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(Iowa) -- The Iowa Insurance Division is warning Iowans about romance scams ahead of Valentine's Day.
Jessica McGraw, financial exploitation investigator with the Iowa Insurance Division says the scam usually starts harmlessly through a dating app, social media platform, or wrong number text message, and then....
"That person will pretty quickly want to move to some type of an encrypted communication platform, so usually WhatsApp or Telegram, and then they really begin what we call 'love bombing' where they will grow that relationship very intensely very quickly."
McGraw says this can happen over a long period of time, even years, where the scammer communicates with the victim frequently, even every day, until the victim trusts the scammer enough to share personal and financial information. The Iowa Insurance Division says it managed financial exploitation cases totaling roughly $19.4 million dollars in 2025, up from 2024's $7.27 million.
Resources are available for those who have been scammed or believe they may have been through the Iowa Fraud Fighters website.