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Unveiling the Romance Scam Scheme: Psychological Manipulation and Its Impact on Victims

Syakira Yuniar Yosiandra ; Dewi Saraswati Sakariah (2024) — HUMANIKA

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DOI: 10.14710/humanika.v31i2.67604 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   Japan
Tags:   AI-Enabled Fraud, Catfishing, Financial Loss, Japan, Love Bombing, Online Dating, Platform Policy, Psychological Manipulation, Psychology, Romance Scams, Victim Experience, Victim Harm
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Synopsis

            
This publication presents a neutral, source-grounded synopsis of a 2024 literature review that examines romance scam schemes in Japanese society. The authors aim to illuminate how perpetrators manipulate victims and to describe the resulting psychological and financial harms, drawing on secondary sources including online news portals and social media reports. Their approach combines qualitative description with dramaturgical and psychological manipulation theories to interpret patterns of interaction between scammers and victims, particularly in online dating contexts. The authors identify a structured sequence of tactics used by perpetrators. Key elements include providing fake identities (catfishing) and avoiding direct, in-person contact; employing dramaturgical storytelling and props to present a convincing “front stage” while concealing the back story; and using love bombing to rapidly cultivate emotional dependence. These tactics are conditioned to elicit trust and commitment, enabling financial exploitation through requests for money, often framed by narratives of illness, danger, or urgent need. The analysis relies on documented conversations and screenshots from six cases, illustrating how exaggerated affection and fabricated circumstances lead victims to transfer funds, sometimes after enduring significant psychological distress. The review concludes that romance scams exert substantial emotional and financial impact on victims, including anxiety, depression, and in some cases long-term mental health effects. The authors advocate for counseling and supportive interventions for victims and call for further research to understand long-term consequences and to develop more effective prevention strategies. They emphasize that the phenomena are shaped by social and technological dynamics that facilitate online, anonymous interaction.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The paper identifies a gap in prior romance-scam research by focusing on Japanese society and using Japanese news and media reports. It also frames scams through dramaturgy and psychological manipulation, emphasizing perpetrators' role performance, motivations, schemes, and victim impacts.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
This qualitative descriptive literature review analyzed secondary Japanese materials, including books, journal articles, official reports, Ameblo, Newspostseven, Instagram, and victim-shared conversation screenshots. It examined six Japanese cases through content analysis. Goffman's dramaturgy informed analysis of offender identity performance and communication avoidance; Fromm's psychological-manipulation theory informed analysis of emotional control and victim impacts.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
The study relies on secondary online sources and six cases, including victim accounts that use pseudonyms. Its descriptive literature-review design cannot establish prevalence, causal relationships, or representativeness among Japanese romance-scam victims. Evidence is drawn largely from media reports, social-media content, and selected screenshots rather than systematic primary data collection.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Further research is recommended to examine the long-term impacts of romance scams and develop more effective prevention strategies.

          

              

    
    

        
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