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The living evidence base for romance scam research

Find the studies, inspect the evidence, understand what is known, and see the questions that still need answers.

We do not host documents. All items link to publisher or repository pages.

Research corpus at a glance

Approved publications
292
Living syntheses
10
Quality-cleared synopses
292
Corpus updated

How RSRC Uses AI

AI helps RSRC organize and summarize research. Outputs may contain errors; verify findings in the linked original source.

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See what the evidence says

Read living syntheses that connect findings across publications and identify uncertainties and research gaps.

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Research Insights

Synthesis and analysis across the corpus

Corpus-level findings that connect evidence across multiple publications and make uncertainties and research gaps visible.

Living Evidence Synthesis

Attack Methods and Offender Strategies

Attack Methods and Offender Strategies: How Targets Are Identified, Approached, Groomed, Deceived, and Exploited

Across the reviewed, human‑approved evidence, relationship‑based online frauds—including classic romance scams, catfishing, and hybrid investment variants often labelled pig‑butchering—operate as staged social‑engineering sequences. These sequences typically begin with a deceptiv...

Publications:
30
Evidence statements:
292
Read the living evidence synthesis
Living Evidence Synthesis

Prevention and Intervention

Prevention and Intervention for Relationship-Based Online Financial Exploitation: Evidence Synthesis

Reviewed evidence supports a multi-layered prevention and intervention approach that aligns timing and modality to commonly observed staged grooming-to-extraction sequences. Multiple qualitative syntheses and conversation-based studies converge on a staged model in which offender...

Publications:
21
Evidence statements:
80
Read the living evidence synthesis

Research Library

Recently curated publications

Individual studies and reports recently added to the approved collection.

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Synthetic Dialogue Dataset for Romance Scam Detection

The publication presents a synthetic dialogue dataset designed to support romance scam detection research. It describes 1,000 conversations generated with two paired personas per scenario: scam (Marcus and Sarah) and leg...

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Analyzing Modern Scam Typologies: From Pig-Butchering and Nigerian Advance-Fee...

This publication provides a neutral synthesis of four research papers in the 2026 issue of the International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, focusing on contemporary cyber scam typologies and defens...

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Three-Tier On-Chain Transaction Architecture in a Sanctions-Linked Pig-Butcherin...

This publication presents a blockchain-forensics case study of a sanctions-linked pig-butchering network, focusing on 29 Bitcoin addresses designated by OFAC as tied to the Prince Group and Chen Zhi. The authors frame th...

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Language, Psychology, and New New Media: The Hyperpersonal Model of Mediated Com...

The publication provides a neutral, source-grounded synthesis of the hyperpersonal model of computer-mediated communication (CMC) as it stands 25 years after its original articulation. It describes the model as a framewo...

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Human‐supervised <scp>LLM</scp> triage o...

The study aims to validate a human‑supervised triage approach for pig butchering complaints by testing whether multi‑model identifier extraction can recover triage‑relevant forensic identifiers from public complaints. It...

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Behind the Mask: The Devastating Emotional Fallout of Catfishing

This publication examines catfishing as a predatory online behavior in dating contexts, focusing on how false identities are constructed and used to manipulate others for financial gain or emotional control. The authors...

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“CATFISHING” : EXPOSING TEEN RECEPTION ON MTV CATFISH ONLINE DATING

This article investigates how Indonesian adolescents aged 19–24, active in online dating and living in Jakarta, interpret and react to catfishing as depicted in MTV’s Catfish: The TV Show, episode “Jake & Taylor.” Ground...

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About RSRC

Built to make romance scam research usable

Founded by LD Herrera, PhD, RSRC organizes romance scam scholarship into a searchable public library and living evidence syntheses for researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and the public.

Learn about RSRC and its founder