Lloyds warns of sharp rise in online romance scams as fraudsters pose as soldiers and oil rig workers
Bank analysis shows older customers are being targeted and losing thousands to long-running relationship frauds; police urge caution and to keep conversations on platform apps
Lloyds Bank has warned of a sharp increase in online romance scams that often involve fraudsters claiming to work in the armed forces or on oil rigs, with older customers among the worst affected and average losses in the thousands of pounds.
The bank's analysis of customer reports found the average loss across all age groups was £5,219, while victims aged 75 to 84 lost an average of £8,068 — a 15% rise compared with the previous year. Lloyds said cases involving people aged over 55 rose 52% year-on-year, with those aged 55 to 64 accounting for about a fifth of reported romance-scam victims and those 65 to 74 making up 18% of cases. Reports involving people aged 35 to 44 rose by about 20%.
According to Lloyds, fraudsters typically use fake profiles to build trust over weeks or months through daily communications, then invent an urgent problem — such as a visa, medical emergency, flight or customs charge — and ask the victim to transfer money. Common claimed occupations are members of the armed forces and oil-rig workers because those roles provide an immediate explanation for limited contact and difficulty meeting in person.
Lloyds highlighted two demographic and factual points that undermine those common claims. On April 1, 2024, about 96% of UK regular forces personnel were stationed in the UK, making the "deployed overseas" explanation less likely to reflect reality. Separately, only 3.4% of offshore workers were female in 2022, so claims by female profiles that they work on an oil rig are statistically rare.
The bank shared anonymised customer stories to illustrate how the ruse works. In one case, an 80-year-old customer, identified as Kathy, transferred £11,000 after a contact claiming to have been arrested while travelling from an oil rig said he needed to pay £30,000 in tax on machinery. In another, an 86-year-old man known as Keith sent £2,260 after a contact who said she needed money to travel to Australia to retrieve an inheritance of gold; the alleged visitor never appeared.
Lloyds also published an edited transcript of a bank-branch call in which a customer sought to transfer £10,000 to an online contact and a bank employee repeatedly warned the payment was likely fraudulent. The conversation shows the customer insisting the relationship was genuine and offering to prove details in person, while the employee described recurring scam narratives and cautioned that the money would be gone if the transfer proceeded.
Once trust is established, scammers may claim a range of emergencies or business problems and request money via bank transfer, online gift cards or other methods. Law-enforcement agencies have reported schemes in which money is hidden in parcels such as toys or where victims are asked to buy and forward gift-card numbers, a method that can make funds quick to convert and difficult to trace.
Detective Superintendent Oliver Little of the City of London Police said people should keep conversations inside the app's messaging platform, be sceptical of requests for money, and consult friends or family before transferring funds. "Criminals will try to isolate you — don't give them the opportunity," he said. "Remember: if you haven't met them in person, you don't owe them anything."
Banks have been advised to train frontline staff to spot signs of relationship fraud and to intervene when a customer seems at risk of making an immediate transfer. Lloyds said staff intervention had prevented at least one £10,000 transfer in the incident it released; in other cases, customers only realised after contacting their bank that they had been targeted.
Industry and police guidance for people who think they may be targeted includes stopping contact, not sending further money, notifying the bank immediately and reporting the matter to local police or national fraud reporting services. Financial institutions and law enforcement stress that early reporting can improve the chance of recovery and help prevent further losses to others.
