Beyond Dollars: Unveiling the Deeper Layers of Online Romance Scams Introducing “Body Scam”
Amirkhani, Sima ; Alizadeh, Fatemeh ; Randall, Dave ; Stevens, Gunnar (2024) — Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Type:
Proceedings Article
Country:
Germany
Synopsis (AI-Generated)
This preliminary qualitative study recruited 20 Iranian survivors of cyber romance scams through Instagram and Telegram. Participants were 17 women and three men, aged 14-36 at the incident. Researchers conducted remote Persian narrative interviews (voice, messaging, or text; 40 minutes to 2.5 hours), transcribed them into English, and used qualitative content analysis in MAXQDA. Thirteen participants reported sexual abuse experiences ranging from sexting and sextortion to rape and pregnancy. One participant reported sextortion accompanied by a financial demand to prevent publication of a video. The study is explicitly preliminary and qualitative, based on 20 self-selected participants recruited from an Instagram account and public Telegram channel, limiting breadth and likely representativeness.
Identified Gaps (AI-Generated)
The paper identifies limited literature on sexual abuse in online romance scams, relative to well-documented financial harms. It also positions non-Western, restrictive contexts as under-studied and argues that prevailing definitions insufficiently capture relationships established solely for sexual gain. The authors call for clearer evidence on specific body-scam risk factors and consequences, particularly culturally shaped harms in societies where premarital relationships are taboo.
Methods (AI-Generated)
This preliminary qualitative study recruited 20 Iranian survivors of cyber romance scams through Instagram and Telegram. Participants were 17 women and three men, aged 14–36 at the incident. Researchers conducted remote Persian narrative interviews (voice, messaging, or text; 40 minutes to 2.5 hours), transcribed them into English, and used qualitative content analysis in MAXQDA. The lead author developed codes and themes, which coauthors refined; this paper focuses on the “Sexual Abuses” theme.
Limitations (AI-Generated)
The study is explicitly preliminary and qualitative, based on 20 self-selected participants recruited from an Instagram account and public Telegram channel, limiting breadth and likely representativeness. Recruitment-channel demographics were incomplete for Telegram. Interviews were translated from Persian to English. Although five themes were coded, this report focuses only on sexual abuse, rather than presenting the full range of dating practices, vulnerabilities, intentions, and coping. Findings are therefore context-specific and not sufficient to establish prevalence or comparative severity.
Future Work (AI-Generated)
Conduct more extensive research on online romance scams in non-Western settings where premarital relationships are unacceptable. Develop and test a universally applicable definition of romance scams that includes “body scams.” Dissect the identified risk factors and empirically examine body-scam consequences, including whether harms exceed those of money scams. Integrate findings into culturally relevant social-media communication tools and systems that improve dater safety and victim support.
AI-Generated Content Notice
The synopsis and research notes on this page were generated with AI from available publication information and, when available, the uploaded paper text. They may contain errors, omissions, or interpretation issues. Readers should follow the DOI or source link, review the original publication, and make their own judgment about the content.
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