A passionate online romance with an aid worker in Africa might sound appealing but it is one of many scams that cost Australians more than $93 million last year, with dating scams among the most lucrative.

More than 2440 jilted lovers reported a tryst - with a worker supposedly from the United Nations, an engineer working in the Persian Gulf, or a serving US soldier - that quickly escalated to a financial disaster, a report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission shows.

The cost of love: Victims of romance scams lost an average of $21,000. Credit:Penny Stephens

More than 84,000 Australians who contacted the ACCC lost $93 million to scammers who wanted an advanced fee for a service, offered online shopping promotions, lottery tickets or were involved in computer hacking, the report showed. The average age of victims was between 33 and 45.

Of the online dating victims, 30 per cent reported a loss of more than $100,000 after they were duped into sending money to help ''build a new orphanage'', start a business together, travel together or for illness.