https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0827-3567
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ABSTRACT
This article assesses 3,259 romance fraud reports made by individuals to Scamwatch (Australian online reporting portal for fraud), between July 2018 – July 2019 (inclusive). It seeks to highlight experiences of fear of crime as articulated by the complainants. Drawing on frameworks used to analyze fear of crime (specifically the affective, behavioral and cognitive aspects of fear) the article is an exploratory assessment of how fear of crime is evident in those targeted by romance fraud. It builds a model for better understanding differing victim responses to romance fraud and the often-hidden harms involved around the anxieties of victims which importantly, can manifest in both online and offline environments.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for their provision of data and their ongoing support of research in this area. The authors would like to acknowledge Dr Michelle Ringrose for her initial work in coding the data used in this article. Further, thanks must go to Associate Professor’s Bridget Lewis and Fiona McDonald for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).