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The Espouse of Women in the Online Romance Fraud World: Role of Sociocultural Experiences and Digital Technologies

Abubakari, Y. (2023) — Deviant Behavior

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DOI: 10.1080/01639625.2023.2263137 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   Poland
Tags:   Cybercrime, Digital Anonymity, Female Offenders, Gender Dynamics, Ghana, Romance Scams, Sakawa, Social Networks, Tamale
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Synopsis

            
This qualitative study in Tamale, Ghana, of 15 unmarried female online-romance-fraud perpetrators aged 23-29, recruited through referral sampling using three community gatekeepers. Data came from unstructured and semi-structured interviews in English and primarily Dagbani; some were audio-recorded with consent and others documented through immediate reflective notes. Friendship, family, and romantic ties supplied women with information, contacts, skills, and technological resources for entry into fraud. Participants linked women's fraud involvement to economic marginalization, including employment discrimination, family obligations, and changing marital expectations. The study is geographically limited to Tamale and draws on a small, purposively recruited sample of 15 female scammers.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The paper identifies a gendered offender-research gap: cybercrime and romance-fraud scholarship has predominantly centered male offenders, while women’s motivations, opportunities, roles, and modus operandi remain underexplored. It also notes a lack of reliable empirical data on the gender proportion of Ghanaian romance-fraud perpetrators, partly because gender norms conceal women’s involvement.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
Qualitative study in Tamale, Ghana, of 15 unmarried female online-romance-fraud perpetrators aged 23–29, recruited through referral sampling using three community gatekeepers. Data came from unstructured and semi-structured interviews in English and primarily Dagbani; some were audio-recorded with consent and others documented through immediate reflective notes. Interviews were transcribed, translated into English, anonymized, and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s six-step thematic analysis, combining inductive open coding with deductive interpretation through feminist criminology and Fraud Triangle Theory.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
The study is geographically limited to Tamale and draws on a small, purposively recruited sample of 15 female scammers. The author states that the findings therefore cannot capture all women’s experiences in the romance-fraud industry or universally represent sociocultural and technological determinants of women’s participation. Some interviews were not recorded, requiring post-interview reflective notes, which may limit the completeness of the interview record.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Research in diverse sociocultural and political settings is recommended to broaden understanding of women’s emergence in online romance fraud. The paper also calls for tailored, gender-responsive prevention and intervention approaches, including gender equality initiatives, public campaigns on the legal and moral consequences of fraud, cybersecurity detection and tracing, and specialized law-enforcement training.

          

              

    
    

        
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