Charted: Love can hurt

This Valentine's Day, keep an eye out for romance scams, Nathan writes.

• More than 64,000 cases were reported to the FTC in 2023, with losses totaling $1.14 billion.

Threat level: While frequency has fallen, their median loss of $2,000 per victim makes them the costliest of any form of imposter scam, including business or government, the FTC notes.

How it works: The typical romance scammer contacts their target through social media, feigning love and deceiving people into sending money — often in the form of cryptocurrency or gift cards.

The bottom line: "A good rule of thumb: sad stories are usually scam stories," the FTC says.