What I Wish Every Single Person Knew About Romance Scams - From a Matchmaker Who Lived It

By Maria Avgitidis, Founder & CEO, Agape Match

I have spent eighteen years helping people find love. I have sat across from thousands of singles, listened to their stories, understood their fears, and worked carefully to connect them with someone genuinely compatible. Trust is everything in this business. It is the foundation of every relationship we build, with our clients, with the matches we curate, and with the world we operate in.

So when I tell you that since June 2026, an organized criminal group has been impersonating my company, my employees, and my identity to defraud vulnerable singles out of thousands of dollars, I want you to understand how deeply personal this is. Not just as a business owner. As someone who has dedicated her life to helping people find genuine connection.

I am writing this because I believe that if more people understood the warning signs of romance scams, and how sophisticated they have become, fewer people would fall victim to them. And because what has happened to Agape Match could happen to any trusted brand in any industry.

It Started With a Telegram Message

The people who contacted our victims did not announce themselves as scammers. They introduced themselves as Chrisoula. As Barbara. As members of the Agape Match team. They used our real employees' names and professional photographs, scraped from our website. They spoke warmly and professionally. They explained a process that sounded plausible: a VIP card system, a verification process, and a matching catalog of women to choose from.

And then they asked for money.

By the time victims realized something was wrong, many had already sent hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars via Cash App, Bitcoin, or Apple gift cards to people they would never meet.

Over 23 people contacted us in the first six weeks alone. One man lost more than $11,000. An international victim in Italy lost more than €3,100. We have filed a complaint with the FBI, taken down six fake websites, and retained legal counsel. Still, every day, new people find their way to our inbox asking if the person who contacted them on Telegram was really one of us.

The answer is always no.

The Warning Signs I Now Know by Heart

If you are single and looking for love, whether through a matchmaker, a dating app, or anywhere else, please read these carefully.

1. They contacted you first, out of nowhere. Legitimate matchmaking companies do not cold contact strangers on Telegram, WhatsApp, Instagram DM, or Facebook Messenger. We do not slide into your inbox. Every real Agape Match relationship begins at agapematch.com, with a form you complete and a Zoom consultation you schedule. If someone reached out to you first on a messaging app claiming to represent a matchmaking service, that is your first and most important warning sign.

2. They are asking for money before you have met anyone in person. No legitimate matchmaker asks you to pay an "activation fee," a "verification fee," a "VIP card fee," or a "credit score restoration fee" before you go on a date. These are fabricated fees designed to extract money from you in stages. Each payment comes with a promise: that this is the last one, that your funds will be returned, or that the date is now confirmed. None of it is true.

3. The payment method is untraceable. Cash App. Bitcoin. Apple gift cards. Zelle to a personal account. These are the payment methods of fraud because they are difficult or impossible to reverse. Any legitimate business accepts credit cards and issues receipts. If someone is asking you to pay via gift card or cryptocurrency, walk away immediately.

4. The woman you are speaking to is too perfect and too available. The scammers create elaborate fake female personas, complete with photographs, backstories, and personalities carefully designed to appeal to you specifically. They will tell you she lives nearby. They will share photos that seem real. They may even video call you, and with today's deepfake AI technology, that video may appear entirely convincing. But the person on the other end of that screen is not who they claim to be.

5. There is always one more payment. This is perhaps the most insidious tactic. Every time you pay, a new problem emerges. Your account is frozen. Your credit score needs restoration. There is a system error. Each problem has exactly one solution: another payment. This escalating fee structure is a hallmark of what law enforcement calls an "advance fee fraud" or "pig butchering" scam. The promised date, the promised refund, and the promised relationship never come.

6. When you push back, they apply pressure. Legitimate companies do not threaten you, guilt you, or manufacture urgency when you ask questions. Scammers do. Some of our victims reported being told they would lose their "reservation" if they did not pay immediately. Others were emotionally manipulated through the fake female persona and told she would be matched with someone else, that she was disappointed, or that this was their last chance. This emotional manipulation is deliberate and calculated.

7. They know details about a real company, but something feels off. The scammers impersonating us sent victims our real website address, our real office address, and our real company name to appear legitimate. But they could not send a real Zoom link with a real team member. They could not provide an invoice from our actual payment system. They could not arrange a real consultation. If something feels off, if the process seems unusual, the platform seems wrong, or the fees seem strange, trust that feeling and verify directly. 

How Agape Match Actually Works

I want to be completely transparent because I believe the best protection for our community is clarity.

Every Agape Match client relationship begins at agapematch.com. There is no other starting point. From there, you will schedule a Zoom consultation with a member of our team. We will speak with you personally, learn about you, and determine together whether we are the right fit for your search.

We will never contact you on Telegram, WhatsApp, Instagram, or any other messaging platform. We do not send VIP cards. We do not have an activation process. We do not accept payment via Cash App, Bitcoin, gift cards, or Zelle. We do not have branches, divisions, or affiliate websites. Our only website is agapematch.com.

If someone has contacted you claiming to be from Agape Match through any other channel, please email us at info@agapematch.com before doing anything else. We will always verify whether the communication is legitimate.

What To Do If You Have Been Targeted

If you believe you have been contacted by someone impersonating a matchmaking service or any legitimate business, take these steps immediately:

Stop communicating with them immediately. Do not send any more money, regardless of what they tell you.

Contact your bank or payment provider right away. If you sent money via Cash App, contact Cash App Support. If you sent a wire transfer, call your bank. Time matters. The sooner you report it, the better your chances of recovering your funds.

Report it to the FBI at ic3.gov. The Internet Crime Complaint Center is the right place to file a report. The more people who report these crimes, the stronger the case becomes for investigators.

Report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.

Share what happened. I know it feels embarrassing. You may wonder how you did not see it coming. Please know this: these are professional criminals running sophisticated operations with trained teams, advanced technology, and carefully crafted scripts designed to overcome your skepticism. You are not foolish for almost falling for it. You would be surprised how many intelligent, careful people have.

A Note to Anyone Reading This Who Is Still Talking to Them

If you are in the middle of one of these conversations right now - if you have already sent money and are being asked for more, if you are waiting for a date that keeps getting delayed, if something in you is not quite sure but you do not want to lose what you have invested - please stop. I know it feels like the next payment might be the one that makes it real. It will not be. There is no date. There is no woman. There is no club, no card, no activation, no refund.

But there is a way forward. Contact your bank today. File a report. And if you want to talk to a real matchmaker about what finding genuine connection actually looks like - we are here, at agapematch.com, and we would be honored to meet you properly.

Maria Avgitidis is the Founder and CEO of Agape Match LLC, a luxury matchmaking company based in New York City. She is the author of Ask a Matchmaker, available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and independent bookstores. She has been matching exceptional singles since 2009.

If you have been targeted by someone impersonating Agape Match, please contact info@agapematch.com.