Looking for love through social media or a dating site can be romantic, but it also can be scary and a breeding ground for scams. The FBI said that in 2022 alone, it received 19,000 of complaints about scams — with victims losing nearly $740 million.

And those are just the complaints that the FBI received. There are undoubtedly more victims out there who never report what happens to them to law enforcement.

In the so-called “romance scams,” the FBI says scammers troll social media sites to get information on their victims, then will strike up a conversation with a target, slowly trying to gain their trust. That’s when they will describe an emergency requiring financial help.

Victims range in age from college students to a recent case involving an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, who the FBI said lost $2,8 million in a romance scam.

“Of most concern to us are seniors. They may be living on fixed incomes or they’re isolated or lonely,” said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Steven Shapiro.

So how can you look for love without getting scammed? The FBI has a list of tips that can help protect you:

• Think twice before sharing personal information online
• Only use well-known dating sites
• Beware of attempts to isolate you — and if the other person finds excuses to continually not meet you in person, it’s another red flag
• Never send money to anyone you don’t know
• Never help move money to someone you don’t know personally, through your account

Anyone who suspects a scam should report it to the FBI at ic3.gov.

Before gathering all the necessary documents to file a 2023 return, there is a new scam making the rounds online. It involves an email featuring the IRS logo regarding the “third round of economic impact payments,” calling it an “important matter regarding your recent tax return filing.”

It goes on to state that “we have identified certain inconsistencies or missing information” and promises recipients “you will receive a refund of $976 once you have submitted the document we need.”

There is also a button that says “complete my information” — but IRS Media Relations Specialist Robert Marvin warns: Don’t click on that link.

“It’s hard to imagine what someone’s going to come up with next as a scam,” he told NBC New York.

One noticeable red flag: inconsistencies. For example, at the very bottom of the email with the IRS logo, the name of a different agency appears, the U.S. Small Business Administration.

“Look for strange versions and spellings of IRS. Watch out in the body of the email for typos, misspellings, and things that don’t look normal in business correspondence,” Marvin advised.

The agency said there is one hard and fast rule to always keep in mind, and it has to do with how the IRS contacts individuals.

“The IRS does not initiate with taxpayers, request for information through email, through text or social media, we just don’t do business that way,” said Marvin. “When we’re requesting for information we use the U.S. mail.”

And when in doubt, go straight to the source: the official IRS website.

“Really the best for taxpayers is our website, irs.gov. And that’s really the place to go to get information from the IRS,” Marvin said.

But how much should you give? It’s a question that people struggle with, and it can depend on what service is being provided.

First up: building doormen. Guidelines on this generally range from at least $25 in a larger building, to up to $150. But it all depends on your relationship with the doormen.

“If it’s a smaller building, and you have a very personal relationship with those doormen, feel free to be more generous, within your means,” said StreetEasy concierge Carlo Romero.

As for a babysitter or nanny, that depends on how much they work. For a babysitter that works part-time on a regular basis, two days’ pay is considered appropriate. But Romero said that for a nanny or someone who is there every day, “perhaps one to two weeks might be more appropriate.”

For a housekeeper, one week’s pay is a good amount, for those who can manage that. Sanitation workers and those who take away the garbage appreciate a little extra around the holidays as well. For that, StreetEasy suggests around $20-$30.

What about mail carriers? They are technically prohibited from accepting cash or gifts, so a non-cash gift may be best. But that doesn’t apply to others who deliver things to your home, like FedEx and UPS drivers.

“For UPS and FedEx, it’s OK and similar guidelines to sanitation workers — maybe $20-30 if this is someone who’s often delivering a lot of packages,” said Romero.

Ultimately, tipping comes down to how much you are comfortable with.

“Tipping is very personal. It’s a gesture of your gratitude. It should always be an amount that you’re comfortable with,” said Romero. “The holidays are a good opportunity to express that gratitude and show your spirit of appreciation.”

If you’re wondering when is a good time to start handing out the holiday tips, there is no real answer. Any time after Thanksgiving would be acceptable, and the gifts can also be given just after Christmas as well. It’s more about letting those who help on regular basis know that they are appreciated.

The social payment app is widely used for things like splitting bills at restaurants or reimbursing others for a shared expense. But they have also become an easy target for consumer scams.

Venmo’s online help center warns users about fake prizes and cash rewards, calls from Venmo or payments from strangers.

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One newer scam involves a stranger sending users money, then contacting them to say they sent the money by mistake. The scammer will then request the user to send the money back as a new payment.

So how can you protect your digital wallet?

Venmo warns to never exchange payments with unknown users. Those who get a payment from someone they do not know should contact the company as soon as possible to reverse the payment, rather than send the unknown person money. The company also recommends blocking users who sent unsolicited payments or requests.

Another step involves changing settings in the app. The default view for payment feed is “public,” but those who don’t want others to see their transactions can adjust the privacy setting to “friends only” or switch entirely to “private.” That would mean the only way to see items is under the “me” tab and the list of personal transactions.

“I have my feed on private. It’s so weird to me that you can see everyone else’s transactions. I don’t know why people do that,” said user Jason Yellen, of Ridgewood, Queens.

Venmo, which is owned by Paypal, said it updates info to help users avoid common scams.

“Venmo’s feature where you put in the last four numbers, I’ve found that helpful as an extra layer to make sure you’re not being scammed,” said Noelie Zeichik, of Hell’s Kitchen.

Anyone who believes they have become a victim of a scam to contact the app’s support team.

You’ve probably heard of email phishing — what about quishing?

It’s the latest trick by scammers to get victims’ money, and possibly even steal identities. So how does it work, and how can you protect yourself?

“We went from phishing to smishing, which is text messages, to now quishing,” said Brian Rauer, the executive director and general counsel for the Better Business Bureau of Metro New York.

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Rauer said the BBB has seen an increase in so-called “quishing” scams, which involve using QR codes.

“It will lead to you to a phishing website which will extract your personal information, your financial information,” said Rauer, who added that it “also could download malware onto your device.”

QR codes are convenient for parking meters and restaurants — but are also convenient for scammers. The BBB has reported more fake parking sites that are used to trick people into giving personal information, and are a double-edged sword for victims.

“You A) Haven’t paid for the parking, so you could end up with a ticket or being towed. And B) It could lead to malware being downloaded onto the site there and possible future identity theft,” Rauer said.

There are other ways scammers are looking to go after victims via quishing, like through cryptocurrency ads and romance scams.

“They may offer you this incredible deal, you can double, triple your money with crypto. So one of the two things. Either way, they want to get you to bite,” Rauer warned. “They’ll give you that QR code, it will send you to that digital wallet and your money is gone. And by the way, so is the romance.”

There are ways to avoid becoming a victim of a fraudulent website. According to Rauer, there is one thing that the scams try to do to influence potential targets.

“With all these scams, there’s a sense of urgency created. This false sense of urgency. They don’t want you to check,” he said.

He also advised people look for signs of tampering on signs with QR codes and to make sure it actually belongs to the restaurant or business. And always check the URL after scanning the code.

“Anyone can stick something on the back of a dispenser in a restaurant or on the back of a door,” Rauer said. “Independently verify — is this the real business?”

The BBB said that QR code scanner apps can also help spot fake sites.

Many people like to see what kind of customer reviews the products they’re shopping for are getting, and a new report suggests that nearly half of those reviews are fake, according to a Connecticut lawmaker.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal cited a report from Fakespot, a service that detects fraudulent consumer reviews online. Fakespot found that out of 720 million Amazon reviews in 2020, a whopping 42 percent were phony.

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The company found some of the fake reviews come from online bots the sellers use in order to influence a product rating. In other scenarios, the third-party Amazon sellers will boost their reviews by essentially bribing customers, offering gifts or even cash in exchange for a good review.

There is now pressure from the federal government to crack down on the fake reviews. Citing the study, Blumenthal said there are hundreds of millions of phony ratings on the site, and provided an example of how a product can get a fake review.

“It is a letter to the purchaser of these earbuds, offering a $15 gift card for a favorable review,” he said.

Blumenthal wrote to Amazon, saying that while it “has taken steps to curb these false reviews, it is abundantly clear that the company is not doing enough,” and that “as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the practice has become ever more rampant.”

Amazon told NBC New York that it uses industry-leading tools to detect and block fake reviews, and that the company “proactively stopped more than 200 million suspected fake reviews in 2020 alone…however, the nefarious business of brokering fake reviews remains an industry-wide problem.”

Amazon said its policies prohibit abuse among reviews, including offering incentives like gift cards for a positive review. In the meantime, the Federal Trade Commission has a few tips for spotting fake reviews.

They FTC recommends looking for information about a product from a variety of sources. Also, keep an eye out for sudden bursts of reviews — which can be a tell-tale sign of fraud.

Also important to remember: A negative review could also be fake, posted in order to harm a competitor. Those who spot a fake review should use the “report” link on a product page so the team at Amazon can investigate.