TY - JOUR
T1 - The online dating romance scam
T2 - causes and consequences of victimhood
AU - Buchanan, Tom
AU - Whitty, Monica T.
N1 - Funding Information:
The work reported in this paper was supported by award RES-000-22-4022 from the UK Economic and Social Research Council. We would also like to acknowledge the valuable assistance provided by the UK Serious Organized Crime Agency, PARSHIP GmbH, and ‘Barb’ from the romance scam support website.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - The online dating romance scam is a relatively new and under-reported international crime targeting users of online dating sites. It has serious financial and emotional consequences, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. However, little if anything is known about psychological characteristics that may put people at risk of romance scam victimization, or influence how they react to it. Online daters (N=853) and participants recruited from a victim support site (N=397) completed a battery of online questionnaires. High scores on the romantic belief of Idealization were associated with likelihood of being a romance scam victim. Victims experienced significant emotional distress as well as financial losses. Even respondents who reported being fooled by scammers, but who had not lost any money, reported significant distress. Level of emotional distress was associated with high Neuroticism, and also with high Loneliness and low Openness to Experience among victims not losing money. The findings have implications for the feasibility of crime-prevention measures based on victim characteristics, and for treatment of victims by law enforcement and other stakeholders.
AB - The online dating romance scam is a relatively new and under-reported international crime targeting users of online dating sites. It has serious financial and emotional consequences, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. However, little if anything is known about psychological characteristics that may put people at risk of romance scam victimization, or influence how they react to it. Online daters (N=853) and participants recruited from a victim support site (N=397) completed a battery of online questionnaires. High scores on the romantic belief of Idealization were associated with likelihood of being a romance scam victim. Victims experienced significant emotional distress as well as financial losses. Even respondents who reported being fooled by scammers, but who had not lost any money, reported significant distress. Level of emotional distress was associated with high Neuroticism, and also with high Loneliness and low Openness to Experience among victims not losing money. The findings have implications for the feasibility of crime-prevention measures based on victim characteristics, and for treatment of victims by law enforcement and other stakeholders.
KW - fraud
KW - idealization
KW - Internet
KW - online dating romance scam
KW - romantic beliefs
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84893921823&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1068316X.2013.772180
DO - 10.1080/1068316X.2013.772180
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84893921823
SN - 1068-316X
VL - 20
SP - 261
EP - 283
JO - Psychology, Crime and Law
JF - Psychology, Crime and Law
IS - 3
ER -
