A systematic literature review of profiling victims of cyber scams: setting up a framework for future research
Whitty, MT. (2025) — Cogent Social Sciences
Type: Journal Article
Country: United Kingdom
This article presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of research profiling victims of cyber scams, aiming to establish a framework for future studies. The review was motivated by the rapid global growth of cyber sc...
Who can spot an online romance scam?
Whitty, MT. (2019) — Journal of Financial Crime
Type: Journal Article
Country: United Kingdom
Tags: offender tactics, psychology, AI misuse, risk factors, measurement
This study investigates factors that predict the ability to identify online romance scams, focusing on personality traits, belief systems, domain expertise, and response speed. In an online experiment, 261 participants w...
Do You Love Me? Psychological Characteristics of Romance Scam Victims
Whitty, MT. (2018) — Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
Type: Journal Article
Country: United Kingdom
Do You Love Me? Psychological Characteristics of Romance Scam Victims, published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, presents a catalog-style overview of how perpetrators exploit online romance scripts a...
The online dating romance scam: The psychological impact on victims – both financial and non-financial
Whitty, MT.; Buchanan, T. (2015) — Criminology & Criminal Justice
Type: Journal Article
Country: United Kingdom
Tags: victim experience, psychology, law enforcement, platform policy
This study explores the psychological consequences of online dating romance scams, a form of fraud that combines financial harm with the collapse of a personal relationship. Unlike victims of other mass marketing frauds,...
Anatomy of the online dating romance scam
Whitty, MT. (2013) — Security Journal
Type: Journal Article
Country: United Kingdom
Tags: victim experience, psychology, prevention
Methods: interview, qualitative
The Online Dating Romance Scam is described as a relatively new form of online fraud. The article integrates insights from three qualitative studies: an analysis of posts in a public online support group, in-depth interv...
The online dating romance scam: causes and consequences of victimhood
Buchanan, T.; Whitty, MT. (2013) — Psychology, Crime & Law
Type: Journal Article
Country: United Kingdom
This catalog-style synopsis surveys the topic of online dating romance scams as presented in Psychology, Crime & Law. The article defines the phenomenon as deceitful relationship-building undertaken through digital datin...
The Scammers Persuasive Techniques Model: Development of a Stage Model to Explain the Online Dating Romance Scam
Whitty, MT. (2013) — British Journal of Criminology
Type: Journal Article
Country: United Kingdom
This article develops a stage-based explanatory framework to account for online dating romance scams. The proposed model traces how persuasive techniques are organized and deployed across successive phases of a scam enco...
The Online Romance Scam: A Serious Cybercrime
Whitty, MT.; Buchanan, T. (2012) — Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
Type: Journal Article
Country: United Kingdom
This entry examines online romance scams as a form of cybercrime characterized by deliberate deception within internet relationships initiated on dating sites, apps, or social networks. Perpetrators cultivate emotional c...
