Bucharest - Romanian police broke up a dating fraud ring that preyed on US and Canadian nationals and made 130,000 dollars with fake promises of romance, news reports said Tuesday.
Based in the Romanian city of Cluj, the 11 suspects allegedly set up false internet profiles of Romanians looking for love, then asked for travel money when their victims got interested, the Mediafax agency reported.
Investigators in Cluj believe that more than 70 people were defrauded in the United States, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Britain and Belgium, the report said.
Police arrested nine people in raids Thursday, Mediafax quoted city authorities as saying Tuesday.
The investigation began in May after police learned that a crime ring in Cluj had specialised in defrauding US and Canadian citizens on internet matchmaking sites.
In April, Romanian authorities arrested an alleged cyber-criminal known as Vladuz, who had embarrassed online auctioneer and retailer eBay for months with claims he had hacked into the company's site. (dpa)