Love scam in cyberspace

This chapter provides a systematic overview of international research on romance scams. It covers how romance fraud is defined and measured, the phases through which a fraudulent relationship commonly develops, and findings about offenders and victims. It also compares psychological and sociological explanations for why the deception can remain persuasive despite warning signs, then reviews prevention approaches used across countries. The work is a broad evidence synthesis rather than a new victim survey, experiment, or case dataset. Its value lies in organizing a dispersed literature and connecting prevalence, process, victimology, explanatory theory, and prevention within one account.