This archive report was first published on 26 July 2019.
On July 26, 2019, a special episode of 'The Weekly' aired, exposing the ease with which scammers can victimize users on Facebook.
A lonely Florida woman's experience serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of online romance scams. She had established a Facebook romance with a man she thought was an American soldier in Iraq, only to learn later that her buff, blue-eyed friend was a fake.
It wasn't until she had sent him tens of thousands of dollars from her and her husband's life savings that she discovered the truth. The total amount lost in this scam is estimated to be around $100,000.
Facebook has made it easier for scammers to victimize users longing for connection, and to draft unwitting U.S. service members into their schemes. Neither the world's largest social network nor the world's most powerful military seem to be able to stop it.
Our technology reporter Jack Nicas tries to track down some of these digital con artists in this special one-hour episode.
