FINDING romance online could cost you more than a broken heart.
Well-schooled scammers are ripping off Australian lonely hearts at the rate of more than $190,000 a day, according to
Detective Superintendent Brian Hay of the Queensland Police fraud and corporate crime group.
Det Supt Hay said yesterday the majority of money being sent to internet scammers operating out of Africa went via dating sites.
“Romance fraud is number one,” Det Supt Hay said.
“We have 10,000 Australians sending $10 million every month to Nigeria and Ghana and 70 per cent of those are romance fraud.
“The average loss, on our last exercise, was $28,000 per person.”
The biggest dangers are free dating websites.
“If you want to throw your identity out there for the world to see, a small investment should be made for your safety and reduce the chance of victimisation,” Det Supt Hay said.
One reason Australians are targeted is because a high percentage of the population is connected to the internet.
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