Romance scams in Bulgaria: victims have lost around €406,000 so far in 2026

Fraudsters who fake a romantic relationship online have already taken around €406,000 from victims in Bulgaria this year. That is according to figures from the Cybercrime Directorate of the General Directorate Combating Organised Crime (GDBOP), released for the World Day for the Prevention of Romance Scams on 3 October and reported by Radio 999, among others. So far in 2026, 37 reports have been filed. In 2025 there were 35, with losses of about €561,000 plus another 450,000 leva; in 2024 there were 27, with about €350,000 and 500,000 leva. Around 20 per cent of the reports came from men. The figures refer to reports received by the directorate.

According to GDBOP, the perpetrators create fake identities, gradually win their victims' trust and then ask for money. They often pose as soldiers, doctors, ship captains or celebrities, avoid video calls and keep finding new reasons why a meeting is impossible. “Emotional closeness is only a means to an end – the money,” the directorate said. Psychologist Lidia Zagorova told broadcaster Bulgaria ON AIR that scammers deliberately target lonely people such as widowed and divorced women; a “24-hour siege of love, with poems, with songs” at that intensity is not normal.

Even a video call is no longer a guarantee, Zagorova said: with artificial intelligence there are now programmes that let scammers fake video contacts. GDBOP advises never to send money to people you know only online, not to share bank details, personal data, photos of documents or access codes, and to be especially careful when an online acquaintance asks for financial help for any reason. Anyone who notices that a relative or friend is in such an online relationship should talk to them about it.