| RELATIONAL DYNAMICS OF ONLINE ROMANCE SCAMS | |||||||||
| Author | Year | Language | Country | Reference Population | Sample Size | Research Design | Study Objectives | Measures | Results |
| Archer [22] | 2017 | English | United States | Stories of victims of Online Romance Scams from a public, online blog where roman-ce scam victims were encouraged to share details regarding what happened to them | 82 | Qualitative study | To identify com-mon themes related to the pers-uasion tactics used by online romance scam-mers through an analysis of first-hand stories told by victims | Content analysis of first-hand stories told by victims | Three key themes were identified in the stories of the victims: -“Speaking about the relationship as being permanent” (the victims say that the scammer within a short time from the beginning of the contacts tends to speak about the relationship as something eternal, often making a marriage proposal). - “Tragic biographic narratives” (the scammer tends to report a series of tragic events in his/her life, such as the loss of his/her wife or children, accidents or loss of work). -“Deadline” [the scammer imposes deadlines on the victim to comply with, for example in providing sums of money to resolve the tragic events that suddenly occurred to the scammer (e.g. medical treatment for accidents/illnesses). If these sums are not paid, they can prejudice the continuation relationship and the chance to meet live]. |
| Sorell and Whitty [23] | 2019 | English | United Kingdom | Women victims of Online Roman-ce Scams | 3 | Case series | To assess the psychological reactions of victims after the discovery of the Online Roman-ce Scam | Semi-structured interview | Three 60-year old women (2 in the United Kingdom, 1 in Canada). For one, the scammer said to be a divorced middle-aged Canadian man who lived in Turkey for work. For another one, he was a 40-year-old British Army soldier. For the third one, the scammer said to be an American Army general engaged in a peacekeeping mission in the Middle East. In all three cases, the scammer requested large sums of money to solve problems that had occurred suddenly. |
| Stanton [24] | 2016 | English | United States | General population | -Study 1 n = 410 -Study 2 n = 294 |
Psychometric study on the properties of the Measures of Online Deception and Intimacy (MODI) |
To investigate person-ality and psychopathological characteristics associated with the tendency to present a deceptive self-profile to obtain benefits, through the development and psychometric analysis of the properties of a specific measurement instrument | Computerized Adaptive Test of Personality Disorder Static Form [CAT-PD-SF; 25], Expanded Version of the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms [IDAS-II; 26], NEO Personality Inventory-3 [NEO-PI-3; 27] |
-The scale showed adequate psychometric properties and a bifactorial structure formed by a factor called as "Online Deception" (the tendency to present a misleading and deceptive profile of self) and a factor called as "Online Intimacy" (the tendency to use the Internet as a channel to build social interactions). -The scores on the "Online Deception" subscale negatively correlated with those on personality measures based on the Big Five theoretical model (e.g., conscientiousness and agreeableness) and positively with neuroticism measures. |
| Whitty [28] | 2015 | English | United Kingdom | - Study 1: online posts of victims of Online Romance Scams in a dating website - Study 2: victims of Online Romance Scams |
-Study 1: 200 online posts -Study 2: 20 victims of Online Romance Scams |
Qualitative study | To assess the relational dynamics of Online Romance Scams | Study 1: analysis of online posts Study 2: semi-structured interview |
- Study 1: 200 online posts on a dating website (50 men and 50 women victims of Online Romance Scams). - Study 2: 13 women and 3 men victims of Online Romance Scams, one woman and 3 men; age range = 18-71 years. Lost money ranges from 300 to 240,000 sterlings. |
| Whitty and Buchanan [13] | 2016 | English | United Kingdom | Victims of Online Romance Scam | 20 | Qualitative study | To assess the psychological impact of Online Romance Scams on victims | Semi-structured interview | -19 participants live in the United Kingdom except one in the United States -Age ranges from 38 to 71. The amount of lost money ranges from 300 to 240,000 sterlings. -8 key themes are identified: - “Emotional/psychological state after the scam” - “Others in the victims’ lives” - “Change in self and social situation” - “Problems associated with the loss of ‘the’ relationship” - “Stages of grieving” - “Attributions” - “Ways of coping” - “Future view of relationships” |
| EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SCAMMERS AND VICTIMS | |||||||||
| Author | Year | Language | Country | Reference Population | Sample Size | Research Design | Study Objectives | Measures | Results |
| Buchanan and Whitty [18] | 2014 | English | United Kingdom | -Study 1: users of a European dating website -Study 2: users of a webite victims of Online Romance Scams |
-Study 1: 853 -Study 2: 397 |
Observational | Study 1: to assess the effects of personality and psychological variables on the risk of being scammed. Study 2: to assess the effects of personality and psychological variables on emotional distress subsequent to scam. |
- Study 1: Five-Factor Personality Inventory [29], Brief Sensation Seeking Scale [BSSS; 30], UCLA Loneliness Scale [31] - Study 2: the same measures used for study 1 |
- Study 1: Higher levels of romantic beliefs and tendencies towards the idealization of the partner predicted a higher risk of being scammed, whereas neuroticism, disposition to mental openness, extraversion, agreeableness and loneliness had not such an effect. - Study 2: 105 men, 291 women, mean age 51.8 (range = 21-84). 88.55% reports having been victim of Online Romance Scams. Female victims, with higher neuroticism, disposition to mental openness and loneliness report a higher level of emotional distress due to scam. |
| Edwards [32] | 2018 | English | United Kingdom | Profiles of Online Romance Scammers collected on scamdigger.com, a website which contains information on scams to increase the awareness of the general population | 5,402 | Observational | To assess the geolocation of scammers | Analysis of the geolocation of the IP addresses associated with the scammers’ profiles | About 50% of the scammers come from African countries, specifically Nigeria (30%) and Ghana (13%), then 16% from Asia (Malesia, Turkey, India, Philippines) and English-speaking countries (United Kingdom and Unites States) |
| Huang [33] | 2015 | English | United Kingdom | Online Romance Scams made over 11 months between 2012 and 2013 on the website DATINGSITE | 510,503 | Observational | To assess the socio-demographic characteristics of the scammers | Content analysis of the profiles of the scammers | - 50% of scammers report that they are at least 46 year-old -51% say they are widowed, 34% divorced, while 15% single -Most scammers contact at least 100 Internet profiles of potential victims |
| Jimoh and Stephen [34] | 2018 | English | Nigeria | Facebook users | 8,763 | Survey | To assess the prevalence of victims of Online Romance Scams | Self-report questionnaire with close ended questions | - Prevalence of participants who report having been victims of Online Romance Scams: 63% - Prevalence of participants who do not know if they have been victims of Online Romance Scams: 29% - Prevalence of participants who report not having been victims: 8% |
| Kopp [35] | 2015 | Inglese | Australia | Fraudulent profiles and Internet posts published on a free European site that sensitizes the general population about Online Romance Scams | 37 | Qualitative study | To assess the socio-demographic characteristics and the Internet profiles of the scammers | Content analysis of Internet profiles | - Eighteen male and 19 female profiles. - The age of males ranged from 40 to 60 years, the age of females was on average 20 years lower. - The posts consisted of a short paragraph which can be divided into four parts (a first general description of the person, a definition of hobbies and preferences, a description of the reasons why the person is looking for a romantic relationship and the type of person sought). - The self-presentations of the male profiles exalt masculine characteristics, positive and religious values, whereas the female profiles present themselves as self-confident and economically autonomous. In both cases, a tragic history of injustices is cited. |
| Whitty [20] | 2018 | English | United Kingdom | General population recruited through online ‘‘Qualtrics’’ | 11,780 | Survey | To assess the psychological characteristics of victims of Online Romance Scams as compared with those who have never been scammed | UPPS-R Impulsive Behavior Scale | -Prevalence of participants who report having never been scammed: 91.02% -Prevalence of participants who report having been scammed once: 6.17% -Prevalence of participants who report having been scammed several times: 2.81% -Individuals at higher risk of being scammed are female, middle-aged, having a high education level, are high on urgency and sensation seeking, less kind, more trustworthy, and have an addictive disposition |
| Whitty and Buchanan [12] | 2012 | English | United Kingdom | Adults recruited from the general population of the United Kingdom | 2028 | Survey | To assess the prevalence of Online Romance Scams | A question about having been victim of Online Romance Scams sent through the web moodle YouGov: “In the ‘online romance scam’ criminals set up fake identities using stolen photographs (often of models or army officers) and pretend to develop a romance relationship with their victim. This is often done using online dating sites and social networking sites. At some point during the relationship they pretend to be in urgent need of money and ask for help. Many individuals have been persuaded to part with large sums of money before their suspicions are aroused. Had you heard of the ‘online romance scam’ before taking this survey?” |
- 902 men, 1126 women - 205 aged 18-24 years, 300 25-34, 285 35-44, 352 45-54, 886 aged 55 or older - 0.65% reports having been scammed - 2.28% reports knowing someone who has been scammed |