Preying on lonely hearts is big business

Global Fraud Focus: Examining cross-border issues

Actress Loretta Young once said, "Love isn't something you find. Love is something that finds you." Unfortunately, it's often not love that's seeking defenseless victims but ruthless, determined criminals who have complete disregard for victims and laugh at their vulnerabilities as weaknesses.

Romance, sweetheart or dating scams are widespread and are becoming even more prevalent worldwide. Once again, the fraudsters are targeting the vulnerable.

A brief web search will show that the FBI, FTC, Secret Service, U.S. Army plus agencies in the Canadian, Australian and U.K. governments have all issued warnings about the dangers of these scams. A TIME magazine article by Charlie Campbell reported on July 9 that Malaysia is becoming the current crime hub for this fraud.

Some fraudsters are getting seriously rich with these schemes. Media reports show victims in just four countries have recently lost more than US$190 million.