"Mum has a boyfriend."
Kylee Dennis' ears pricked up when her friend revealed her 78-year-old mother had met a man named Donald online and things seemed to be getting serious.
"Being a little nosy, I called her to ask her about her new love," she said.
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Ann was twice-divorced, lived in a retirement village and had been "dating" Donald in secret for about six months.
The 69-year-old Australian businessman had been working on a gas pipeline contract in Turkey and was due to return home, where he intended to retire.
Dennis asked her mother to show her a few photos of her new love interest and the images immediately raised some red flags.
"Ann supplied me with some photos, and at that stage knowing that Ann had a few health issues, I looked at the photos and became very suspicious," she said.
The photos showed an "extremely fit" man who was about 55 years old.
"There were some discrepancies in the photos – two different people used to create this faux profile of 'Donald'," she said.
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Dennis tracked down the owner of the photo - a happily married American real estate agent.
"I then had to inform Ann as to the scam and this was heartbreaking," she said.
"In a blink of an eye, I broke her heart."
Determined to protect those looking for a partner, Dennis started Two Face Investigations, a business which draws on her 14-year career as a NSW Police officer.
"Watching Ann take time to recover, I felt that there were many more victims that need help to navigate through this landscape," she said.
Tall, dark, handsome - and may scam you out of thousands
Through her work, Dennis has noticed several patterns in the way romance scammers approach their victims.
The suitors most commonly claim to be doctors, pilots, engineers, overseas contractors, oil rig workers and professionals.
Romance scams are not a new phenomenon but they continue to con Australians out of their hard-earned cash every year.
According to the National Anti-Scam Centre, scammers have stolen more than $4 million this year, with more than 550 reports made to the watchdog.
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"The biggest red flag is they are currently overseas working or at the very least on their last couple of days and are unable to meet you," she said.
"They will indicate that there are issues as to why they can't return home at this very moment but they will be with you very soon to start this magical life together.
"They will also offer up at a very early stage within the conversation a devastating incident that has occurred (such as their) husband and daughter died in a car accident (or their) wife died of cancer.
"They will remove you from the dating platform onto email and then a messaging service like WhatsApp."
Dennis said romance scammers tend to profess their love for their targets very early on, despite never meeting them in person.
"Love bombing - a tactic that would not be used in a face-to-face meeting but one that is a surefire indication that they are commencing their manipulative behaviours," she said.
"Throughout the email you will be told that you are the most important person in their life and they have no one else in the world but you.
"The profile photo that is depicted is model-like and for them, age is just a number."
Losing a potential love interest or funds from a scam can result in feelings of shame for some people - but Dennis said it doesn't have to be that way.
In fact, she is encouraging people to talk about their experiences to eliminate the stigma.
"A romance scam victim did not venture into this world to be financially ruined and heartbroken at the same time," she said.
Dennis said in the past fortnight alone, she has spoken with five victims who have lost a total of $500,000 who have not reported the crime as they "don't wish to tell people".
"They are ashamed that they will be judged by society and their friends," she said.
"Love is powerful and romance scamming is a crime and should not have a negative tag attached to it.
"This is one of my personal challenges to change that."
Visit the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to report a scam and find out more information about how to keep yourself safe.
