Catfishing and Romance Fraud: What you need to know now

Someone tells you they love you, mirrors your values, and makes you feel seen in a way you haven’t felt in years. Then they vanish, come back with an excuse, and your body floods with relief. That cycle is not romance. It’s a strategy, and it’s driving a surge in romance fraud, catfishing, and online dating scams that leave victims with financial loss and trauma that looks a lot like PTSD.In this episode we sit down with Anna Rowe, founder of catchthecatfish.com and part of lovesaid.org, to map the real mechanics behind these crimes against women: mirroring, love bombing, isolation, and trauma bonding. Anna shares how a perpetrator can maintain overlapping relationships, how shame keeps people silent, and why the most damaging moment is often what happens after the fraud is exposed when victims meet disbelief from friends, banks, or even police.We also get practical about what’s changing right now: deepfakes, face swap video, and voice cloning that can make a scammer look and sound “verified” on calls and voice notes. We unpack celebrity romance fraud, the “pig butchering” romance-plus-crypto investment scam, and the first responder toolkit Anna built to help law enforcement respond without blaming the victim and to safeguard people from repeat targeting, spyware, and data resale.If you’ve ever dated online, have a loved one who has, or work in victim services, this conversation will change how you spot coercive control in a digital relationship.