Romance Scam Recovery Project
Romance Scam Recovery Project (2023– 2025)
We developed and provided low-threshold interventions to support the recovery of romance scam victims in Finland.
The project enhanced well-being and recovery through social support, counseling and peer support groups. It also raised awareness and breaks taboos about the phenomenon of romance scams. Our services were available nationwide in Finland – online and offline.
You can find our social media posts on Facebook and Instagram @nettideittiturva.
Romance Scam Recovery Project Focused On:
Online and offline peer group interventions for victims
Romance Scam Recovery Project has developed free, low-threshold peer support group intervention.
Fixed program for romance scam victims included six weekly meetings with selected themes. Peer support, psychoeducation, sharing experiences, assigments, instructor-guided thematic discussions and skill training of strengthening personal and emotional boundaries are employed as the main methods to enhance their wellbeing and future safety in online communications. Themes included e.g. self-knowledge and emotional skills and safety plan to prevent future online harms. Groups were guided by professional instructors.
Professional individual counseling and social support for victims and to the people close to them
Counseling included three to six weekly or bi-weekly one-hour meetings (face-to-face or online) with a professional. First the focus was on emotional stabilization and identifying needed support (e.g. for financial recovery or referral of medical regimen). Then counseling focused to strengthen victims’ self-knowledge and emotional skills by psycho-education. Themes also included exploring life-cycle and past relationships, development of emotional skills and strengthening personal and emotional boundaries. Lastly personal safety plan prevented re-victimization and future online harms.
Preventing romance scams through wide-reaching education and awareness raising
Preventive scam avoidance education and information to the public were spread by social media, podcast-series, public lectures and written articles (about romance scams and other related themes e.g. money laundering, social manipulation techniques). Experts by experience were trained to give interviews to media and their stories are published in project’s web page.
Training of professionals to identify and address the victims and to support their recovery
Open lectures and tailored training for professionals in various fields (e.g. health and social service workers or financing officers) included guidelines to identify and bring up the issue with possible victims. Supporting materials and articles, such as referral of victims to support services with links to other support service providers’ websites are also available for spouses and concerned others of those affected by romance scam. Tailored online courses for professionals are being published with Laurea University of Applied Sciences and Finnish Police University College.
Romance Scam Recovery -project is administered by two Finnish non-profit organizations Sosped Foundation and Maria Akatemia. The project (2023-2025) was funded by the Funding Centre of Social Wellfare and Health Organizations (STEA), which operates under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in Finland.
Are you interested in the project or would you like to collaborate? Get in touch!
Helmi Korhonen
Head Planner, Romance Scam Recovery Project
helmi.korhonen@sosped.fi
+358 44 371 5455
Resources
Read our article: The Harsh Realities of Romance Scams
In this PopNAD request article, Helmi Korhonen with co-writer describe romance scams and their far-reaching impacts on victims, their close ones, and society at large. Beyond financial losses, these scams involve a complex web of psychological and emotional manipulation, causing profound feelings of guilt and shame in the victims. The cultural openness and high levels of trust prevalent in Nordic societies make them particularly vulnerable to romance scams. Read the full article on PopNAD-pages.
Learn more here: What is a Romance Scam?
This article takes a closer look at romance scams. We introduce key terms related to the fraud, explore its main characteristics, and examine the methods used by cybercriminals to carry it out.
Learn how to protect yourself here: How to Identify a Romance Scam
While online frauds like romance scams have grown dramatically in recent years, it is still possible to protect yourself.
Download Our Quick Guides
Chart: From a Romance Scam Towards Recovery
Outcomes of the first project year
Measures of the victims’ psychological well-being (e.g. social relations, feelings of loneliness, emotional status) were obtained prior and following group or individual intervention. In addition, victims’ subjective experience about the support offered were assisted with 11 specific statements following intervention. Based on this:
- 94 % of the victims feel being supported
- 95 % of the victims feel that contacting the project has helped them
- 86 % of the victims have learned to value themselves better
- 91 % of the victims say that their self-awareness has continued after the intervention.
Want to learn more?
Read PopNAD’s article
Romance scams often follow a typical pattern
Contact
Contact with the victim takes place either on social media or online dating platforms. The perpetrator might send a similar message to countless profiles simultaneously to create the first contact.
When contacting their target, a romance scammer tries to appear trustworthy and successful. It is common for the perpetrator to say that he works in a respected profession, such as a soldier, a doctor or a business manager. To support this lie, the scammer often uses pictures of people who actually work in these professions.
Trust
The perpetrator builds trust with the victim often for several months. Reciprocal messaging is continued until the victim has started to trust the perpetrator enough, and the romantic relationship has become strong.
When the victim believes in the genuineness of the romantic relationship, their judgment may drop significantly. When in love, a person cannot think clearly, and intelligence, education or common sense are of little help. The amount of trust in the relationship can remain strong even if the victim has passing doubts about the intentions of their romantic messaging partner. The victim of the scam might ignore all kinds of warning signs, gaps and inconsistencies in the perpetrator’s story, because they want to believe that the relationship is genuine.
Money
In “the money stage”, the perpetrator’s requests for financial aid begin. Often the perpetrator urgently needs financial help, for example, to enable the first face-to-face meeting or to avoid some sort of crisis situation in their everyday life. By first establishing a relationship of trust with the victim, the emotional commitment is strong at this stage, thus making it likely that the victim will want to help and send money to the scammer.
Only after these initial stages (contact, trust, money) can it be said, that the next stages of a romance scam differ for the victim and the perpetrator.
The victim is left stranded as the perpetrator finds a new ”target”
The victim may gradually become growingly suspicious of the situation, begin to question the perceived romance, and share doubts with their loved ones (family and friends) or even with the perpetrator. The scammer’s options are either to disappear from the online conversation (so-called ghosting) or to try to strengthen the emotional bond with the victim by asserting reliability so that the scam can continue.
The final stage of a romance scam is the disclosure of the situation. The victim is left alone to deal with a huge disappointment and financial losses. It can be extremely difficult to comprehend and accept that the perceived love was actually a financial fraud. The emotional reactions of the victim can be strong. At this point, the perpetrator disappears from victim’s life, and depending on the situation, either has to bear criminal charges for their actions or gets away unpunished. The victim has to decide whether to press for charges and how to proceed in handling the situation.
One shouldn’t stay in this kind of situation alone without help and support.