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Mental Health Impacts of Cybercrime

Burrell, Darrell (2025) — International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security

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DOI: 10.34190/iccws.20.1.3349 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   United States
Tags:   Catfishing, Cryptocurrency Fraud, Digital Literacy, Imfi, Measurement, Mental Health, Money Mules, Online Dating, Pig Butchering, Platform Policy, Prevention, Psychological Harm, Psychology, Romance Scams, Victim Experience
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Synopsis

            
This narrative literature review examines catfishing, romance-related pig butchering, and IMFI. Searches covered PubMed, ProQuest, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Google Scholar using scam, manipulation, cryptocurrency, and IMFI terms/Boolean strings. English peer-reviewed articles, proceedings, government reports, and books (2000-2024) concerning psychological, financial, and social impacts and the cybersecurity-psychology-public-health intersection were included. Romance-scam victims may suffer shame, guilt, and depression alongside financial losses, reflecting betrayal of both trust and financial security. Romance scammers create fictitious dating-platform profiles, establish emotional connections, and exploit those connections for money or sensitive personal information. As a narrative review, the paper describes database searching and inclusion/exclusion criteria but does not report the number of records retrieved or included, screening procedures, study-quality appraisal, or a reproducible synthesis protocol.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The review identifies a need for greater understanding of the operational mechanisms, psychological impacts, and systemic conditions enabling catfishing, pig butchering, and IMFI. It also points to inadequate accessible community support and traditional guardianship, and to prevention challenges created by evolving tactics, technology, and user behavior.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
Narrative literature review of catfishing, romance-related pig butchering, and IMFI. Searches covered PubMed, ProQuest, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Google Scholar using scam, manipulation, cryptocurrency, and IMFI terms/Boolean strings. English peer-reviewed articles, proceedings, government reports, and books (2000–2024) concerning psychological, financial, and social impacts and the cybersecurity–psychology–public-health intersection were included. Selected articles were thematically categorized and synthesized for patterns, mechanisms, and literature gaps.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
As a narrative review, the paper describes database searching and inclusion/exclusion criteria but does not report the number of records retrieved or included, screening procedures, study-quality appraisal, or a reproducible synthesis protocol. The English-only criterion and exclusion of non-academic sources may omit relevant evidence. These limitations are inferred from the stated methodology.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Evaluate the proposed multifaceted measures, including targeted awareness and digital-literacy education, platform detection and verification, accessible reporting, victim support, cryptocurrency safeguards, and international enforcement coordination. Research should also track emerging tactics and assess how technological advances and changing user behavior affect detection and prevention.

          

              

    
    

        
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