Beyond Dollars: Unveiling the Deeper Layers of Online Romance Scams Introducing “Body Scam”
Open accessAbstract
As online romance surges, so does the popularity of online romance scam. While existing research predominantly emphasizes financial scams, our study introduces “body scam” which is not for financial gain, but just for sexual abuse. We conducted interviews with 20 victims of online dating fraud with sexual scam experience in Iran, delving into their story in a context where dating is legally, socially, and normatively complex. Through inductive coding, our findings reveal a notable shift in victimization risks, particularly for women, with a growing emphasis on predatory sexual intent rather than purely financial motivation. This study not only sheds light on the evolving landscape of online dating risks but also underscores the significance of understanding the nuances of sexual intentions in the Iranian context.
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Grooming includes exchanging intimate photos and messages (sexting).
“or exchanging intimate photos and messages (i.e., sexting, 5i; Abubakari, 2024; Amirkhani et al., 2024).”
From Love as Bait: A Scoping Review and Crime Script Analysis of Online Romance Scams (2026) · cites this paper as Amirkhani et al., 2024
Sextortion is a squeeze strategy where the scammer coerces the victim into sending sexually explicit images or uses previously shared intimate material to blackmail them.
“One of these strategies is sextortion (8a), where the scammer coerces the victim into sending sexually explicit images or uses previously shared intimate material to blackmail them (Anesa, 2020; Amirkhani et al., 2024; Cross, 2023; Cross et al., 2024; Cross & Lee, 2022; Whitty, 2015).”
From Love as Bait: A Scoping Review and Crime Script Analysis of Online Romance Scams (2026) · cites this paper as Amirkhani et al., 2024
Cites
Information revelation and privacy in online social networks
Gross, R., & Acquisti, A. (2005) · Proceedings of the 2005 ACM workshop on Privacy in the electronic society · doi:10.1145/1102199.1102214 · Cited by 2,028 · see citing works
Advanced social engineering attacks
Krombholz, K., Hobel, H., Huber, M., & Weippl, E. (2015) · Journal of Information Security and Applications · doi:10.1016/j.jisa.2014.09.005 · Cited by 575 · cited 1× · see citing works
“These scams primarily rely on social engineering techniques (refer to [42], [43], [44]), inflicting financial, emotional, and psychological distress on victims, leading to feelings of shame, anger, stress, and, in some cases, even suicidal thoughts [3], [6], [45].”
BackgroundWhitty, M. T., & Buchanan, T. (2016) · Criminology & Criminal Justice · doi:10.1177/1748895815603773 · Cited by 200 · cited 2× · see citing works
“These scams primarily rely on social engineering techniques (refer to [42], [43], [44]), inflicting financial, emotional, and psychological distress on victims, leading to feelings of shame, anger, stress, and, in some cases, even suicidal thoughts [3], [6], [45].”
Anatomy of the online dating romance scam
Whitty, M. T. (2015) · Security Journal · doi:10.1057/sj.2012.57 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Coluccia, 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
Lazarus, S., Whittaker, J. M., McGuire, M. R., & Platt, L. (2023) · Journal of Economic Criminology · doi:10.1016/j.jeconc.2023.100013 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Navigating Relationships and Boundaries: Concerns around ICT-uptake for Elderly People
Hornung, D., Müller, C., Shklovski, I., Jakobi, T., & Wulf, V. (2017) · Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3025453.3025859 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Lovextortion: Persuasion strategies in romance cybercrime
Anesa, P. (2020) · Discourse, Context & Media · doi:10.1016/j.dcm.2020.100398 · Cited by 48 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Sextortion, frequently employed by scammers, involves using sexual abuse as a means to extort money [29], [32].”
The Role Of Love Stories In Romance Scams: A Qualitative Analysis Of Fraudulent Profiles
Kopp, C., Layton, R., Sillitoe, J., & Gondal, I. (2016) · Zenodo · doi:10.5281/zenodo.56227 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Cyber Romance Scam Victimization Analysis using Routine Activity Theory Versus Apriori Algorithm
Saad, M. E., Norul, S., & Zamri, M. (2018) · International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications · doi:10.14569/ijacsa.2018.091267 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
DeLiema, M., & Witt, P. (2024) · Security Journal · doi:10.1057/s41284-023-00401-5 · Cited by 20 · cited 1× · see citing works
“With respect to fraud, Beal [22] and Garrett [23] define online romance scams as a type of relationship and trust fraud where a person or a group of people only pretend to engage in a romantic relationship with a user via social media or online dating websites and applications [23], [24], [25].”
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Love as Bait: A Scoping Review and Crime Script Analysis of Online Romance Scams
Schokkenbroek, J. M., & Snaphaan, T. (2026) · Trauma, Violence, & Abuse · doi:10.1177/15248380251361046 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
- Authors
- Amirkhani, S., Alizadeh, F., Randall, D., & Stevens, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Siegen (DE)
- Information Systems and New Media, University of Siegen, Germany
- Venue
- Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2024-05-11
- Pages
- 1-6
- OpenAlex
- W4396833481
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 7
- FWCI
- 4.19
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Funders
- This project is supported by funds of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funded by the European Union (NextGenerationEU).
- 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
- online dating fraud, sexual abuse, women victims, victimization risk
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