The swindlers set up fake profiles, some using stolen photo's and then they contact their victims - mainly vulnerable women.
After gaining their trust they then ask for money, often pretending to be in bad situation's to tug on the heartstrings even more.
Some women have lost tens of thousands of dollars, in one case $25,000 as a result of these schemes, although authorities fear that the reported crimes may well be just the tip of the iceberg.
Web security expert Alex Burke said: "Who wouldn't respond to someone claiming to a serviceman who said: "I just want to talk.
"They're skilled manipulators, telling people that they're in bad situations, that they love them, anything they can to lure people in.
"More often than not these people are from Russia, The Philippines and of course Nigeria. The moment they ask for money, you shouldn't walk away from it, you should run from.
"My advice would be that if it seems to good to be true, it probably is."
Facebook said: There is nothing more important to us than the safety and security of the people who use Facebook. It is a violation of our policies to impersonate someone and we disable fake accounts when they're reported to us.
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