BEWARE DATING WEBSITE SCAMS

Lonely hearts are joining dating websites in a rush without reading the terms and conditions, the European Consumer Centre Ireland has warned.

A spokeswoman said: ‘After a few months have flown by they forget about the automatic renewal of the membership and they’re now locked into another year’s subscription.’

In the UK, police are warning about scams on dating websites. Figures show 3,900 people reported being duped into parting with an average of £10,000 (€11,500) last year through dating websites. Two-thirds of the victims were women.