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Do You Love Me? Psychological Characteristics of Romance Scam Victims

Whitty, MT. (2017) — Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

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DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2016.0729 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   United Kingdom
Tags:   Addictive Disposition, Impulsivity, Online Dating, Personality Traits, Prevention, Romance Scams, United Kingdom, Victim Psychology, Victimology
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Synopsis

            
This U.K. Qualtrics-panel questionnaire study compared 200 self-identified romance-scam victims with respondents who reported never being scammed by any mass-marketing fraud. A logistic regression tested demographic, personality, trust, impulsivity, addictive-disposition, and cybersecurity-knowledge measures. Higher urgency, sensation seeking, addictive disposition, and education were associated with victimhood, while lower self-rated kindness and trustworthiness were also associated. In the victim sample, 60% were women and 63% were middle-aged. These are group-level associations, not a reliable profile for identifying individual victims. The cross-sectional design, online-panel recruitment, and self-reported scam and psychological measures cannot establish whether the measured characteristics preceded victimization or generalize to people outside the panel.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The paper identifies a paucity of MMF victimology research and little prior knowledge about whether education and kindness distinguish victims from nonvictims. It also notes unresolved explanations for the counterintuitive findings that higher education and lower kindness predicted romance-scam victimhood.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
UK Qualtrics-panel questionnaire study. The final sample included 200 romance-scam victims and a comparison group never scammed by any MMF. Participants completed demographic items and measures of impulsivity, locus of control, trust, trustworthiness, kindness, greed, addictive disposition, and self-rated cybersecurity knowledge. Forced-entry binary logistic regression tested predictors of romance-scam victimhood.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
The study used an online panel, self-reported scam experience, and self-report psychological measures, so findings may not fully generalize beyond panel respondents or establish whether traits preceded victimization. The design compares victims with people never scammed by any MMF, and the paper presents speculative rather than tested explanations for the education and kindness findings.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Test explanations for the education finding, including dating-site use and overconfidence in detecting scams. Clarify why lower kindness is associated with victimhood, including whether isolation, reduced social networks, or post-scam effects contribute. Evaluate targeted awareness and prevention programs, including addiction-informed approaches to prevent revictimization.

          

              

    
    

        
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