Romance Scam Research Center

Suicidal Risk Following the Termination of Romantic Relationships

Love, Heather A.; Nalbone, David P.; Hecker, Lorna L.; Sweeney, Kathryn A.; Dharnidharka, Prerana (2018) — Crisis

Type: Journal Article Country: United States Tags: AI misuse, risk factors, cross-cultural Methods: quantitative

The study is framed by the notion that ending a romantic relationship can be a predictor of suicide attempts, with attachment perspectives suggesting that the experience of breakup may feel overwhelming to individuals wh...

Understanding Romance Fraud: Insights From Domestic Violence Research

Cross, C.; Dragiewicz, M.; Richards, K. (2018) — The British Journal of Criminology

Type: Journal Article Country: Australia

Understanding Romance Fraud: Insights From Domestic Violence Research frames romance fraud as a form of manipulation that shares features with coercive control and financial abuse described in domestic violence scholarsh...

Victimization Analysis Based On Routine Activitiy Theory for Cyber-Love Scam in Malaysia

Saad, ME.; Norul Huda Sheikh Abdullah, S. (2018) — 2018 Cyber Resilience Conference (CRC)

Type: Proceedings Article Country: Malaysia Tags: victim experience, law enforcement, platform policy, prevention Methods: quantitative

This study applies Routine Activity Theory (RAT) to examine factors influencing victimization in cyber-love scams in Malaysia. With cases rising sharply alongside technological advances, the research sought to identify d...

Slumdog romance: Facebook love and digital privacy at the margins

Scheiber, Laura; Arora, Payal (2017) — Media, Culture & Society

Type: Journal Article Country: Netherlands Tags: platform policy, AI misuse, online dating platforms, cross-cultural

This study frames Facebook as a central arena for social life among economically disadvantaged populations in the global South, consolidating a range of online activities into a single, dominant platform. It notes that i...

The Electronic Spanish Prisoner

Gillespie, AA. (2017) — The Journal of Criminal Law

Type: Journal Article Country: United Kingdom Tags: victim experience, AI misuse

This study examines romance frauds, a form of conduct that has recently attracted notable public attention. The central focus is on how such frauds unfold, by guiding a target to believe they are engaged in a genuine rom...

Case Study: Romance Scams

Yen, TF.; Jakobsson, M. (2016) — Understanding Social Engineering Based Scams

Type: Book Chapter Country: United States Methods: experiment

This chapter provides a neutral overview of romance scams and describes an experimental effort to establish measurable attributes for study, including a data collection tool called the simulated spam filter. The text out...

The Role of Love stories in Romance Scams: A Qualitative Analysis of Fraudulent Profiles

Christian Kopp; Robert Layton; Jim Sillitoe; Iqbal Gondal (2016) — Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

Type: Journal Article Country: Nigeria Tags: victim experience, offender tactics, AI misuse, cross-cultural Methods: interview, qualitative

The Online Romance Scam represents a highly effective form of fraud that imposes substantial financial losses and emotional distress on those targeted. This study develops a perspective intended to help explain why this...

Imagining the Absent Partner: Intimacy and Imagination in Long-Distance Relationships

Jurkane-Hobein, Iveta (2015) — Innovative Issues and Approaches in Social Sciences

Type: Journal Article Country: Latvia

This piece examines IMAGINING THE ABSENT PARTNER - INTIMACY AND IMAGINATION IN LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS within the broader context of online fraud and mediated communication. It outlines common patterns documented in...

The online dating romance scam: The psychological impact on victims – both financial and non-financial

Whitty, MT.; Buchanan, T. (2015) — Criminology & Criminal Justice

Type: Journal Article Country: United Kingdom Tags: victim experience, psychology, law enforcement, platform policy

This study explores the psychological consequences of online dating romance scams, a form of fraud that combines financial harm with the collapse of a personal relationship. Unlike victims of other mass marketing frauds,...

Online frauds: Learning from victims why they fall for these scams

Button, Mark; Nicholls, Carol McNaughton; Kerr, Jane; Owen, Rachael (2014) — Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology

Type: Journal Article Country: Australia

Across many countries, online fraud has emerged as a major problem, affecting millions of people through a wide diversity of schemes that are carried out online in whole or in part. The article seeks to describe how exte...