Fraudsters like to break hearts, police say, even around Valentinesa国际传媒檚 Day.

According to an RCMP release, scammers push romance scams onto unsuspecting victims sa国际传媒� often in the days leading up to Feb. 14 sa国际传媒� that can cause many to lose significant amounts of money and heartache in the process.

While social media pictures are often used to lure victims, either to portray themselves, their family or pets, the release noted that a new twist to the scam involves randomly received message by the victim that may read sa国际传媒渨here have you beensa国际传媒� or sa国际传媒渨here are yousa国际传媒� in order to strike up a conversation and build a relationship.

sa国际传媒淭he purpose of the scam is to foster a sense of trust so that in the near future the fraudster can ask their victim for money and they willingly oblige,sa国际传媒� said reserve Const. Gary Osa国际传媒橞rien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesperson, in the release.

Reasons money may be requested include a personal or family emergency, a claim to have no access to money, or unexpected business, legal or travel fees.

The release also noted red flags to be aware of include if someone professes their love before meeting in-person, if attempts to meet up in-person are routinely cancelled, or if the profile seems sa国际传媒渢oo perfect.sa国际传媒� People can protect themselves from potential scammers by not accepting friend requests from people they donsa国际传媒檛 know and by never sending money to someone they havensa国际传媒檛 met in person.

Those that believe they may be a victim can report fraud online at , by calling local police or reaching the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.

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