Exploring Fear of Crime for Those Targeted by Romance Fraud

This study analyzes a set of 3,259 romance fraud reports submitted by individuals to Scamwatch, the Australian online platform for reporting fraud, for the period spanning July 2018 through July 2019 inclusive. The aim is to foreground fear of crime as it is described by the complainants themselves rather than focusing solely on the incidence or financial impact of the offenses. By centering on the lived experiences of people targeted by romance scams, the work seeks to illuminate the emotional and psychological dimensions attendant to these harms, moving beyond a narrow accounting of tactics or losses to emphasize how fear weaves into victims’ narratives across different contexts. Drawing on established frameworks used to analyze fear of crime, the study pays particular attention to the affective, behavioral, and cognitive components of fear. It is positioned as an exploratory assessment that investigates how fear of crime manifests among those who are victims of romance fraud. The analysis considers how expressions and experiences of fear arise within complainants’ accounts, recognizing that the fear can be evident in ways that reflect a spectrum of responses. The approach also acknowledges that the anxieties surrounding romance fraud can appear in both online interactions and offline situations, underscoring the cross-environment nature of the harms involved. Building on these insights, the article presents a model designed to deepen understanding of how victims respond to romance fraud in varying ways. The proposed framework aims to capture the diversity of victim reactions and to highlight the often-hidden harms associated with victims’ anxieties. In doing so, the model emphasizes that the consequences of romance fraud extend beyond the immediate incident to influence experiences across different settings, illustrating how online and offline environments can both reflect and amplify the psychological and social effects of these offenses.