is truncated, so no health emergency or participant motive is supplied; September 14 has no year.
Reported caseHachinohe police report an Aomori man in his sixties losing JPY 1.5 million through a supposed Son-a woman’s online-shop inducement. A small initial payment/profit precedes further supplier-payment requests; these are not proof of genuine trading. Keep source-specific shop mechanism and no presumed perpetrator nationality or full incident date. The described profit pretext is an online shop and supplier-payment scheme, not explicitly securities trading or a promised return rate. Keep the subtype unspecified; initial received funds do not independently prove a promised return.
Reported caseA Yokohama account describes a 68-year-old woman arrested after allegedly providing an account and collecting cash for a never-met military persona. Her quoted admission that she knew the fraud but loved the controller complicates victim/offender roles. Record the participant claim and alleged facilitation; no coerced or trafficked role is established. The passage does not name a messaging/dating platform. Replace platform communication with the explicit alleged account use; the military identity remains alleged rather than independently verified.
Reported caseThe identical retained text across two German URLs reports a woman losing EUR 47,000 in love scamming after social-media contact. One shared coding assessment preserves both original guide notes and URLs. Location, victim identity, exact date and independent verification remain unknown. All code dimensions agree; only original URL-specific reviewer prose differed. The saved draft-conflicts file preserves both notes.
Reported caseKagoshima police describe a man in his fifties losing crypto worth JPY 45.3 million after a dating-app woman offered investment and moved contact to Line. The police announcement says the 26th and the account begins late August without a full year; neither observation date nor persona gender establishes an incident date or nationality.
Reported caseThe identical retained text across two German URLs reports a woman losing EUR 47,000 in love scamming after social-media contact. One shared coding assessment preserves both original guide notes and URLs. Location, victim identity, exact date and independent verification remain unknown. All code dimensions agree; only original URL-specific reviewer prose differed. The saved draft-conflicts file preserves both notes.
Reported caseFreudenstadt reporting describes a woman losing a high five-figure sum in crypto after a dating-app love fraud. The precise amount, victim age, incident date and police action are absent.
Reported caseLeipzig reporting announces a new self-help group for victims of fabricated love on dating/social platforms. This is a support-service announcement, not measured uptake or clinical effectiveness; start/access details are truncated. Leipzig locates a support-group announcement here, not an explicit police/court jurisdiction or victim residence. Do not assign those geographic roles from the service city.
Prevention & supportThe WELT variant repeats the explicit EUR 47,000 love-scam account and social-media contact. Keep source facts and missing identity/location separate.
Reported caseFrench reporting describes fabricated Ukrainian-soldier identities, prolonged emotional relationships and thousands of euros sent. Preserve general/multiple-case mechanism claims and source-specific French victims where explicit; soldier nationality is a persona, not a verified military or operation location.
Research & trendsShimotsuke police investigate a 51-year-old employee’s crypto loss of JPY 12,034,930 as SNS romance fraud after a Japanese-female-name account moved contact to another service. Persona name is not verified nationality; May 14 lacks a year and there is no arrest in the excerpt. Repeated claims of earning money do not specify an investment/trading scheme. The victim’s report to police is explicit and separate from investigation.
Reported caseAsahi police rearrested a 68-year-old woman in an alleged SNS romance fraud involving Iraqi military personas, parcel fees and a Yokohama woman in her seventies losing about JPY 3.53 million. Persona nationality is not the offender base; rearrest differs from conviction and a yearless December 1 is not normalized into an incident date.
Reported caseRossana Tescaroli describes a false social-media lover damaging her marriage and her Acta support role; the article also mentions a psychologist/Bono persona, a retiree selling her home and an ex-general losing EUR 230,000. Keep distinct people and outcomes; selling a house is not automatically involuntary housing loss or all victims’ aggregate total.
Related mentionZibo reporting explicitly dates Wang’s report about an online-game girlfriend/loss above CNY4,000 toJune2025; investigators describe a man using a voice changer and stolen photos with an organized group and July arrests. Voice changing is not automatically AI/deepfake. July has no explicit year and is not normalized from collection. The voice changer is an explicit technical device, not automatically synthetic AI. The victim report has explicit June 2025 month precision; July arrests have no separately stated year.
Reported caseAkita Rinko police report a woman in her forties losing crypto worth JPY 5.02million in romance fraud, with an affinity/crypto-investment headline. Date27has noyear; police announcement is not an arrest or formal charge.
Reported caseCNN variants explicitly name Joe Novak, Facebook contact, crypto romance fraud and USD 280,000 loss in the headline. Life-torn-apart wording is nonspecific adversity, not a clinical diagnosis or suicide. Last year is not normalized into an incident year. Crypto-romance classification alone does not explicitly describe an actual cryptocurrency transfer; retain Facebook contact and reported cash loss without inferring payment medium.
Reported caseCNN variants explicitly name Joe Novak, Facebook contact, crypto romance fraud and USD 280,000 loss in the headline. Life-torn-apart wording is nonspecific adversity, not a clinical diagnosis or suicide. Last year is not normalized into an incident year. Crypto-romance classification alone does not explicitly describe an actual cryptocurrency transfer; retain Facebook contact and reported cash loss without inferring payment medium.
Reported casePortuguese guidance describes celebrity photos used to fabricate virtual romances and move substantial money. These are broad mechanism claims, not a verified monetary total, actual individual loss or a measured increase.
Research & trendsCNN variants explicitly name Joe Novak, Facebook contact, crypto romance fraud and USD 280,000 loss in the headline. Life-torn-apart wording is nonspecific adversity, not a clinical diagnosis or suicide. Last year is not normalized into an incident year. Crypto-romance classification alone does not explicitly describe an actual cryptocurrency transfer; retain Facebook contact and reported cash loss without inferring payment medium.
Reported caseTaipei police/post-office staff stopped a Liao woman withdrawing TWD 250,000 after a claimed eye-treatment purpose; checked phone messages established fake online dating fraud. The medical purpose is her account/pretext, not verified illness or a specified partner identity. Interception is not completed loss. Phone conversation records explicitly support digital communication; no particular app or false partner identity is inferred.
Related mentionA29-year-old woman reportedly convicted of romantic fraud involving a man met through an online agency after his marriage ended. The source explicitly places alleged events between2019and2022; retain year precision only, not individual day/month dates, causal vulnerability or the sentence from another article.
Reported caseTaipei police/post-office staff stopped a Liao woman withdrawing TWD 250,000 after a claimed eye-treatment purpose; checked phone messages established fake online dating fraud. The medical purpose is her account/pretext, not verified illness or a specified partner identity. Interception is not completed loss. Phone conversation records explicitly support digital communication; no particular app or false partner identity is inferred.
Related mentionOdai police report arrest of Sapporo resident Masayuki Kawamata,32, for alleged SNS romance fraud using fictionalXaccounts; the relevant tail is truncated. Suspect residence is not victim or operation geography. No completed loss, conviction or incident year inferred.
Reported case