With Valentine’s Day less than two weeks away, the AARP of Pennsylvania is warning the state’s elderly population to be extra vigilant of romance scams, which take advantage of victims’ loneliness and need for companionship.

The most frequent type of romance scam is “catfishing,” in which a scammer uses a fake identity to build a connection with a victim through social media.

One of those victims was AARP volunteer Kate Kleinert, who in 2020 accepted a Facebook friend request from a stranger who claimed to be a United Nations surgeon stationed in the Middle East. The encounter ended with Kleinert spending $39,000 in gift cards and other expenses for the scammer.

“I was so stubborn about this that I was ignoring the signs because I wanted it so badly,” Kleinert said in a news release. “It’s a tough story to tell, but if it stops somebody from falling for this, then it’s worth doing.”