
The Library
The online dating romance scam : causes and consequences of victimhood
Tools
Buchanan, Tom and Whitty, Monica T. (2013) The online dating romance scam : causes and consequences of victimhood. Psychology, Crime & Law, 20 (3). pp. 261-283. doi:10.1080/1068316X.2013.772180 ISSN 1068-316X.
![]() |
PDF
WRAP_Online Dating Romance Scam - causes and consequences of victimhood.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (1236Kb) |
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2013.772180
Abstract
The online dating romance scam is a relatively new and under-reported international crime targeting users of online dating sites. It has serious financial and emotional consequences, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. However, little if anything is known about psychological characteristics that may put people at risk of romance scam victimization, or influence how they react to it. Online daters (N=853) and participants recruited from a victim support site (N=397) completed a battery of online questionnaires. High scores on the romantic belief of Idealization were associated with likelihood of being a romance scam victim. Victims experienced significant emotional distress as well as financial losses. Even respondents who reported being fooled by scammers, but who had not lost any money, reported significant distress. Level of emotional distress was associated with high Neuroticism, and also with high Loneliness and low Openness to Experience among victims not losing money. The findings have implications for the feasibility of crime-prevention measures based on victim characteristics, and for treatment of victims by law enforcement and other stakeholders.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare |
||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Engineering > WMG (Formerly the Warwick Manufacturing Group) | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Internet fraud, Online dating, Single men -- crimes against, Single women -- crimes against, Single people -- crimes against | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Psychology, Crime & Law | ||||||||
Publisher: | Routledge | ||||||||
ISSN: | 1068-316X | ||||||||
Official Date: | 28 March 2013 | ||||||||
Dates: |
|
||||||||
Volume: | 20 | ||||||||
Number: | 3 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 261-283 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1080/1068316X.2013.772180 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 7 December 2016 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 9 December 2016 | ||||||||
Funder: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC) | ||||||||
Grant number: | RES-000-22-4022 |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
![]() |
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year