A sentiment fraud, commonly known as a romance scam, is not merely an online disappointment. It becomes a legal issue when an individual builds or uses a false identity, fosters a relationship of trust, and obtains money, personal data, or other advantages through deception. Shame, the doubt of having been naive, and the difficulty of explaining a relationship born in chat rooms can lead to delay. Delaying, however, can make it more difficult to reconstruct the facts.
I want to help you distinguish what may assume criminal relevance from what remains a failed emotional relationship, understand which digital elements to preserve, and grasp the difference between a report and a criminal complaint. We will also see why the payment method, the profile used, and the moment you discovered the deception can concretely change your possibilities of protection.
When an online relationship becomes a scam
Feelings do not exclude deception. In a romance scam, emotional contact is often the tool through which the offender gains trust: they may present themselves as a soldier, a professional abroad, a widower, an investor, or someone in distress. The declared identity may be entirely invented or built using photographs and data belonging to another person. What matters is not the label given to the relationship, but the concrete behavior.
Fraud under current Article 640 of the Criminal Code requires deception that misleads someone and produces an unjust profit with a corresponding loss to another person. A transfer alone does not prove this: what was said to obtain payment, the false account presented and whether it caused the transfer all matter. The provision also covers remote fraud using digital tools capable of hindering identification; that aggravating circumstance alone does not remove the requirement for a victim’s criminal complaint.
An example helps understand the difference. If two people date online and one asks for a loan openly stating their true identity and situation, failure to repay does not automatically turn into a scam. If, instead, money is requested using a false name, falsified documents, invented emergencies, or promises crafted to induce the victim to pay, the deception can be the central point. The qualification of the fact remains the responsibility of the judicial authority based on available data.
Fake profile, used identity, and related offenses
A fake profile can matter even without payments. Article 494 of the Criminal Code concerns misleading someone by unlawfully assuming another person’s identity or attributing false names, status or legally relevant qualities, with the aim of obtaining an advantage or causing harm. The advantage need not be financial, nor must it actually have been obtained. A photograph taken from the internet does not, on its own, establish all those elements: how it was used and for what purpose matter.
The same conduct can assume different profiles. An account created with non-authentic images to converse without financial requests does not necessarily coincide with a case where a fake profile is used to obtain bank transfers, top-ups, access codes, or copies of documents. A simulated identity and a financial request must be read together. It is therefore useful not to limit oneself to saving the profile screenshot: chats showing the story told, the requests, and the reasons given for the payment are also necessary.
If credentials, temporary codes, identity documents, or card data were communicated, additional issues beyond the deceptive emotional relationship may arise. It is unwise to unilaterally assign a definitive name to the offense: in the report, it is more important to describe precisely the facts, dates, contacts used, and what was delivered. Concrete reconstruction comes before legal labeling.
Digital evidence to be preserved without altering it
Chats are useful if they maintain their context. Isolated screenshots may show an important sentence, but they often fail to explain who is speaking, when the exchange took place, or how a money request was reached. Keep complete conversations, the username, URL or profile identifier when available, dates, email addresses, phone numbers, voice notes, and any deleted messages still visible in notifications.
It is equally important to keep proof of payments: bank transfer receipts, statements, beneficiary data, top-up references, card movements, confirmation emails, and payment purposes. If the money was sent to an account registered to a person other than the interlocutor, this discrepancy should not be overlooked, though it does not establish the account holder's role on its own. It can be an element to point out so that necessary checks can be carried out.
Conversely, avoid modifying images, deleting the conversation out of anger, or opening new profiles to provoke the offender. Further contact can expose you to new requests and make the sequence of facts more confusing. If you need to block the account to protect yourself, save what is still accessible first. Blocking and documenting are two compatible actions, provided the chosen order does not entail the loss of essential information.
Chronology makes the deception clearer
A brief chronology can be more useful than many unorganized screenshots. Indicate the start of contact, changes in the other person's story, financial requests, each payment, promises of repayment, and the moment you discovered the falsehood. You do not need to turn it into a technical text: dates, facts, and linked attachments make it possible to understand whether the money request was preceded by a recognizable deception.
Report, criminal complaint, and terms not to be confused
A criminal complaint expresses the will to proceed criminally. Article 336 of the Code of Criminal Procedure defines it as a declaration by which the injured party manifests the will to proceed for an act classified as a crime. For many scam scenarios, this step is necessary; the discipline of Article 640 indeed provides for proceeding upon criminal complaint except for aggravated cases indicated by the norm. You can consult the text of Article 336 c.p.p. on Normattiva.
The practical difference is important. A report brings a potentially criminal fact to the authority's attention; a criminal complaint adds, when required by law, the clear request to proceed against the author. The Ministry of Justice specifies that there are no sacramental formulas, but the injured party's will to proceed and punish the responsible party must emerge: the ministerial summary on reports and criminal complaints is useful.
The ordinary time limit is not calculated from the end of the relationship. For offenses prosecutable upon criminal complaint, Article 124 of the Criminal Code ordinarily establishes a three-month limit from the knowledge of the fact constituting the crime. The decisive moment may therefore be when you discover sufficient elements to recognize the deception, not necessarily the first message or the last payment. Because aggravating factors, further offenses, and the injured party's circumstances can affect prosecutability, it is unsafe to wait relying on exceptions not yet verified.
The criminal complaint can be submitted orally or in writing at the offices indicated by law, such as police forces or the Public Prosecutor's Office. In the text, it is appropriate to distinguish what you directly saw from what you merely suppose: “I transferred this sum to this account” is a fact; “the account holder is certainly the author” may be a hypothesis. Precision protects the credibility of the account.
Payments, personal data, and damage recovery
Interrupting the flow of money comes before any confrontation. Do not send further amounts to unlock alleged customs procedures, medical treatments, tickets, taxes, commissions, or refunds. It is common for a new emergency to appear after the first payment, or for a third person to present themselves as an official, lawyer, or investigator promising to recover the money in exchange for an additional sum. This second request may also be part of the deception.
Contact your bank, card issuer, or payment service provider without delay to report the suspicious transaction and learn about the technical possibilities provided by the service used. However, there is no automatic revocation valid for every payment: bank transfers, cards, top-ups, payment platforms, and international transfers follow different mechanisms. Prompt reporting does not guarantee recovery, but it avoids leaving a potential measure provided by the service unused.
If you sent a copy of an identity document, credentials, or bank data, change your passwords, enable multi-factor authentication whenever possible, and notify involved parties if abnormal uses emerge. If you fear utilities were opened or loans requested in your name, keep received communications and promptly contest unrecognized operations. These precautions do not replace a criminal complaint: they protect against further harm while the incident is being reconstructed.
Criminal proceedings can ascertain potential responsibilities, but they do not automatically yield immediate reimbursement of every lost sum. To obtain restitutions or compensation, it is necessary to assess who is identifiable, which assets or sums are traceable, and which tools are concretely viable. If the offender operates from abroad, with fictitious identities, or through intermediate accounts, identification and recovery can be difficult; this does not make documenting the fact useless, but it requires realistic expectations.
Following the proceedings after reporting
Submitting the act does not mean knowing the outcome immediately. Following the report or criminal complaint, investigations into utilities, profiles, payments, and account ownership may be necessary. The absence of news in the first months does not prove that the file has been archived nor that the matter was neglected. Communications also depend on the information provided in the act and procedural rules.
Six months after submitting the report or criminal complaint, the injured party can request information on the status of the proceedings from the authority in charge, without prejudice to investigative secrecy. This faculty is provided by Article 335, paragraph 3-ter, of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as reported in the current text of procedural amendments on Normattiva. The request for information does not replace initial evidence gathering.
If you subsequently receive new messages, a different account name, a document, or a response from the platform, do not modify what has already been delivered: keep the new material and link it to the initial chronology. Subsequent information may clarify a previously obscure passage, but it must be distinguishable from facts already narrated. An orderly integration is more useful than a shifting reconstruction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I file a criminal complaint if I do not know the real name of the person?
Yes, you can report facts even against unknown persons. It is not necessary to know the offender's true identity with certainty to describe accounts, numbers, email addresses, payment coordinates, and conversations. It is essential to separate verifiable data from suspicions: identifying the responsible person is one of the investigations that may follow.
I sent money voluntarily: can I still be a victim of a scam?
Voluntary payment does not exclude a scam. The question is to understand whether consent to the transfer was obtained through artifices or deceptions, such as simulated identities, invented emergencies, or false documents. A freely made payment is neither enough to affirm nor to exclude the crime: the concrete reason why it was arranged matters.
How much time do I have to file a criminal complaint?
The ordinary time limit is three months from knowledge of the fact constituting the crime. For a sentiment fraud, the starting moment may coincide with discovering the deception, not necessarily the last message or the end of the relationship. Because prosecutability can change in the presence of specific circumstances or other crimes, it is prudent not to wait.
Are chat screenshots sufficient?
Screenshots help, but context is crucial. It is preferable to preserve the entire conversation, the profile, dates, messages concerning economic requests, and payment proofs. A single image can be contested or result incomplete; an orderly sequence instead allows understanding the evolution of the deception.
Can I recover the money sent immediately?
There is no automatic recovery. You must immediately contact the bank, card issuer, or payment service to learn the technical initiatives possible for that specific operation. Recovery also depends on the medium used, the promptness of reporting, the traceability of sums, and the identification of involved subjects.
Navigating without exposing yourself further
A romance scam must be addressed with order, not isolation. Stop further payments, preserve available evidence, note down the chronology, and promptly consider a criminal complaint when facts indicate a potentially prosecutable crime. If you need to clarify how to properly lay out the sequence of facts, which documents have real utility, and which initiatives are compatible with your case, you can contact me.