Self and desired partner descriptions in the online romance scam: a linguistic analysis of scammer and general user profiles on online dating portals

Lee, KF. ; Chan, MY. ; Mohamad Ali, A. (2022) — Crime Prevention and Community Safety
Synopsis

This study investigates how online romance scammers construct their dating profiles linguistically, comparing them with genuine users on mainstream dating platforms. The focus is on self-descriptions and desired partner descriptions to uncover patterns that differentiate scammer communication from legitimate users.

The authors collected 500 verified scammer profiles from ScamDigger and compared them with 500 general profiles taken from five popular dating sites: eHarmony, OKCupid, Match, Tinder, and Dating.com. Only the narrative sections were analyzed, excluding demographic form fields. Corpus linguistics methods were applied, using AntConc software to identify statistically significant differences in word usage between the two corpora.

Findings reveal that scammer profiles rely heavily on adjectives emphasizing romance, trust, and commitment. Words such as honest, loving, caring, romantic, trustworthy, faithful, passionate, and affectionate occurred far more often in scammer texts than in general user profiles. Notably, special was overwhelmingly used to describe desired partners, appealing to victims’ longing to feel unique and valued. Religious terms like god-fearing also appeared distinctively, aligning with prior studies that highlight appeals to faith as a trust-building tactic. By contrast, general user profiles referenced activities and hobbies such as travelling, food, films, yoga, books, dogs, and fashion, pointing to more varied interests and lifestyles.

In terms of function words, scammers disproportionately used the copula “I am,” creating formulaic self-presentations (“I am a caring person,” “I am honest”). They also relied heavily on intensifiers like very and the future modal will, the latter used to conjure an imagined future together (“a relationship that will last forever”). This linguistic construction strongly appeals to individuals seeking committed and enduring relationships. Interestingly, scammers used first-person pronouns (I) more frequently than genuine users, contradicting prior deception research which suggested deceivers avoid self-reference. This pattern reflects the dating profile context, where projecting an appealing self is central.

The study concludes that scammers deliberately foreground emotional and relational qualities to target individuals who idealize romance, commitment, and exclusivity. Such victims, often middle-aged and financially stable, are more susceptible to manipulation. By contrast, general users present broader lifestyle narratives, making scammers’ narrow emotional focus a distinguishing feature.

The implications are practical as well as theoretical. Linguistic markers identified in the study can aid in public awareness training and support the development of automated detection tools that flag suspicious profiles based on overuse of emotional vocabulary, religious framing, and formulaic “I am” constructions. The findings also reinforce the idea that while scammers mimic authentic self-presentation, their profiles are systematically patterned to exploit emotional vulnerability and create an illusion of sincerity.
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