1. “There’s a scam out there for everyone”: An examination of the scammers’ tricks employed in two types of mass-marketing frauds – work-at-home and romance scams
Prof Monica Whitty
Cyber Security Centre
15th December 2016

2. Typology of victims – romance scam

3. Study 1: 2011
Victims of the romance scam (N = 397) and online daters (N = 853) to complete a battery of personality scales to examine the typology of victims compared with online daters.
Buchanan, T., & Whitty, M. T. (2014). The online dating romance scam: Causes and consequences of victimhood. Psychology, Crime & Law 20(3),

4. Possible predictors of victimhood
Buchanan, T., & Whitty, M. T. (2014). The online dating romance scam: Causes and consequences of victimhood. Psychology, Crime & Law 20(3),

5. Personal characteristics
Romantic Beliefs
Love_Finds_Way: ‘If I love someone, I know I can make the relationship work’
One_and_only: ‘I believe that to be truly in love is to be in love forever’
Idealisation: ‘In the relationship I will have my true love will be nearly perfect’
Love at First Sight: ‘When I find my true love I will probably know it soon after we meet’
Buchanan, T., & Whitty, M. T. (2014). The online dating romance scam: Causes and consequences of victimhood. Psychology, Crime & Law 20(3),

6. Study 1: 2011

7. Study 2: 2015
Victims of the romance scam (N = 200) and non-victims (N = 10,723) to complete a battery of personality scales to examine the typology of victims compared with non-victims and other types of victims (N = 1057)

8. Hypotheses for romance scam victim psychological characteristics

9. Romance scam vs non-victims

10. Romance scam vs other scam victims

11. Study 2: 2016

12. Anatomy of the scam Brings to the criminal specific dispositions
Errors in decision making – trust relationship; visceral influences; information presented (included photoshopped photos) – cognitive dissonance
Hyper-personal relationship
Use of media to deceive/persuade
Chasing the relationship/money – near win
Whitty, M. T. (2013). The Scammers Persuasive Techniques Model: Development of a stage model to explain the online dating romance scam. British Journal of Criminology, 53(4),
Whitty, M. T. (2015). Anatomy of the Online Dating Romance Scam. Security Journal, 28,

13. Whitty, M. T. (2013). The Scammers Persuasive Techniques Model: Development of a stage model to explain the online dating romance scam. British Journal of Criminology, 53(4),

14. Work- at-home scam

15. Interviews – 7 UK participants (research ongoing)
Various derivatives of the scam
Sell products on behalf of company ‘criminal’
Up front fee – starter kit
Call expensive number to learn more

16. 2 categories of victims
Naïve – difficult to find work (new mums; elderly; disabled)
Consider themselves as financially savvy – make some extra money on the side

17. Money Laundering
Some become knowingly complicit/most don’t realize until the sting?

18. Persuasive techniques – used in work at home scam
Urgency – need to act quickly
Cognitively focused on task
Authenticity – excessive detail
Approached through legitimate sites
Provide ‘training’ and need to demonstrate ‘competence’.

19. Psychological impact – similarities and differences