Skip to main content

A Study on Romance Scam: The Current Situation and Effective Countermeasures

Original title: 로맨스 스캠(Romance Scam) 범죄 현황 및 대응방안에 대한 고찰

Document language: Korean. English title supplied by the publisher.

김효신 ; 서준배 (2019) — The Police Science Journal

View Original Source (opens in a new tab)

DOI: 10.16961/polips.2019.14.3.117 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   South Korea
Tags:   Countermeasures, Crime Script Analysis, Cross Border Fraud, Online Fraud, Reporting, Romance Scams, Situational Crime Prevention, Situational Prevention, Sns Impersonation
What do these research terms mean?
Preprint
A manuscript shared before formal peer review and publication. Check whether a later published version is available.
Dataset
A collection of data or examples for others to inspect or reuse. It can appear in Library search and topic mapping, but RSRC does not use dataset records as evidence in Research Insights.
Dissertation or thesis
Research submitted for an academic degree. This describes its format, not its reliability.
Journal article
An article published in a journal. This label alone does not establish peer review, study quality, or how well the findings apply elsewhere.
Qualitative research
Examines experiences, meanings, or processes, often through interviews or observations. It can explain how something happens without estimating how common it is.
Quantitative research
Uses numerical measurements to describe patterns or test relationships. A relationship between two measurements does not by itself show that one causes the other.
Systematic review
Uses a planned, documented method to find and assess research addressing a question. Its conclusions still depend on the included studies and what the search covered.
Meta-analysis
Statistically combines results from multiple studies. Combining studies does not remove weaknesses in their design or make unlike populations interchangeable.
Not classified
This record has no recognized label in this filter. It does not mean the publication used no method, or that no research exists.

Definitions draw on DataCite resource types; Cochrane review methods; NLM: association and causation. RSRC’s dataset and classification rules are explained in our methodology.

Citation tools
Download RIS Download BibTeX 


              
              

            

          

        


      

      

    

        
Transparency

        
Evidence and review status

        
This page contains AI-generated content. No human content review or subject-matter-expert review is recorded.

    


    

                    

                
Source basis

                

                    Downloaded PDF
                

            

                    

                
Source updates

                

                    No notice found at last check
                

            

                    

                
AI-generated page content

                

                    Yes
                

            

                    

                
Automated checks

                

                    Passed
                

            

                    

                
Administrative approval

                

                    Yes
                

            

                    

                
Human content review

                

                    Not recorded
                

            

                    

                
Subject-matter-expert review

                

                    Not recorded
                

            

            


    

        
            How this was prepared
        
        

                            

                    
Source basis

                    

                    
RSRC downloaded and privately stored a copy of the paper for internal analysis. The PDF is not offered to viewers from this page.


                                            
    
                                                            
  • 
                                    PDF added to RSRC:
                                    
                                
    • 
                                                    

                    
                                        

                

                            

                    
Source updates

                    

                    
No incoming update notice was found in the dated Crossref response. Coverage is incomplete, particularly for corrections and expressions of concern; this is not a guarantee that the source is valid or unchanged.


                                            
    
                                                            
  • 
                                    Last source-status attempt:
                                    
                                
    • 
                                                    

                    
                                        

                

                            

                    
AI-generated page content

                    

                    
AI-generated research notes displayed on this page: Synopsis, Identified gaps, Methods, Limitations, Future work. The paper itself is not described as AI-generated.


                                            
    
                                                            
  • 
                                    Document analysis recorded:
                                    
                                
    • 
                                                            
  • 
                                    Page record updated:
                                    
                                
    • 
                                                    

                    
                                        

                

                            

                    
Automated checks

                    

                    
The current, source-bound synopsis passed the recorded versioned publication checks.


                                            
    
                                                            
  • 
                                    Checks completed:
                                    
                                
    • 
                                                    

                    
                                            

                            
                                View passed checks (3)
                            
                            
    
                                                                    
  • Length, completeness, repetition, refusal, boilerplate, and active-markup screening
    • 
                                                                    
  • Numerical claims checked against the available source text
    • 
                                                                    
  • English-source lexical grounding check
    • 
                                                            

                        

                                        

                

                            

                    
Administrative approval

                    

                    
The record is approved for public display, but a complete historical administrator action is not recorded.


                    
                                        

                

                            

                    
Human content review

                    

                    
No human review is recorded for the AI-generated content displayed on this page.


                    
                                        

                

                            

                    
Subject-matter-expert review

                    

                    
RSRC has not recorded review of this content by a subject-matter or methods expert.


                    
                                        

                

                    

    


    

        Review-state definitions

        Found a possible error?
        Request a correction.
    



    



              

        
                  

            
Synopsis

            
The study reviews country-level romance-scam conditions and uses crime script analysis to examine offender methods. Because offender interviews were infeasible, it constructs scripts from police-station case-opinion documents and romance-scam victim cases found on portal sites. Romance scams were classified into wealthy-person/inheritance, soldier-impersonation, and customs-fee-payment scripts. Victims may avoid reporting because of shame, self-blame, fear of disclosure, inability to recover losses, or difficulty providing a coherent statement. Offender interviews could not be used because most offenders were foreign nationals and difficult to apprehend.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The paper identifies a lack of substantial domestic research and insufficient awareness of romance-scam seriousness in Korea. It also notes that official statistics do not exist and high non-reporting makes the true scale difficult to establish. These gaps limit understanding of prevalence, victimization, and changing offender scripts.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
The study reviews country-level romance-scam conditions and uses crime script analysis to examine offender methods. Because offender interviews were infeasible, it constructs scripts from police-station case-opinion documents and romance-scam victim cases found on portal sites. It maps preparation, execution, and post-offence stages, identifying wealthy-person/inheritance, soldier-impersonation, and customs-fee-payment scenarios.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
Offender interviews could not be used because most offenders were foreign nationals and difficult to apprehend. The analysis instead relies on police case-opinion documents and online victim cases, which may not capture all offending patterns. The paper further states that official statistics are unavailable and underreporting is high, making the true extent of romance scams difficult to determine.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Continuously collect and analyze evolving scam scenarios to enable pre-emptive responses. Evaluate and develop reporting-support arrangements involving government agencies, private organizations, and public media. Develop and assess measures for SNS identity verification, false-account enforcement, and stronger legal sanctions for romance scams.

          

              

    
    

        
Related Research Insights

        

            See how this publication connects to RSRC's living evidence syntheses through current citations and research-topic mapping.