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Scammers’ roles and online fraud process: Perspectives of the elder victims in Thailand

Sutham Cheurprakobkit ; Dhanakorn Mulaphong ; Patreeya Kitcharoen ; Porntida Visaetsilapanonta (2026) — International Review of Victimology

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DOI: 10.1177/02697580261443543 (opens in a new tab)

Country:   Thailand
Tags:   Elder Fraud, Financial Losses, Investment Fraud, Offender Roles, Online Scams, Romance Scams, Team Based Fraud, Thailand
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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.
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Synopsis

            
This publication reports on a qualitative study of online scams affecting elderly victims in Thailand, aiming to map how scams operate and how scammers are organized. The study asks what forms online scams take, why older adults become victims, and how scammers allocate roles within the fraud process. Data were gathered through in-depth telephone interviews with 15 elderly victims recruited via a snowball process, plus input from two high-ranking police officials who described the offenders’ modus operandi. The researchers used content analysis to identify patterns in the victims’ accounts and the officials’ insights, with ethical review and consent obtained for all interviews. The findings describe that online fraud can range from a single offender to multi-person operations, with contact initiated by the scammer through Line or Facebook Messenger. A central contribution is the delineation of four scammer roles—persuader, supporters, manager, and financial person—each performing distinct functions to sustain deception and elicit money from victims. The persuader initiates contact and builds trust; supporters create group dynamics that reinforce confidence; the financial person handles money transfers and cultivates a near-win illusion to encourage continued transfers; the manager provides oversight and may offer incentives or handle complications. The study also notes a three-tier Line system (front-office, back-office, and money-movement staff) and acknowledges additional roles in some scams, such as admins and shills who run fake websites and private groups. Victim accounts illustrate that scams can be victim-initiated or offender-initiated, and that information technology is used to control the deception. The authors argue that awareness of these role delineations could inform prevention and enforcement efforts.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The paper identifies limited research on scammers’ roles and the online fraud process, particularly from elderly victims’ perspectives and in Thailand. It also notes that prior work on online-fraud processes is scant and that, apart from former scammers’ YouTube interviews, studies had not examined the roles of multiple offenders during the scam process in Thailand.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
The study used triangulated qualitative data: telephone interviews with 15 Thai online-scam victims aged 55–70, interviews with two senior police commanders, and testimonies from three former scammers. Victim interviews occurred from July to September 2023 and used four structured questions. Researchers applied conceptual content analysis to identify scam formats, victimization reasons, losses, offender coordination, and offender roles.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
The qualitative sample was small and purposively assembled from referrals, with nine survey-identified cases excluded as simple consumer fraud. Findings are based largely on victims’ retrospective accounts, supplemented by two police informants and former-scammer testimonies, rather than direct observation of offender organizations. The study concerns Thai victims aged 55–70, which may limit transferability to other populations, jurisdictions, and scam types.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Future research should examine signs and warnings that act as early indicators of online scams. Research could test whether these warning signs improve scam recognition and prevention among older adults and other online users.

          

              

    
    

        
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