Alleged drug mule Maria Exposto escaped the death penalty after she was found not guilty of smuggling drugs into Malaysia.

The close call for the Sydney grandmother is a lesson is scamming and a warning to be wary of those on the internet.

With the most vulnerable age group 55-64-year-olds, Ross Greenwood highlights the importance of being aware when engaging with dating sites.

A man who understands this is Nigel Phair from the Center for Internet Safety at the University of Canberra. He speaks with Ross about the surge of people getting tricked into romance scams.

“It’s really interesting how the scammers operate. In this case [Maria Exposto], they stole the ID of a person in the US Army.

“You need to look out for things that seem too good to be true.”

“If you get sent an image, it’s always a good idea to put that into Google and do a Google search.”

Listen to the full interview below