Online daters lured into fraudsters' web of deceit

Tara Mills reports on the fraudsters using online dating sites to target their victims.

It seems that children are not the only ones targeted by predators on the internet.

A BBC Newsline viewer has contacted us about a dating site scam.

A man posing as a potential partner got to know her online and then tried to persuade her to help him pay a bill for a hotel on the other side of the world.

It happened on the Friends Reunited Dating site, but these scams can happen anywhere.

Friends Reunited told us they are proactive about preventing this type of exploitation and advised anyone using the site to follow the safety rules which appear online.

The woman doesn't want to be identified, but told her story to Tara Mills.

BBC Newsline talks one of the increasing number of victims of online dating scams.

BBC Newsline website