With Valentine’s day fast approaching, federal and state authorities are cautioning the public to stay vigilant about romance scams, which reached a record of $304 million in losses reported to the federal government in 2020. Romance scams, also known as confidence fraud, involve fraudsters preying upon victims who look for companionship on online dating apps and social networking sites. The goal of these scammers is to gain access to victims’ financial or personal identifying information, according to the FBI. Victims are usually asked to send money via wire transfers or through reload cards like MoneyPak or gift cards, officials say. In 2020, the Federal Trade Commission received over 32,000 reports of romance scams, which totaled to a loss of about $304 million, reported to the agency. This figure amounted close to a 50 percent increase from 2019. The agency said that the median amount sent to scammers in 2020 was $2,500, …