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Love and Technology

Gauci, Christine ; Vella, Mary Grace (2026) — The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-68127-2_904-1 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Book Chapter
Country:   Global
Tags:   AI-Enabled Fraud, Deepfakes, Digital Intimacy, Digital Literacy, Emotional Manipulation, Financial Fraud, Identity Deception, Online Dating, Psychological Trauma, Romance Scams, Victim Impact, Victim Trauma
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Synopsis

            
This interdisciplinary chapter synthesizes criminology, psychology, sociology, and technology research to trace the history and current operation of romance fraud, its effects on victims, and policy implications. It describes fabricated self-disclosure and personal stories as tools for creating intimacy and dependency, and discusses how AI can help one operator sustain many simultaneous interactions and tailor language to psychological or cultural cues. Reported harms include loss of savings, homes, inheritances, and longer-term financial security. The chapter is a narrative secondary synthesis, not a new victim, offender, platform, or experimental study. It gives little methodological detail about source selection or analysis and appears weighted toward Western evidence, limiting completeness and global generalization.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The text signals gaps in empirical evidence on AI-driven deception and suggests broader issues such as geographic generalizability beyond Western contexts, lack of standardized definitions for identity-related fraud, and the need for interdisciplinary methods to study victims’ experiences and interventions.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
The chapter uses a literature-based, interdisciplinary synthesis across criminology, psychology, sociology, and technology. It provides historical and contemporary analysis of romance fraud and AI-enabled deception, collating existing studies to map mechanisms, victim impacts, and policy implications rather than reporting new empirical data.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
The work relies on secondary sources and a narrative synthesis without new data; it appears centered on Western contexts, which may limit generalizability; the text lacks explicit methodological detail about data collection and analysis; potential biases in cited literature.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
The chapter calls for digital literacy, ethical AI development, and cross-sector collaboration to mitigate harm. It also highlights the need for empirical research on AI-enabled deception, platform responsibility, victim support, and the development of measurement frameworks and policy guidelines to protect consumers in online romance contexts.

          

              

    
    

        
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