(KCEN) -- With Valentine's Day this Thursday, romance is in the air and online, but some could be looking for love in all the wrong places.
That's because you may never know if the person on the other end is a sweetheart or a scammer.
People are falling for scams so much the U.S. Army just posted another nationwide alert, for single women in particular, about cybercrooks posing as combat soldier overseas.
The crooks steal the identity, even photos, of real servicemen, eventually asking the unsuspecting victim to send money to ease the pain of war.
Technology writer Bob Sullivan said, "There's a whole spectrum of lying or deceiving when it comes into online dating."
Experts say you can avoid scams by establishing online relationships only with those who live nearby and asking early on for a face-to-face meeting.
