Our research team, Team51, has identified a sharp rise in seasonal consumer scam activity ahead of Valentine’s Day.
Starting in mid January, we observed a 43% surge in the registration of love and romance related domains, along with an additional year over year increase of approximately 17%.
Our findings show that the most common scam patterns include:
- Gift card phishing, accounting for 36% of observed cases
- Romantic impersonation through dating apps or messaging platforms, representing 28%
- Fake shopping offers, making up 32%
These categories reflect the dominant trends, while the remaining activity includes a range of other smaller scam types.
The takeaway is clear: consumer focused phishing continues to evolve around seasonal events, driven by emotional manipulation and payment fraud.
