An alarming number of Americans are seeking romance and increasingly doing so online -- alarming because they're coming up against scammers who specialize in ripping off people who are lonely and looking for love.

Robert Siciliano, the CEO of ProtectNowLLC.com says these online scammers are practiced, devious and deceptive beyond belief: there are even cases of women who have scammed lonely men -- who would "meet older men on dating websites or services, then meet them in-person. It was part of her scheme to drug the older men to gain unauthorized access to and steal money from their financial accounts to personally benefit herself and her family members," as prosecutors in one case put it.

There's the criminal aspect of it, but the causes of romance fraud are basic and very human, Siciliano says, "if you are feeling lonely, which is an awful feeling if you've ever experienced it, you'll do anything to rid yourself of that negative feeling."

And online, the fraud that causes some older Americans to lose their life savings because of excessive trust in people who seem sincere but are truly scammers, it's just a matter of numbers, he says.

"So many more ne'er-do-wells are in the business of fraud than ever, it's likely that if you're seeking romance, you're going to be targeted too."

Jimmy Barrett