Santander warns customers who have £4,500 or more sat in bank account

The data from Santander UK customers shows a staggering rise in romance scams in the past six months, marking a 27 per cent jump compared with the previous half-year period.

Santander has warned more than £3.8 million was reported as stolen in romance scams last year. The data from Santander UK customers shows a staggering rise in romance scams in the past six months, marking a 27 per cent jump compared with the previous half-year period.

The average loss to romance fraudsters was £4,500. Santander customers lost £6,826,748 to romance scams in the 12 months running from August 2023 to August 2024. Some £3,813,410 was lost between March and August this year.

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of people believe they would never become a victim of romance fraud. Peter Staffell, a behavioural expert at Santander UK, said: “Scammers are experts at presenting themselves as someone you can trust, someone who ‘gets’ you.

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“They play the long game, building a relationship before executing on their scam and, as our research shows, it’s a natural instinct for many of us to willingly lend a financial hand to someone who we have formed an emotional bond with.

“Then they’ve gone. The scam is complete, and the impact extends far beyond the financial losses, leaving emotional scars and often people feeling more isolated than before. You can take control though, a few simple checks when you first start to speak to someone, and before your emotions take hold, can reveal a lot about the person you’re speaking to and save heartache further down the line.”

Issuing its advice, Santander says: "Try to remove emotion from your decision-making. Be really careful if you are lending or giving someone money. No matter how urgent their reason might seem, it is important you think it through. Consider discussing it with a trusted friend or family member first.

"Pictures can be edited and fake profiles can easily be made. Performing a reverse image search online can show whether the photos have been taken from another website or social media platform."