A WIDOW desperately looking for love ended up being duped out of $468,000 after falling for two separate scams.

Connie Rotolo, of Long Island, New York, said she was beating herself up after wiring a supposed love interest thousands of dollars.

Connie Rotolo lost thousands after falling victim to a romance scamCredit: CBS

The so-called love interest started demanding moneyCredit: CBS

But that was not all the money she was about to lose.

She scoured social media and came across pages that claimed she could get her money back, per CBS News.

In a desperate bid, she wired money to people who turned out to be fraudsters.

Rotolo’s husband Al died during the Covid-19 pandemic and she turned online to find love.

She and Al had been married for 45 years before his death.

She was chatting to a man, who was supposedly working in the Philippines.

But months later he started to demand money.

Rotolo ended up sending almost $500,000 to the man when the penny appeared to drop.

“Every day I beat myself up,” she said.

“How stupid are you, Connie? You’re an educated person.”

Rotolo then surfed Facebook and stumbled across pages that claimed she could be reimbursed.

She wired money before ending up realizing she had fallen victim to yet another scam.

A representative for Meta confirmed the company removes content that violates its policies.

The U.S. Sun has approached Meta for comment.

The FBI is among the agencies that have revealed tips on how to avoid falling victim to romance scams.

Scammers use social media as a tool to target unsuspecting victims.

They should be wary if conversations are going too well.

Fraudsters may sound caring but this is just a trap to lure people in.

Social media users shouldn’t send money to people they have not yet met in person, the agency warns.

They should also be suspicious if the person makes excuses if the person doesn’t show up after arranging to meet.

Banking execs have urged cops to crack down on those who carry out romance scams.

“We need the social media companies to shut down these people that are putting these out there,” Paul Benda, of the American Bankers Association, told CNBC.

“We need law enforcement engaged to try and prosecute some of these folks.”