The ACCC, Australia's competition regulator and national consumer law champion is focusing on internet dating sites to ensure fair trade for customers.
According to ACCC deputy chairwoman Delia Rickard, such websites had become hotbed for scammers as they had received around 1700 complaints, and had had over 17 million dollars loss so far this year, News.com.au reported.
Rickard, who also reported over 25 million dollars loss in 2013, added that lonely people seek companionship and hence were vulnerable.
In the snap review of 100 dating websites that the consumer watchdog conducted to identify the scammers, they found that such people always posted on as Australian or American businesspeople, soldiers or aid workers on an overseas posting.
Ms Rickard said the victims are regularly contact via phone and email and fooled by "wooing" with flowers and gifts over months, after which the scammers use elaborate scenarios to ask for escalating amounts of cash.
She further added that the ACCC monitored international money transfers from Australia and had contacted people suspected of having being a victim to a romance scam, and would also contact dating websites that needed to change their ways, or court action could follow.
The review was part of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network annual internet sweep, which involved more than 50 consumer protection agencies.
