"Research Team at Georgia State University Is Identifying How Scammers Target Victims on Dating Apps"
A team of researchers at Georgia State University conducted research that reveals the strategies used by scammers to earn people's trust and render them vulnerable to cybercrime. The issue known as "romance fraud" is often underreported and understudied. The team published an article on this subject in the American Journal of Criminal Justice. According to a report on cybercrime published by the FBI in 2021, online romance fraud losses have increased to about $956 million in recent years. In terms of losses, this makes it the third-ranked cybercrime overall. Fangzhou Wang, the study's principal author, is a doctoral student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Georgia State University. She explains that the purpose of the study was to uncover risk and protective factors for those targeted by romance scammers in order to construct a model of victim vulnerability and resilience. Using testimonials as a basis for the study, they made a database of victims of romance fraud through data analysis software. They then studied the accounts of the victims to uncover recurrent patterns. The testimonials were those from victims who were approached on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, or on dating services such as Tinder, Ashley Madison, and OkCupid. The researchers were able to identify a number of scammers' most prevalent and effective deception strategies and methods. They include the use of visceral, emotional triggers or influences, the fabrication of a crisis, the exploitation of likeability, and more. This article continues to discuss the study on understanding romance scammers through the perspective of their victims.