“If U Don’t Pay they will Share the Pics”: Exploring Sextortion in the Context of Romance Fraud
Abstract
Romance fraud involves the guise of a perceived genuine relationship to gain a financial reward. While those who commit these crimes employ a variety of techniques, emerging evidence suggests the use of sextortion to financially gain from victims. To date, sextortion has been explored generally in the image-based sexual abuse and sexual violence literature but not in the context of romance fraud. This article explores reports of 258 individuals who made a complaint to Scamwatch (Australian online fraud reporting portal) about romance fraud, captured between July 2018 and July 2019 (inclusive). Each of these complaints directly references the use of sextortion, through a threat to expose an intimate image or recording in response to a monetary request. Using an established cyber sextortion typology, this article applies these categories in the context of romance fraud to determine if there is consistency in the use of this technique, or whether its use in the context of romance fraud is unique.
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Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Only a minority of cases involved perpetrators obtaining images without the victim's awareness, such as through webcam access.
“Only a minority of cases involved perpetrators obtaining images without the victim’s awareness, such as through webcam access (Cross et al., 2022; Mandau, 2021).”
From Sextortion: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Cross et al., 2022
Sextortion is perpetrated by a diverse group of offenders, both known and unknown to the victim.
“Sextortion can occur in a variety of contexts and is perpetrated by a diverse group of offenders, both known and unknown to the victim.”
From Sextortion: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Cross et al., 2022
Several studies, including Cross et al. (2022), observed that the use of intimate images tended to function as a tool of escalation, especially when the victim refused to pay the money.
“Several studies, including Cross et al. (2022), observed that the use of intimate images tended to function as a tool of escalation, especially when the victim refused to pay the money.”
From Sextortion: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Cross et al., 2022
Cites
Bates, S. (2017) · Feminist Criminology · doi:10.1177/1557085116654565 · Cited by 414 · see citing works
Sextortion of Minors: Characteristics and Dynamics
Wolak, J., Finkelhor, D., Walsh, W., & Treitman, L. (2018) · Journal of Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.08.014 · Cited by 249 · see citing works
Whitty, M. T. (2013) · British Journal of Criminology · doi:10.1093/bjc/azt009 · Cited by 209 · cited 7× · see citing works
“As it relates to stage six, entitled “sexual abuse” Whitty (2013, pp. 680–681) states the following, In a few of the cases, after the victim revealed they had no money left to give, the [offender] hyped up the sexual connection in the relationship and asked the victim to take their clothes off and…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialNo laughing matter: Blaming the victim of online fraud
Cross, C. (2015) · International Review of Victimology · doi:10.1177/0269758015571471 · Cited by 197 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Coluccia et al. (2020, p. 24) note the additional trauma, not only of losing money and a relationship, but “the victim’s shame upon discovery of the scam” (see also Cross, 2015, 2018).”
BackgroundSelf-citationOnline frauds: Learning from victims why they fall for these scams
Button, M., Nicholls, C. M., Kerr, J., & Owen, R. (2014) · Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology · doi:10.1177/0004865814521224 · Cited by 193 · cited 2× · see citing works
“…can also experience a deterioration of their physical health and wellbeing, varying levels of depression, relationship breakdown, unemployment, homelessness, and in worst case scenarios, suicide ideation and the taking of one’s life (Button & Cross, 2017; Button et al., 2014; Cross et al., 2016).”
BackgroundColuccia, A., Pozza, A., Ferretti, F., Carabellese, F., Masti, A., & Gualtieri, G. (2020) · Clinical Practice & Epidemiology in Mental Health · doi:10.2174/1745017902016010024 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Deem, D. L. (2000) · Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1300/j084v12n02_05 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Improving the Police Response to Online Fraud
Cross, C., & Blackshaw, D. (2015) · Policing · doi:10.1093/police/pau044 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Self-citationThe use of military profiles in romance fraud schemes
Cross, C., & Holt, T. J. (2021) · Victims & Offenders · doi:10.1080/15564886.2020.1850582 · Cited by 54 · cited 2× · see citing works
“…is based upon a request by one of the authors (Cross) for romance fraud data held by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) (for other publications related to this dataset, and further details on the methodology, see, Cross & Holt, 2021; Cross & Layt, 2021; Cross & Lee, 2022).”
BackgroundSelf-citationLovextortion: Persuasion strategies in romance cybercrime
Anesa, P. (2020) · Discourse, Context & Media · doi:10.1016/j.dcm.2020.100398 · Cited by 48 · cited 1× · see citing works
“While there is support for this model and the identification of “recurrent structural patterns” of romance fraud (Anesa, 2020, p. 7), it is important to note that not every victim will experience each stage, and they may not be as linear in their execution.”
Method
Flagged first, then by citations
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Ray, A., & Henry, N. (2025) · Trauma, Violence, & Abuse · doi:10.1177/15248380241277271 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
“Several studies, including Cross et al. (2022), observed that the use of intimate images tended to function as a tool of escalation, especially when the victim refused to pay the money.”
InfluentialTainted Love: a Systematic Literature Review of Online Romance Scam Research
Bilz, A., Shepherd, L. A., & Johnson, G. I. (2023) · Interacting with Computers · doi:10.1093/iwc/iwad048 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Romance baiting, cryptorom and 'pig butchering': an evolutionary step in romance fraud
Cross, C. (2024) · Current Issues in Criminal Justice · doi:10.1080/10345329.2023.2248670 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
“Stage six — sexual abuse (this does not occur in every instance, but is evident in some examples, see Cross et al., 2022).”
Self-citationSextortion: Prevalence and correlates in 10 countries
Henry, N., & Umbach, R. (2024) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2024.108298 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
The Language of Romance Crimes
Carter, E. (2024) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009273008 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Online sextortion: Characteristics of offences from a decade of community reporting
Edwards, M., & Hollely, N. M. (2023) · Journal of Economic Criminology · doi:10.1016/j.jeconc.2023.100038 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Suicidal Ideation Among Male Victim-Survivors of Financial Sextortion
Liggett O’Malley, R., & Smith, K. (2025) · Victims & Offenders · doi:10.1080/15564886.2024.2379818 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Dating Applications: A Honeypot for Sextortion Victims
Tavakoli, H., Tzani, C., Ioannou, M., Williams, T. J. V., Drouin, M., & Fletcher, R. (2024) · Deviant Behavior · doi:10.1080/01639625.2024.2317904 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
- Authors
- Cross, C., Holt, K., & O’Malley, R. L.
- Affiliations
- Queensland University of Technology (AU)
- Michigan State University (US)
- University of South Florida (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cross, Cassandra
- Venue
- Victims & Offenders
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2022-05-19
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1194-1215
- ISSN
- 1556-4886 (ISSN-L)
- 1556-4991
- OpenAlex
- W4280643393
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 14
- FWCI
- 9.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Victims & Offenders (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Stalking, Cyberstalking, and Harassment
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
- Keywords
- sextortion, romance fraud, online dating fraud, image-based sexual abuse, economic violence
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