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Digital romance fraud targeting unmarried women

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

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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
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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.

          

              

    
    

        
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