With the romance of Valentine’s Day no longer in the air, the Better Business Bureau is bringing singles back to cold, harsh reality. A recent investigation released by the organization reveals the staggering proliferation of online dating scams and the financial devastation left in their wake.

According to the BBB, romance scam victims in the United States and Canada have reported losing nearly $1 billion in the last three years alone. It’s a remarkable number by any standard, but researchers estimate it may represent only a fraction of the actual damage, as many victims are too embarrassed to report their experiences or file complaints with law enforcement.

Jim Hegarty, president of the BBB in Omaha, Nebraska, simply called the number “astronomical.”

Today it's possible to find your soul mate living across the state, country, or world. Unfortunately, these relationships are more difficult since you'll need more time, money, and patience. However, this doesn't mean that these relationships are impossible. With the right mindset and understanding, they can actually be quite successful. Of course, there are a few tips you should keep in mind to make this happen.

Work on Your Communication Skills

Communication is so important. This is especially true of verbal communication since you can't see the other person's body language unless you meet virtually. Miscommunication is bound to happen and when it does you simply have to be patient with the other person. There will also be nights when one of you is too tired to talk on the phone. With this in mind, here are a few ways The Huffington Post suggests you work on your communication skills together:

Despite strong showings from the likes of Bumble and Coffee Meets Bagel, Tinder is still on top as the most popular dating app for young, tech-savvy singles. But can it continue to crush the competition in a space that becomes increasingly crowded?

Tinder is determined not to slip or stagnate. A series of new features are planned for 2018, parent company Match Group revealed during its Q4 2017 earnings call, with a focus on location.

Though the company has been tight-lipped about exactly what’s in the works, it has previously described its strategy as blurring the “distinction between digital and real-life dating, and dating and simply engaging in your social life.” Tinder has also said that its upcoming location features will pull in “a new audience” and “expand the definition of dating.”

Gay dating and social networking app Hornet ushered in 2018 in grand style, launching a not-for-profit organization and plans for an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in the first quarter of the year.

The LGBT Foundation aims to harness the potential of technological innovations like blockchain for the good of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals around the world. Through its initiatives, the Foundation will empower the LGBT community to exert its economic influence, protect vulnerable community members, encourage greater acceptance, and drive positive social change on a global scale.

Resources from the LGBT Foundation will be allocated on an ongoing basis to actively support members of the LGBT community in instances where they are vulnerable, distressed, or suffering from repression or inequality – this could include financial assistance to support political activism as well as logistical and operational support, depending on the particular requirements.

Do dating apps kill the romance of dating, or are they actually helping bring more people together? A lively debate on this topic was held the night of February 6^th in New York, with a panel of experts arguing for and against the motion: Dating Apps Have Killed Romance.

Let’s face it, if you’ve tried online dating, or had a friend who’s dabbled in it (more than 49 million Americans have), chances are you’ve heard a few horror stories. This was the focus of the argument from Eric Klinenberg, co-author with Aziz Ansari of the book Modern Romance, and Manoush Zamoroti, podcast host and journalist who argued for the motion. Citing stories of dates and relationships gone wrong, they argued that not only have dating apps killed romance, they have killed civility among daters. Ultimately, apps have changed the dating culture, and not for the better.

They argued that online dating specifically breeds bad behavior, because people are able to hide behind a screen – or worse, they have stopped interacting or knowing how to interact in real life. Zamoroti gave an example of one of her podcast listeners walking into a bar and seeing a line of single men ordering drinks and swiping on Tinder, ignoring the people around them completely. Plus, some online daters have become emboldened to send lude messages online, which makes the experience even more painful and depressing for other daters.

Image: Ditto

Fans of online dating cite access to a massive pool of potential matches as one of its best features. Detractors, on the other hand, call choice overload one of online dating’s greatest failures. If you fall into the latter camp, a new app is here to help ease the woes of overwhelm.

Ditto starts out like any other Tinder copycat. Users swipe through profiles until they spot one that catches their eye. They swipe right to indicate interest, and a right swipe in return makes a match.

That’s where things get interesting. On Ditto, matches are mutually exclusive until someone unmatches. Think of it as the dating app version of monogamy. A match can only be made with one person at a time, and swiping through other users is disabled until someone decides to end their current match.