Internet romance may leave you penniless

Melbourne: Australian police has warned people not to be duped by Internet romance scams.

The warning came after a 45-year-old man lost $20,000 to someone he met online, while a 47-year-old woman was left waiting at an airport.

Queensland State Police Minister Judy Spence said that the cops are investigating the online romance scams in which people had been ripped off thousands of dollars.

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"The male victim was fleeced of approximately $20,000 through a scam which began when he met someone he believed was a potential female friend on an online personal site," News.com.au quoted Spence, as saying.

"And the female victim lost thousands of dollars and was left waiting at the airport after she sent money to a man she met on a web-based matchfinder.

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"Many other cases of romance scams are never reported by victims who are too embarrassed to contact authorities," she added.

Although internet-based romance has become a common phenomenon, Spence said that the requests for money or personal information should be dealt with extreme caution.

According to Detective Superintendent Brian Hay said romance scams generally involved a love interest who claim to be of English or American heritage with links to a West African country, such as Nigeria or Ghana.

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Once a relationship has begun they then ask for money to by an airline ticket to visit the victim, seal a business deal, pay for medical expenses after an accident, or to tide them over after a robbery or because of corrupt officials, he said.