Skip to main content

Digital romance fraud targeting unmarried women

Sharen Thumboo ; Sudeshna Mukherjee (2024) — Discover Global Society

View Original Source (opens in a new tab)

DOI: 10.1007/s44282-024-00132-x (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   India
Tags:   AI-Enabled Fraud, Feminist Criminology, Financial Exploitation, Gendered Cybercrime, India, Law Enforcement, Platform Policy, Prevention, Romance Scams, Secondary Case Studies, Social Media, South Africa, Unmarried Women, Victim Experience
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

            
A feminist qualitative comparative study examined unmarried women's romance-scam victimization in India and South Africa. It conducted six in-depth case studies using curated, publicly available mainstream news reports that included police responses and victim testimonials. Cross-border crime, impersonation, and offender anonymity create prosecution challenges in both country settings. Across the India and South Africa cases, victims experienced financial loss, emotional trauma, and legal challenges. The study relies exclusively on publicly available secondary news data rather than direct participant engagement.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The paper identifies limited understanding of psychological factors that make some victims susceptible beyond trust and emotional connection. It also identifies insufficient evidence on the effectiveness of interventions at distinct engagement stages, especially grooming and monetary requests. Finally, evolving pig-butchering and crypto-related romance fraud create a knowledge gap concerning scammers’ adaptive strategies and corresponding countermeasures.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
A feminist qualitative comparative study examined unmarried women’s romance-scam victimization in India and South Africa. It conducted six in-depth case studies using curated, publicly available mainstream news reports that included police responses and victim testimonials. Sources were cross-referenced and assessed for authenticity and bias. Grounded theory and axial coding were used to identify relationships among exploitation tactics, structural and socioeconomic conditions, victim experiences, and enforcement challenges.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
The study relies exclusively on publicly available secondary news data rather than direct participant engagement. Its six cases were selected for alignment with the research questions, so findings are contextual rather than representative of all scam victims or offenders. News-based accounts may provide incomplete victim narratives and depend on media and police framing, despite cross-referencing and authenticity checks. The analysis is limited to cases from India and South Africa.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Investigate psychological profiles and susceptibility beyond trust and emotional connection; test stage-specific interventions during grooming and monetary-request phases; and examine scammers’ adaptive strategies in pig-butchering and crypto-related romance fraud. The paper calls for multidisciplinary psychological, technological, and criminological research to develop countermeasures.

          

              

    
    

        
Related Research Insights

        

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