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Romance Fraud in India: A Qualitative Study of Online–Offline Transitions in the Digital Dating Ecosystem

Verma, Shankey ; Gujarathi, Palak ; Lazarus, Suleman (2026) — Journal of Economic Criminology

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DOI: 10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100248 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   India
Tags:   Cyber Enabled Crime, Digital Grooming, Hybrid Guardianship, India, Offline Coercion, Online Dating, Online Offline Transitions, Romance Scams
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Synopsis

            
This publication provides a source-grounded synthesis of romance fraud in India, focusing on how online dating interactions transition into offline encounters. The authors aim to understand the cross-contextual nature of the crime by examining 35 media-reported cases from 2020 to 2025, analyzed through Space Transition Theory (STT) and Routine Activities Theory (RAT), with a lens of hybrid guardianship. The study emphasizes observable offender strategies, target contexts, and situational conditions rather than motivations, acknowledging the limitations of relying on secondary media accounts. A central finding is a recurring pattern in which digitally initiated relationships give way to offline meetings that enable financial extraction or coercion. Of the 35 cases, 25 documented a transition to an offline setting, while 10 remained primarily online (e.g., online extortion or fraud without a physical meeting). The authors identify two typologies for offline encounters: Type 1, Coercive Social Debt Scams in public settings (pressuring victims in cafes, restaurants, or bars to pay inflated bills), and Type 2, Private Extortion and Violence Scams in private spaces (meetings at private residences or hotels, with coercion, theft, or physical harm). The study also discusses how target characteristics, such as financial resources, interact with situational factors to shape outcomes, and notes gender patterns in the reported cases, while cautioning that these are not representatives of India’s broader victimization patterns. Limitations include reliance on English-language media reports, possible overrepresentation of severe or sensational incidents, and lack of direct input from victims or offenders. The authors call for broader data sources and cross-context comparisons to inform research and policy, and they advocate for considering cross-contextual protection approaches beyond purely digital safeguards.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
Indian research has focused mainly on victim narratives or legal perspectives, with limited attention to situational dynamics, offender strategies, and transitions from digital interaction to offline harm. Studies often treat online and offline environments separately and conceptualize romance fraud as either online financial crime or offline interpersonal offending. Applications of Space Transition Theory to romance fraud, and research on changing victimization opportunities and guardianship during these transitions, remain limited, particularly in the Global South.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
The study qualitatively analyzed 35 unique English-language Indian news-media cases of dating-app-related romance fraud published from 2020 to 2025. Cases were identified through Google Advanced Search, screened from 1,449 articles using specified inclusion and exclusion criteria, and analyzed through reflexive deductive-inductive thematic analysis. Initial inductive coding was interpreted using Space Transition Theory, Routine Activities Theory, and hybrid guardianship. Authors collaboratively refined themes; no formal inter-coder reliability statistics were used.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
Media-reported cases may overrepresent severe, unusual, newsworthy incidents, including violence and large losses, and cannot establish the distribution or prevalence of romance fraud. The 35-case sample was purposive; whether an offline transition occurred depended on incomplete reporting, so unreported offline contact cannot be ruled out. English-only reporting may omit regional-language cases. Details were not always independently verifiable, and the study lacks direct accounts from victims, offenders, and law-enforcement actors.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Use primary data, including interviews and official records, to test whether the documented online-to-offline trajectories occur in broader and more diverse samples. Study how people interpret and navigate offline meetings, assess whether male-victim predominance reflects victimization or media reporting, and compare patterns across regional contexts beyond India. Examine whether cross-contextual configurations of digital, social, and environmental guardianship operate consistently. Evaluate platform safeguards, awareness regarding rapid offline meetings, and situational prevention measures.

          

              

    
    

        
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