Internet love scams: Watch out for the online 'boyfriend'

Between October last year and January, the women - mostly from their late 20s to their 50s as well as a 73-year-old - were cheated of S$787,000 in total by their online "boyfriends", the police said.

The men, mostly foreigners, befriended the women through dating or social networking sites such as be2.com, zoosk.com, tagged.com and wayn.com.

After building a romance online with their victims, the fraudsters asked for money to be sent overseas for various reasons, such as being held at customs on their way to Singapore to meet the women.

One woman in her 30s lost S$300,000 when she fell for the "marriage ruse" - her virtual boyfriend asked for a loan to process his father's inheritance and promised to come to Singapore to marry her.

Another victim, who wanted to be known only as Miss Tan, told MediaCorp in an exclusive interview that she was cheated of S$13,000 over three months by a man she befriended last August on dating website tagged.com.

The 40-year-old human resource manager chatted online every night, sometimes via webcam, with the so-called director of a London-based electronics firm. "I felt he was sincere and the relationship was real," she said.

The police believe most of the fraudsters may be African, although the women might be led to believe they are Caucasians. And enforcement is difficult when there are fake identities and personal details.

Police spokesman Deputy Superintendent Lau Kian Keong said: "Be careful when befriending strangers online. Don't put yourself in a vulnerable position or reveal personal details about yourself or transfer money to them through banks or remittance agencies."

ORIGINAL SOURCE