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Epistolary Affect and Romance Scams: Letter from an Unknown Woman

Steyerl, H. (2011) — October

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DOI: 10.1162/octo_a_00066 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   United States
Tags:   419 Fraud, 419 Scams, Digital Melodrama, Epistolary Affect, Gender Impersonation, Global Political Economy, Globalization, Online Dating, Romance Scams, Scam Language
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Synopsis

            
This conceptual and cultural-critical essay analyzes romance-scam narratives, scam-warning forum posts, scam emails, metadata examples, and cited scholarship on 419 fraud, melodrama, language, and political economy. It interprets romance scams as digital melodrama and epistolary affect, rather than conducting a systematic empirical study. Scam language is described as customized affective service tailored to targets' fantasies and desires. Romance scams combine romantic promises with requests for sensitive financial or identity information. The article is interpretive rather than systematic: its illustrative opening case is explicitly fictional, and much of its scam evidence consists of selected forum posts, quoted emails, and secondary sources.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The article identifies two gaps: scholarship on online scams has focused almost exclusively, and disproportionately, on Nigeria despite romance scams’ diverse geographic origins; and the broader implications of organized scam work for global political economy, digital divides, and uneven development remain unexplored.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
Conceptual and cultural-critical essay analyzing romance-scam narratives, scam-warning forum posts, scam emails, metadata examples, and cited scholarship on 419 fraud, melodrama, language, and political economy. It interprets romance scams as digital melodrama and epistolary affect, rather than conducting a systematic empirical study.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
The article is interpretive rather than systematic: its illustrative opening case is explicitly fictional, and much of its scam evidence consists of selected forum posts, quoted emails, and secondary sources. It therefore cannot establish prevalence, representative offender or victim profiles, or causal claims about scam operations and impacts.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Investigate the largely unexplored implications of scam-production networks within a global political economy shaped by digital divides and uneven development. Examine gendered impersonation in romance scams and reassess whether concepts such as online masquerade, subversion, and self-assigned gender adequately describe these practices.

          

              

    
    

        
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