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How does Victim Precipitation Theory explain Deviant Behaviours of Internet Romance Offenders? Gamer’s Perspective of Victim Precipitation

Paul Antwi ; Martin Otu Offei (2021) — International Journal of Technology and Management Research

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DOI: 10.47127/ijtmr.v6i2.126 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   Ghana
Tags:   AI-Enabled Fraud, Cross Cultural, Gamers, Ghana, Internet Romance Fraud, Offender Rationalization, Offender Tactics, Online Dating, Risk Factors, Smartpls, Victim Experience, Victim Facilitation, Victim Openness, Victim Precipitation, Victim Provocation
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Synopsis

            
Internet romance fraud presents a widespread challenge with outcomes ranging from financial harm and emotional distress to more severe losses. This article investigates how individuals who perpetrate online dating scams justify their unlawful actions and how they exploit patterns of victim behavior to enable their schemes. The analysis centers on three aspects of victim precipitation theory as they pertain to online romance fraud: victim facilitation, victim provocation, and victim openness. The study clarifies the ways in which offenders rationalize and defend their conduct. Data were collected from 320 respondents drawn from locations associated with internet fraud activity. The research aims to illuminate the conditions under which each facet of victim precipitation emerges within the setting of online romance scams. The findings indicate that offenders rely substantially on victim-related factors to sustain their criminal activity, with each facet serving as a justification mechanism that heightens the offender’s propensity to engage in fraud. All three techniques of victim precipitation—openness by victims, facilitation by victims, and provocation by victims—are employed as part of the offenders’ rationalization processes. In this account, these three dimensions are used in tandem to support a narrative that increases the likelihood of continued offending. The results demonstrate that these strategies function as justification techniques within the offenders’ reasoning, thereby expanding the application of victim precipitation theory to the domain of online dating fraud and highlighting how psychological framing can facilitate illicit acts in digital contexts. From a theoretical and criminological perspective, the study broadens the boundaries of victim precipitation theory and adds fresh dimensions to its application in online romance fraud. It offers a new lens on how victims’ conduct and perceived signaling may interact with offender rationalizations, contributing to ongoing debates in criminology about the role of victim behavior in facilitating crime. The findings carry implications for policy and practice, suggesting updated guidance on victim awareness and protective behaviors in internet dating environments and informing approaches to mitigate risk in cases of online romance deception.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The paper identifies limited empirical operationalization of victim-precipitation constructs, inadequate attention to variation by crime type, weak theory–data links, inadequate measures of key concepts, and unclear functional relationships. It argues that internet romance fraud has received no attention as a victim-precipitation context in information-systems and criminology literature. It also notes that victim openness has received little attention.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
Quantitative, cross-sectional survey of 320 respondents recruited from internet-fraud café hotspots and referrals using combined convenience and snowball sampling. Participants were self-described internet romance fraud offenders (“gamers”). A 5-point Likert instrument measured victim provocation, facilitation, openness, and intention to commit romance fraud. Measures were adapted from prior work, reviewed by 10 practitioners and two IS experts, piloted with 60 respondents, and analysed using SmartPLS/SEM, including reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and structural-path testing.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
The secretive and anonymous nature of internet romance fraud made the offender population unknown and led to convenience and snowball recruitment from café hotspots and referrals. Findings are based on offenders’ self-reports and their interpretations of victims’ behaviour, rather than victim accounts or independently verified offending. The cross-sectional design tests associations in the proposed model but cannot establish causal effects.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Further research should investigate how victim openness attracts offenders to victims across a continuum. The paper also implies a need to test victim-precipitation constructs across crime types and develop clearer empirical links between theory, measures, and functional relationships.

          

              

    
    

        
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