Romance scam

The relationship feels private. The payment request arrives later, dressed up as a crisis, a travel cost, or a shared investment.

How it tends to unfold

Contact often starts on a dating app or social media and moves quickly to a private chat. The other person avoids a real meeting. Money is framed as help, not as a purchase.

What to write down

• They will not meet on camera or in person
• A sudden medical, customs, or family emergency
• Talk of a shared trading account
• Anger or guilt when you hesitate

How we frame the bank complaint

These files turn on whether the bank asked enough about a new payee and a purpose that did not fit the account. Shame keeps people quiet. The timeline does not need the intimate messages, only the payment story.

Martin’s case

Martin, in Ottawa, matched with a woman on a dating app who said she was a nurse on a contract in another city. They moved to a private chat within two days. She would not meet on camera. The messages were constant, and the plan to meet kept slipping.

Six weeks in, a parcel of hers was said to be held at customs. She asked him to pay a $2,150 release fee to a friend who could receive Canadian dollars. He paid from RBC. Two weeks later her mother was in hospital and the bill had to be paid that night. He sent $9,800 while she stayed in the chat. The next morning the number was dead.

RBC’s letter said the payments were his choice. The complaint left the private messages out and kept the payment story: a new payee, a purpose that did not match how he banked, and a second, larger transfer days later. The bank refunded both.

Shame is the reason these files stay thin. The bank does not need the love story. It needs the dates, the amounts, and who you thought you were helping.

Client reviews

If the review shows there is no realistic complaint, we will say so. You can still use the claim-yourself guide and go to your bank directly.