Love Scamming Trend Increases, Love-based Fraud

JAKARTA - Dozens of Foreign Nationals (WNA) were arrested in Tangerang, Banten, for allegedly being an international crime syndicate with the modus love scamming or romance fraud. They are targeting South Korean citizens living abroad.

Acting Director General of Immigration of the Ministry of Immigration and Correction Yuldi Yusman said that the dismantling of this international cyber crime syndicate began from the results of an investigation into a number of suspicious locations. The first location in the Gading Serpong area, where the team arrested 4 people consisting of 13 Chinese citizens and one Vietnamese citizen while carrying out suspicious activities.

The Chief Executive of the Financial Services Authority (OJK) for the Conduct of Financial Services, Education, and Consumer Protection, Friderica Widyasari Dewi, said that love scams had become a trend in digital financial crime that was increasing and being carried out globally.

"It has been proven that in Indonesia one syndicate has been found to operate internationally," said Friderica at the OJK Monthly Board of Commissioners (RDKB) Meeting.

The international crime network with the modus operandi of love scamming, said Yuldi Yusman, works in an organized manner using artificial intelligence or artificial intelligence.

The syndicate's plot seeks victims through social media then communicates using the help of artificial intelligence Hello GPT so that conversations look interesting and convincing.

The perpetrator sent indecent photos to incite the victim to make a video call. At that time, the perpetrator then recorded the action and carried out extortion. The victim was threatened that the recording would be spread if he did not send a certain amount of money.

Friderica Widyasari Dewi said that love scamming has become a trend in digital financial crime that is increasing and being carried out globally. The perpetrators of this love scam target victims in several countries through the internet and applications. In other words, this crime has a very high cross-border risk.

"The victims are manipulated emotionally, feel that they have a relationship or relationship. Then, they are persuaded and so on so that the victims voluntarily transfer a certain amount of money because they feel that they have a special relationship with the opposite sex or anyone," he said.

Simply put, love scamadalah a modus operandi of fraud committed through online fraud, where the perpetrator pretends to have a romantic relationship to gain the trust and money of the victim. This is one of the cyber crimes that are increasingly rampant in Indonesia. The modus operandi of this crime utilizes digital platforms to establish a false romantic relationship with the aim of financial fraud.

Lecturer in psychology at Mercu Buana University Yogyakarta, Dr. Martaria Rizky Rinaldi, M. Psi said, in psychology love is not just a matter of feelings, but also a biological process. When someone feels taken care of, responded to quickly, praised, and made to feel special, the brain will release dopamine, which is the same chemical that appears when we fall in love, hope, and feel connected.

In practice love scams, these signals do not appear naturally, but are engineered. Chat operators are trained to respond with a certain intensity, build emotional closeness, and create the illusion of an exclusive relationship.

"In a matter of days or weeks, the victim begins to feel "close", even though they have never met. The victim's brain does not distinguish whether the attention is sincere or made up. All he catches is one thing, there is an emotional connection," said Martaria.

Online relationships, Martaria continued, give a big space for imagination. Without physical presence, the brain fills the void with hope and ideal projections. Interesting profiles, touching life stories, and personal conversations create what psychologists call the illusion of intimacy, a sense of closeness that feels real even though it is not rooted in the actual relationship.

Love scam does not work instantly, but gradually. It starts with light chat, then increases to emotional closeness, then slowly associates affection with transactions.

Small gifts, digital coins, content access, all of which are framed as a form of attention and proof of love. In the psychology of persuasion, this is known as the foot-in-the-door technique, that is, a small request opens the way for a larger request.

"Love is used as a bridge to exploitation. What is exploited is not only money, but also the hope of being loved," he said.

As a result of the crime, the victims suffered huge financial losses. Until the end of 2025, the Indonesian Anti-Fraud Center (IASC) has received 3,494 reports from the public who have suffered losses due to the moduslove scamming. The total losses amounted to Rp. 49.19 billion.

Meanwhile, the latest data from the Financial Services Authority (OJK) shows that as many as 2,267 Indonesians have become victims of online fraud in various forms, including love scamming.

This case, said Martaria, reflects that in the digital age, manipulation does not always come in the form of threats. It can come in the form of attention.

"Love, if not accompanied by awareness, can weaken reason. Digital literacy alone is not enough, we also need emotional literacy, namely the ability to recognize when our feelings are touched, directed, and exploited," explained Martaria.

"Because when the brain thinks it's love, the line between sincerity and manipulation becomes very thin," he said.