We are always saddened to hear when members of dating sites fall victim to nefarious people looking to take advantage of their kindness. It happens often, which is why we’ve written about how to avoid being scammed a few times!

It appears that there’s a new type of scam going about, using cryptocurrency. A woman told New York Times about her experience falling for a man on a dating site, who took advantage of her crush and convinced her to “invest” using bitcoin.

But the man wasn’t trying to help Ms. Vu invest her money. He was entrapping her in an increasingly popular type of financial scam, she said, one that combines the age-old allure of romance with the newer temptation of overnight cryptocurrency riches.

Within weeks, Ms. Vu, 33, had sent more than $300,000 worth of Bitcoin, nearly her entire life savings, to an address that Mr. Zhao had told her was connected to an account on the Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchange OSL. The website looked legitimate, offered 24/7 online customer support and had even been updated to show Ms. Vu’s balance changing as the price of Bitcoin rose and fell.

Mr. Zhao — whose real name could not be verified — had promised her that her crypto investments would help them get married and start a life together.

Instead of going into an exchange account, Ms. Vu’s money went into the scammer’s digital wallet, and he vanished.

Now, she is struggling to make sense of what happened.

“I thought I knew him,” she said. “Everything was a lie.”

This is your reminder to NEVER give people online money. Ever, ever ever. Read more online dating safety tips here.