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Abstract

Romance fraud is a pervasive form of cybercrime, posing a considerable risk to victims' emotional, psychological, and financial well-being. By using the guise of a genuine relationship, romance fraudsters deceive thousands of victims worldwide, with financial losses amounting to millions of dollars each year. Offenders are known to exploit new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfakes to deceive victims across a multitude of communication channels, including online dating platforms, yet research has primarily sought to understand the general framework of romance fraud, with limited attention being paid to understanding the link between emerging technologies and romance fraud. Therefore, this paper contributes to addressing this gap by examining current prevention and mitigation strategies and highlighting deficiencies in these. Through a comprehensive review of existing literature, this dissertation investigates the landscape of romance fraud, focusing on prevention strategies, legislative responses, and technological innovations aimed at mitigating the impact of such scams. The findings emphasise the pivotal importance of tailored interventions and collaborative efforts across multiple sectors. While dating platforms are implementing a variety of technological measures to detect fraudulent profiles, their efficacy remains limited due to evolving scamming tactics and technological challenges. Legislative responses show early promise in holding dating platforms accountable and promoting a safer online environment. However, challenges persist in enforcement and compliance, with further research needed to assess the impact of these. Due to the existing shortcomings of current prevention strategies, this paper suggests a different approach to the delivery of prevention messaging. This includes the need to deliver in-app training, consider tailored interventions based on socio-demographic data, and the need to move away from universal and one-size-fits-all awareness campaigns, to adopt a more targeted and hot-spot-based approach.

Course: Criminology and Cybercrime - BSc - U2714PYC

Date Deposited: 2024-11-21

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14579.html