The online dating romance scam: The psychological impact on victims – both financial and non-financial
By Monica T. Whitty, Tom Buchanan. 2016
192 citations recorded by the source corpus.
This article examines the psychological impact of the online dating romance scam. Unlike other mass-marketing fraud victims, these victims experienced a ‘double hit’ of the scam: a financial loss and the loss of a relationship. For most, the loss of the relationship was more upsetting than their financial losses (many described the loss of the relationship as a ‘death’). Some described their experience as traumatic and all were affected negatively by the crime. Most victims had not found ways to cope given the lack of understanding from family and friends. Denial (e.g. not accepting the scam was real or not being able to separate the fake identity with the criminal) was identified as an ineffective means of coping, leaving the victim vulnerable to a second wave of the scam. Suggestions are made as to how to change policy with regards to law enforcement to deal with this crime.
Subfields: Information Systems, Sociology and Political Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a02638fa7af17a0d0568406c43cd9603ae983cc0
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In Information Systems
In Sociology and Political Science
Citations in the corpus
- The reporting experiences and support needs of victims of online fraud (2016, background): “This is what Whitty and Buchanan (2015) term the ‘double hit’ experienced by romance fraud victims.”
- “Catfishing,” cyberbullying, and coercion: An exploration of the risks associated with dating app use among rural sexual minority males (2019, background): “These deceptions can have negative effects on the victim’s mental health, including post-traumatic stress disorder, loss of one’s social support system, and social isolation (Whitty & Buchanan, 2016).”