Contextualised Cyber Security Awareness Approach for Online Romance Fraud

Dickerson, S. ; Apeh, E. ; Ollis, G. (2020) — 2020 7th International Conference on Behavioural and Social Computing (BESC)

DOI: 10.1109/besc51023.2020.9348307

Synopsis

Romance fraud caused substantial financial loss in 2018, with 50 million pounds reported and a 27 percent rise from the prior year, despite increased publicity and guidance on the issue. This pattern indicates that romance fraud remains a persistent and growing challenge for online dating environments. The discussion supports a proactive, adaptable, and bespoke approach that online dating platforms can use to counter the problem, combining targeted awareness for users with improvements to the user experience on dating sites and apps. At present, there is no effective method capable of simultaneously increasing user awareness and delivering real-time intervention in cases of romance fraud. Existing platform strategies tend to prioritize technological measures aimed at identifying, preventing, and stopping threat actors rather than focusing on educating potential victims or guiding users through risky interactions. The gap highlights the need for an approach tailored to how users engage with dating platforms, accounting for different risk profiles and interaction patterns. Against this backdrop, the article reviews the current state of romance fraud and advances a targeted awareness strategy as a practical solution. The authors argue that a structured awareness program can be adopted by online dating platforms to support early identification

Citation style