Who can spot an online romance scam?
Abstract
Purpose This paper aims to examine predictors (personality, belief systems, expertise and response time) of detecting online romance scams. Design/methodology/approach The online study asked 261 participants to rate whether a profile was a scam or a genuine profile. Participants were also asked to complete a personality inventory, belief scales and demographic, descriptive questions. The online study was also designed to measure response time. Findings It was found that those who scored low in romantic beliefs, high in impulsivity, high in consideration of future consequences, had previously spotted a romance scam and took longer response times were more likely to accurately distinguish scams from genuine profiles. Notably, the research also found that it was difficult to detect scams. The research also found that it was important to adapt Whitty’s (2013) “Scammers Persuasive Techniques Model” to include a stage named: “human detection of scam versus genuine profiles”. Originality/value This is the first study, to the author’s knowledge, that examines predictors of human accuracy in detecting romance scams. Dating sites and government e-safety sites might draw upon these findings to help improve human detection and protect users from this financial and psychologically harmful cyberscam.
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Individuals who have previously been exposed to a scam may be more cautious.
“individuals who have previously been exposed to a scam may be more cautious (Whitty, 2019).”
From Tainted Love: a Systematic Literature Review of Online Romance Scam Research (2023) · cites this paper as Whitty, 2019
The discussion (p. 14) reports that participants who had previously spotted a scam were more accurate at distinguishing scam profiles from genuine ones. It does not establish that people merely exposed to a scam became more cautious; the measured outcome was detection accuracy, not caution. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredWhitty (2019) reported that previous experience in online dating deception improves the ability to spot deceit.
“Similarly, Whitty (2019) reported that previous experience in online dating deception improves the ability to spot deceit.”
From Tainted Love: a Systematic Literature Review of Online Romance Scam Research (2023) · cites this paper as Whitty (2019)
The discussion (p. 14) says that having spotted a scam before the study predicted better accuracy in distinguishing scam from genuine dating profiles. This supports an association, but the claim’s wording that experience “improves” detection implies a causal effect the study does not establish. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSome researchers found no evidence of sextortion in online romance scams and did not include this scene in their process model, while others have shown these practices occur and gave this scene a central role.
“For example, some researchers found no evidence of sextortion in the context of online romance scams and therefore did not include this scene in their process model (Smeitink, 2021), while others have shown that these practices do occur and gave this scene a central role in their model (Whitty, 2019).”
From Love as Bait: A Scoping Review and Crime Script Analysis of Online Romance Scams (2026) · cites this paper as Whitty, 2019
The Current Study (p. 7) describes stages of an online romance scam, and the Discussion (p. 15) discusses adding a profile-detection stage to an earlier model. Neither passage addresses sextortion or gives it a central role. Searches for sextortion, sexual blackmail, intimate images, and the model’s stages found no passage supporting the part attributed to Whitty (2019). (LLM, conf=0.77)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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- Authors
- Whitty, M. T.
- Affiliations
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Whitty, Monica T.
- ORCID
- Whitty, Monica T.
- Venue
- Journal of Financial Crime
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 2019-04-01
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 623-633
- ISSN
- 1359-0790 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2901674711
- Cited by
- 43
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 3.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Financial Crime (publishedVersion)
- Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Spam and Phishing Detection
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Keywords
- scam detection, romantic beliefs, impulsivity, consideration of future consequences, reaction time (psychology), dating websites, cybercrime, belief systems, personality predictors
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