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Online-Dating Romance Scam in Malaysia: An Analysis of Online Conversations between Scammers and Victims

Azianura Hani Shaari ; Mohammad Rahim Kamaluddin ; Wan Fariza Paizi@Fauzi ; Masnizah Mohd (2019) — GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies

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DOI: 10.17576/gema-2019-1901-06 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   Malaysia
Tags:   Content Analysis, Deceptive Language, Financial Requests, Malaysia, Online Conversations, Online Dating Romance Scam, Persuasion, Politeness Strategies
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Synopsis

            
This qualitative content analysis used 60 authentic scam-chat sets supplied by Malaysian victims, 50 recruited through a Facebook research page and 10 through police collaboration; every participant had made at least one payment. All chats were used to map the scam process, and 30 complete-stage conversations received detailed linguistic analysis using politeness and scam-persuasion frameworks. The authors identify initial-contact, pre-attraction, and hooked stages. Offenders used religious and trust language, attraction, and attention before requesting gift-delivery fees or money for travel, immigration, accidents, illness, or other crises. At the payment stage, language shifted toward urgency, repeated demands, threats, and warnings. Purposive selection of paying victims and complete conversations excludes targets who disengaged earlier.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The paper identifies Malaysian online-dating romance-scam research as still nascent despite increasing cases. It notes that prior fraud research has focused more on phishing/Nigerian letters than mass-marketing fraud, including romance scams. The study also leaves local-accomplice phone interactions insufficiently examined because recordings were unavailable, limiting understanding of the third-party stage.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
Qualitative content analysis followed Zhang and Wildemuth’s seven-step process. Researchers purposively gathered 60 authentic scam chat sets from Malaysian victims: 50 volunteers recruited through a Facebook research page and 10 through collaboration with the Royal Malaysia Police CCID. All participants had experienced romance scams and made at least one payment. First-stage analysis of 60 chats mapped general scam stages and coding schemes; 30 chats from victims who completed all scam stages underwent detailed linguistic analysis using Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Model, alongside scam-persuasion frameworks.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
The detailed linguistic analysis included only 30 purposively selected conversations from victims who had completed all scam stages and made a payment, so it does not represent earlier-disengagement or non-paying targets. Analysis of local accomplices was incomplete because their interactions occurred by phone, often in local languages, and no victim retained recordings. The authors state that this third-party stage was beyond the study’s scope.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Develop a web application that detects scam language and alerts users. Conduct correlational research on relationships among individuals’ language patterns, psychological attributes, and criminal behaviour in Malaysian romance-scam cases. The authors also anticipate that the findings can support authorities’ efforts to combat the crime and reduce victimisation.

          

              

    
    

        
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