GRANDMOTHER LOSES HER LIFE SAVINGS.

Melbourne grandmother has revealed how she lost $200,000 of her life savings to a man she thought was the love of her life, amid reports romance-related fraud is on the rise in Australia. Carole Ross, from Frankston in Melbourne's Southeast, never could have imagined the repercussions when she responded to a friend's email boasting of his online dating success and recommending a match. "I don't know who I am anymore," she told Australia Current Affair. "It has just been the worst thing that has ever happened to me.

"I feel like I am at the crossroads and I am in a fog and I do not know which way I have to go."

Excited and curious, Ms Ross joined. And when her "match" asked for financial help, she obliged. "In the beginning, it looks as if l am trying to help someone l love so much," she said. But as her bank balance fizzled, so did the relationship, leaving Ms Ross homeless and heartbroken. "I feel humiliated. I feel as though I have betrayed my friends, involving them," she said.

The rate of romance-related fraud in Australia has risen by eight percent in the latest Scam-watch survey, with more than $25m being conned out of lovelorn Aussies every year.

Most of the victims are people just like Ms Ross, according to Detective Sergeant Trevor Leech. "One of the characteristics of these women is that they have a high sense of trustworthiness and are very naive, so they are a very easy target," Sgt Leech, WA Police fraud expert, said.