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Factors of susceptibility to online romance scam in Malaysia: unraveling the complex pathways

Evi Kurniasari Purwaningrum ; Yi Ming Ho ; Diana Imawati ; Kususanto Ditto Prihadi ; Mansor Abu Talib (2024) — International Journal of Public Health Science (IJPHS)

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DOI: 10.11591/ijphs.v13i4.23669 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   Indonesia
Tags:   AI-Enabled Fraud, Gullibility, Interpersonal Mattering, Loneliness, Malaysia, Measurement, Relationship Satisfaction, Risk Factors, Romance Scams, Social Media Engagement, Susceptibility, Victim Experience
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Synopsis

            
A cross-sectional quantitative online survey recruited 380 Malaysian adults aged 18-67 who used the internet daily and had an active social-media account. Participants completed measures of relationship satisfaction, loneliness, interpersonal mattering, and a 15-item gullibility measure representing romance-scam susceptibility. Loneliness and low mattering formed a significant serial mediation pathway to susceptibility when social-media engagement was high. Low relationship satisfaction was associated with greater susceptibility to online romance scams, particularly at high social-media engagement. Self-reported measures may have introduced reporting bias or inaccurate assessment of relationship satisfaction, loneliness, mattering, and social-media engagement.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The study identifies a need to clarify temporal and causal relationships among relationship satisfaction, loneliness, mattering, social-media engagement, and romance-scam susceptibility. It also indicates limited integration of emotional needs and online engagement within existing routine activity and persuasion frameworks. The findings motivate evaluation of preventive education, monitoring, and supportive online-environment approaches.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
A cross-sectional quantitative online survey recruited 380 Malaysian adults aged 18–67 who used the internet daily and had an active social-media account. Participants completed measures of relationship satisfaction, loneliness, interpersonal mattering, and a 15-item gullibility measure representing romance-scam susceptibility. The authors tested a moderated serial-mediation model using PROCESS Macro Model 92, 5,000 bootstrap resamples, and 95% confidence intervals.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
Self-reported measures may have introduced reporting bias or inaccurate assessment of relationship satisfaction, loneliness, mattering, and social-media engagement. The cross-sectional design prevents causal or temporal inference. In addition, the outcome is a self-reported gullibility-based susceptibility measure rather than documented romance-scam victimization, which limits conclusions about actual victim experiences.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Use longitudinal designs to examine how relationship satisfaction, loneliness, mattering, social-media engagement, and susceptibility change over time. Develop and test targeted awareness and educational interventions for people experiencing relationship dissatisfaction, loneliness, or high social-media use. Examine safer platform environments, including improved monitoring and supportive online communities.

          

              

    
    

        
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