Over 200,000 people in Britain may have fallen to victims to online romance scams - far more than previously estimated, a research work says.

In the 'online romance scam', criminals set up fake identities using stolen photographs (often of models or army officers) and pretend to develop a romantic relationship with their victim. This is often done using online dating sites and social networking sites.

At some point during the relationship they pretend to be in urgent need of money and ask for help. Many victims have been persuaded to part with large sums of money before their suspicions are aroused.

Researchers found that 52 per cent of people surveyed online had heard of the online romance scam when it was explained to them, and that one in every 50 online adults (2 per cent) know someone personally who had fallen victim to it, University of Leicester, which led the research, said.

This confirms the belief held by law enforcement agencies that this type of crime is often not reported by those affected, in many cases due to embarrassment at having been duped, or through a continuing hope that there will eventually be a genuine romance, it said.

The study led by Professor Monica Whitty, a psychologist and Professor of Contemporary Media at the University of Leicester and Dr Tom Buchanan, a psychologist at the University of Westminster, aimed to investigate the prevalence of victims in Britain and learn how widely the crime is known, as well as how people are learning about it.

According to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) romance fraud is organised crime, usually operating from outside the UK. Criminal groups make initial contact with potential victims through online dating sites and social networking sites, and will try to move the 'relationship' away from monitored online space before defrauding people of what can amount to large sums of money.

In some cases, even when victims cannot, or will not send money, scamsters involve them in money laundering by asking them to accept money into their bank accounts, the release said. Investigations by SOCA have seen financial losses experienced by victims of online romance scams of between- 50 and 240,000 pounds. Scammers' victims also suffer what is effectively bereavement, from the loss of a relationship they believed to be genuine.

Professor Whitty, said: "Our data suggests that the numbers of British victims of this relatively new crime is much higher than reported incidents would suggest.  "It also confirms law enforcement suspicions that this is an under-reported crime, and thus more serious than first thought."