Catfishing & online fraud: the warning worth pausing for
This notice exists for consumer protection and personal safety. No response is required, and nothing here is an accusation. No report has been filed about you or about anyone you know.
The purpose is to encourage a pause, and an independent check, before money, property, or personal information changes hands. This page presents Home Fraud Defense's full catfish warning notice — the same one we deliver by email and by mail — as a readable public resource anyone can share.
The requests that should give anyone pause
A person receives this notice when someone who cares about them is worried. They may be communicating with someone who has asked, or may ask, for:
- Money, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or wire transfers
- Secrecy about the relationship, or about money
- Urgent help with an emergency, an investment, or a temporary problem
- Help buying property, moving funds, or getting into accounts
- Something involving your home: adding a name to the deed, taking a new loan against it, or selling sooner than you had planned
These requests are common indicators of online financial exploitation, sometimes called catfishing or romance-based fraud.
It is worth pausing if any of these apply
You have never met this person face to face
Video calls are refused, cut short, or the picture and voice seem slightly off. Video is no longer proof of who someone is, because software can now put a convincing face and voice on a call
They ask you to keep the relationship, or the money, private
They say they are overseas, offshore, deployed, or otherwise unable to meet
They ask for money by gift card, cryptocurrency, wire transfer, or payment app
They introduce you to an investment or trading account, often involving cryptocurrency, that shows your balance growing. Small withdrawals may work at first
They push you to act quickly, or discourage you from talking it over with anyone
They promise repayment, marriage, or a life together once one more problem is solved
Details change over time, or the story does not fully hold together
One sign by itself does not mean fraud. Several together raise the risk considerably.
What the script depends on you never hearing
- A real partner does not ask for secrecy about money
- A real emergency still leaves time to check
- A real investment does not require private transfer
- Once money is sent it is often gone, and cryptocurrency and gift cards are rarely recovered
- The people who do this are patient, rehearsed, and working from a script. Many operate in organized groups
- This works because it targets trust, empathy, and urgency. It is not a sign that someone was careless
Please do at least one of these first
- Talk it over with a family member or a friend you trust
- Speak with a licensed professional you find yourself, such as an attorney, an accountant, your banker, or a real estate broker
- Look the person up independently, using contact details and sources you found on your own rather than any they provided
- Wait 24 to 72 hours before doing anything
A legitimate situation will still be legitimate after you check.
Speed matters more than anything else
Please do these today, in this order:
- Call your bank and ask them to recall the transfer. Ask for the request in writing.
- File a complaint at ic3.gov. Reporting within the first 72 hours gives the best chance that funds can be frozen.
- Call the non-emergency line for local law enforcement and ask for a report number.
- Keep everything. Messages, screenshots, profiles, receipts, account details, and phone numbers.
Do not send more money to try to get the first payment back. Offers to recover lost funds, for a fee or an upfront payment, are a second scam aimed at the same person.
Free, confidential, and nationwide
You do not need to file a report to ask a question.
FTC fraud reporting and education
reportfraud.ftc.gov
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center
ic3.gov
National Elder Fraud Hotline
1-833-372-8311
AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline
1-877-908-3360
Eldercare Locator, connects you to help where you live
1-800-677-1116 · eldercare.acl.gov
Adult Protective Services in your state
Reached through the Eldercare Locator above
Your state Attorney General, consumer protection
naag.org
Local law enforcement
Call the non-emergency line
Reporting resources for your state
homefrauddefense.org/state-resources
Type these addresses into your web browser yourself rather than clicking links someone sends you — that habit alone defeats most impostor sites.
Provided in good faith and with respect
- If everything you are doing is legitimate, this message can be disregarded
- If something feels off, even slightly, pause and check before you act
- Your safety and your financial security matter, and asking a question costs nothing
No reply is requested or expected.
Three ways to deliver it — all free, all anonymous
We never ask who you are. No account, no name, no email of yours. The emailed notice comes from Home Fraud Defense's own address, identifies us as the sender, and includes an opt-out link — one notice per recipient per 30 days.
Send them this page
Sometimes a link is the gentlest way in. One tap opens your phone's own share tools — text, email, WhatsApp, whatever they use — no forms, nothing stored.
We email the notice for you
Enter only their email address. The full notice arrives from Home Fraud Defense — your identity is never collected, stored, or mentioned.
We mail a printed copy
No printer, or don't want your handwriting or postmark involved? Give us their mailing address and our team prints and mails the notice at no cost.
The emailed notice is deliberately plain: no urgent buttons, no download links, Home Fraud Defense named as the sender of record, and federal hotline numbers the recipient can verify independently. Recipients can opt out of future notices with one click, and we honor opt-outs before every send. Repeat sends to the same recipient are limited to one per 30 days across every way this notice is delivered.
The full Elder Protection Guide
Catfishing is one of several ways criminals target older homeowners. The Elder Protection Guide covers the rest — deed fraud, title theft, mail tampering, power-of-attorney abuse, and reverse-mortgage scams — with a family caregiver checklist and free federal reporting numbers.
Open the Elder Protection Guide