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Almost two years ago, I posted an Instagram reel of Kevin Costner speaking at Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West.
The clip went viral, racking up more than a quarter-million views. Since then, I’ve had about a dozen Kevin Costners follow me on Instagram. They’re so happy I posted about them and they want to be friends.
Catfishing scams are nothing new. (For the uninitiated, a catfish is someone who pretends to be someone they’re not on social media.) But they’re seemingly everywhere: wanting to buy your car on Facebook Marketplace, pretending to be a movie star on Instagram and cruelest of all, duping the lovelorn on dating sites.
In fact, a new study says that of all the fine folks in the U.S. of A, Arizonans are the most likely to get their hearts broken and their wallets emptied by a romance scam.
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Brokerage and forex experts BrokerChooser analyzed official fraud reports to develop the study, and Arizonans top the list as the state most vulnerable to romance scams for the second year running. We’ve got the highest number of reports at 159 per 1 million people, a jump from 133 last year.
The financial damage is staggering. Losses skyrocketed to $33.5 million in the first half of 2025 — up around 15% from $29 million in the same period last year. Nationally, people lost $697.3 million to romance scams in 2024.
In just one heartbreaking example, in June, Sherwayne Benjamin Bellinfantie of Jamaica was extradited to the U.S. to face charges related to a romance and sweepstakes scam. He and his associates allegedly scammed an 85-year-old Vail, Arizona, woman out of more than $400,000.
In a Cronkite News article that Phoenix New Times republished earlier this year, Dawn Alexander, an analyst with AARP Arizona, said the biggest red flag when starting a romantic relationship online is communicating with someone who professes “instant love.”
The rest of the top 10 is: 2. Alaska, 3. Wyoming, 4. Nevada, 5. Virginia, 6. Montana, 7. Utah, 8. Florida and South Carolina (tied) and 10. North Dakota.
Older people are most likely to get hit by a romance scam, according to the study. Folks ages 70 to 79 are most likely to fall prey, followed by ages 60 to 69. Nationally, people in those age ranges lost around $174.5 million last year.
James Rodgers, head of dating at senior dating site Senior Lovers, shared some red flags to watch out for that apply to romance-seekers of all ages:
• Declaring love early on or becoming attached very quickly is something to be wary of. There could be an ulterior motive if they are moving too quickly.
• They ask you a lot of questions — too many questions, including personal ones like those about your address, workplace, date of birth or other information which could be used to commit fraud like identity theft.
• They ask you for money or financial help. Never fall for this. Only when you are in a secure, trusting relationship should you consider this, never after only a few dates.
• You notice they know things about you that you never shared with them. This could be a sign they have found and stalked your social media pages.
• Things they tell you do not add up to their online profile or other things they have told you. This could be an indication they are lying to you for some reason. If they only ever offer vague answers to your questions or avoid answering certain things, their identity could be faked.
