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Living Evidence Synthesis

Revision history

Psychological and Financial Harms

Approved public versions are listed newest first. Drafts, unsuccessful generation attempts, and versions not yet published through this Research Insight are excluded.

Approved public versions

  1. Version 102

    Current public version

    Incremental evidence update. Codex corrected 1 source-bound passage(s); preserved all other findings. No API calls.

  2. Version 101

    Incremental evidence update. A small synthesis update is warranted. Remove the withdrawn citations and reassess the aggregate-trend and undercounting claims against retained evidence. The added convicted-case study supplies a sample-specific cumulative loss, not a per-victim estimate or a contradiction of severe losses in other samples. The corrected Korean excerpts support large, repeated losses and psychological disruption; the Malaysian survey measures recognition of emotional harm rather tha...

  3. Version 100

    Incremental evidence update. A small synthesis update is warranted. Remove the withdrawn citations and reassess the aggregate-trend and undercounting claims against retained evidence. The added convicted-case study supplies a sample-specific cumulative loss, not a per-victim estimate or a contradiction of severe losses in other samples. The corrected Korean excerpts support large, repeated losses and psychological disruption; the Malaysian survey measures recognition of emotional harm rather tha...

  4. Version 99

    Incremental evidence update. A small synthesis update is warranted. Remove the withdrawn citations and reassess the aggregate-trend and undercounting claims against retained evidence. The added convicted-case study supplies a sample-specific cumulative loss, not a per-victim estimate or a contradiction of severe losses in other samples. The corrected Korean excerpts support large, repeated losses and psychological disruption; the Malaysian survey measures recognition of emotional harm rather tha...

    • Publications: 43 (-3)
    • Evidence statements: 194 (-8)
    • Cited sources: 43 (-3)

    Sources added: Examining fifty cases of convicted online romance fraud offenders.

    Sources removed: Dating with Scambots: Understanding the Ecosystem of Fraudulent Dating Applications; Romance Scam Statistics 2024-2026: verified, source-attributed figures from FBI IC3, FTC, City of London Police, Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, GASA and Chainalysis (Baromètre 2026 des...; The Scammers’ Psychological Warfare: A Call to Arms; Using artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfakes to deceive victims: the need to rethink current romance fraud prevention messaging.

  5. Version 98

    Automated claim-level support repair round 2, correcting 1 passage from synthesis version 97.

  6. Version 97

    Automated claim-level support repair round 1, correcting 3 passages from synthesis version 96.

  7. Version 96

    Automated evidence-grounded revision attempt 1. Initial version.

    • Publications: 46 (-5)
    • Evidence statements: 202 (-9)
    • Cited sources: 46 (-5)

    Sources added: Victim-offender overlap: the identity transformations experienced by trafficked Chinese workers escaping from pig-butchering scam syndicate; ‘Oh we can’t actually do anything about that’: The problematic nature of jurisdiction for online fraud victims.

    Sources removed: Behind the Mask: The Devastating Emotional Fallout of Catfishing; Contextualised Cyber Security Awareness Approach for Online Romance Fraud; Cyberfraud and the implications for effective risk-based responses: themes from UK research; Drug mule for love; and 3 more.

  8. Version 95

    Initial version: This synthesis is the first compiled evidence synthesis for the supplied controlled topic and evidence batch. It integrates reviewed qualitative, administrative, forensic, and mixed‑method findings available in the provided corpus and identifies consistent empirical patterns (large and repeated financial extractions; pervasive psychological and social harms; occasional severe outcomes including suicidality, trafficking, and physical danger), methodological limitations noted by a...

    • Publications: 51 (-15)
    • Evidence statements: 211 (-46)
    • Cited sources: 51 (-15)

    Sources added: A Juridical Review of Love Scam Crimes from the Perspective of Criminal Law and the Electronic Information and Transactions Law in Indonesia; Analyzing the Evolving Modus Operandi of Romance Scams via Court Judgments: Crime Script and Policy Implications; Behind the Mask: The Devastating Emotional Fallout of Catfishing; Beyond Dollars: Unveiling the Deeper Layers of Online Romance Scams Introducing “Body Scam”; and 13 more.

    Sources removed: Addressing Cyberscams and Acquired Brain Injury (“I Desperately Need to Know What to Do”): Qualitative Exploration of Clinicians’ and Service Providers’ Perspectives; A Guide to Understanding Romance Fraud; Analysis of a Cryptocurrency Investment Scam: Pig Butchering; Cyber Romance Scam Victimization Analysis using Routine Activity Theory Versus Apriori Algorithm; and 28 more.

  9. Version 94

    Automated claim-level support repair round 1, correcting 2 passages from synthesis version 93.

  10. Version 93

    Automated evidence-grounded revision attempt 2. Initial version.

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