Commodity Futures Trading Commission issues a new romance scam warning ahead of Valentine’s Day.

West Virginia (CNN)- Ahead of Valentine’s Day — the federal government is sounding the alarm about a sophisticated online romance scam. 

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has launched the “Dating or Defrauding” awareness campaign. 

The multi-agency social media initiative is warning Americans about relationship investment scams. 

According to the agency, fraudsters use fake profiles on dating apps and even wrong-number text messages to target possible victims. 

The scammer would claim to have made a lot of money trading cryptocurrency. 

Victims are told to convert their dollars to cryptocurrency and send it to a scam website for ways to earn extra money. 

The federal agency says never trade or give money to people you only know online. 

In 2023, the FBI reported a nearly $4 billion loss to crypto-related investment scams. 

Visit cftc.gov for more information about the “Dating or Defrauding” awareness campaign.