ORLANDO, Fla. – Americans lost a record $304 million to romance scammers in 2020, up from $201 million in 2019, according to a new report from SocialCatfish.com.
The numbers are projected to increase further when the 2021 government numbers are released since more people have looked for love online since COVID-19 began.
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News 6 interviewed two recent victims of the online deceptions: Alec Robinson, a Tampa clothing designer who has been fighting to get his photos pulled from various dating and social media sites, and Rebecca D’Antonio, an Orlando woman who lost her life savings to an international imposter.
Robinson, a retired marine, told News 6 a friend spotted his photograph on a dating site eight years ago.
In that profile, a woman complained how he had taken money from her and just disappeared.
Robinson said his photographs are on hundreds of social media sites and many times, relatives of the women that think they are talking to Robinson contact him to confirm the truth: It is not him.
“A lot of times, (impostors) just take my images and pretend to be me,” Robinson said. “They’ll take pictures of me with my nieces and nephews and will say, ‘Hey, these are my children. I’m a single dad looking for love.’”
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The owner of the Iron and Ink clothing line…
